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I own a domain that I use as my primary email address, but it's a "premium" domain that costs quite a bit to lease every year. To me the main concern here is th

I own a domain that I use as my primary email address, but it's a "premium" domain that costs quite a bit to lease every year. To me the main concern here is that my payment fails, I don't notice, the domain goes up for sale and somebody grabs it. Then they have access to everything. So, I use my personal domain for all mail except anything that's "vital" like government websites, banking, paying rent, etc. for which I use my email provider's domain. And of course I'm registered with my domain registrar with a different email domain.

AnonC 1y ago
If you can afford it, renew the domain for 10 years into the future (which means having it paid for till 2035, for example). Every year, renew the domain for one more year so that it’s always paid for 10 years into the future. If payment fails or you’re busy with something else, you’d still have several years of no worrying (some caveats and risks may still apply depending on the TLD and registrar).
- TranquilMarmot 1y ago
  That's a good idea, I might see if I can do it. It was registered with Google Domains but got transferred over to Squarespace, idk if they offer long-term renewals.
  - immibis 1y ago
    I don't think long term renewals exist for premium domains. You probably shouldn't use a premium domain unless you really need one. It's just a money grab by registrars and registries.
    - TranquilMarmot 1y ago
      Great point. I use the premium domain because it's fun, but it does feel like a money grab. I wonder if premium domains will ever become "un-premium".
      - TranquilMarmot 1y ago
        Also, just checked on Squarespace and I am able to add up to 9 more years of owning the premium domain at the moment. Squarespace seems like a stable enough company to trust for 9 years - but then I worry that I would become complacent, forget about it, and then let it lapse. 9 years is a LONG time!
mxuribe 1y ago
Hi @TranquilMarmot, first off, i think the recommendation from @AnonC on their long term approach to registering a domain name is absolutely brilliant! Do that! Another recommendation you should consider is to find a domain that ends in one of the common top-level domains - like .COM, .NET, or .ORG - because for using with *vital government services* you would not believe how many good natured civil servants (or for that manner even customer service folks in private/commercial companies too!) have no idea that email addresses can end in something other than .com, .net, or .org...and if you try to give them an address that, say, ends in like .FR, or .CC, or .ME, etc...They will try to place a ".com" at the end of it! My experience shows that folks in the U.S. know far less about other TLDs...and are more likely to commit this error, but folks outside of U.S. are perfectly cool with all manner of different TLS. I have had a somesurname.CC domain name as the mailbox for all my family members for more than a decade...and they are all trained to be LOUD and explicit when they communicate to government workers and customer service folks. So, i should have just gotten an easier TLD, but ah well. Live and learn! :-) EDIT: Forgot to add that choossing the more common .COM, .NET, or .ORG TLDs for a domain name *tends* to be cheaper than many premium domains names. Each registrar wil of course vary, but mostly these tend to be reasonably priced.
- bsoles 1y ago
  That hasn't been my experience in US. Login.gov, Social Security, Global Entry, etc. all work perfectly fine with Proton (@pm.me) domains. At least, so far.
  - mxuribe 1y ago
    To clarify my point, i mean that over the years, as i have engaged with *human beings* in situations that involve in real life/physical interaction (like standing in line at motrovehilces, getting passport photos at county clerk office, etc., it had been an interesting thing having to briefly explain to folks that .com, .net, and .org are not the only valid TLDs for email addresses....and where i most encountered that is gov. services as well as customer service reps. To your point, agreed that *logins* for web site/apps and mobile apps are usually not an issue for my non- .com/.net/.org email addresses. In fact, for logins, gov services tend to be quite accomoddating and i don't ever think i had any issues there, and usually not a problem...But, years ago i *DID* encounter a couple of commercial/business/non-gov websites where they only expected .com/.net/.org email address...so it was a problem there on the non-gov website side of things...but even then, it thankfully was not very often, and nowadays its nearly a non-issue. Again, my recommendation was just saying that for real, human interactions, if its possible, pick a common enough TLD to make life easier. ;-)

AnonC 1y ago

If you can afford it, renew the domain for 10 years into the future (which means having it paid for till 2035, for example). Every year, renew the domain for one more year so that it’s always paid for 10 years into the future. If payment fails or you’re busy with something else, you’d still have several years of no worrying (some caveats and risks may still apply depending on the TLD and registrar).

TranquilMarmot 1y ago
That's a good idea, I might see if I can do it. It was registered with Google Domains but got transferred over to Squarespace, idk if they offer long-term renewals.
- immibis 1y ago
  I don't think long term renewals exist for premium domains. You probably shouldn't use a premium domain unless you really need one. It's just a money grab by registrars and registries.
  - TranquilMarmot 1y ago
    Great point. I use the premium domain because it's fun, but it does feel like a money grab. I wonder if premium domains will ever become "un-premium".
    - TranquilMarmot 1y ago
      Also, just checked on Squarespace and I am able to add up to 9 more years of owning the premium domain at the moment. Squarespace seems like a stable enough company to trust for 9 years - but then I worry that I would become complacent, forget about it, and then let it lapse. 9 years is a LONG time!

mxuribe 1y ago

Hi @TranquilMarmot, first off, i think the recommendation from @AnonC on their long term approach to registering a domain name is absolutely brilliant! Do that! Another recommendation you should consider is to find a domain that ends in one of the common top-level domains - like .COM, .NET, or .ORG - because for using with *vital government services* you would not believe how many good natured civil servants (or for that manner even customer service folks in private/commercial companies too!) have no idea that email addresses can end in something other than .com, .net, or .org...and if you try to give them an address that, say, ends in like .FR, or .CC, or .ME, etc...They will try to place a ".com" at the end of it! My experience shows that folks in the U.S. know far less about other TLDs...and are more likely to commit this error, but folks outside of U.S. are perfectly cool with all manner of different TLS. I have had a somesurname.CC domain name as the mailbox for all my family members for more than a decade...and they are all trained to be LOUD and explicit when they communicate to government workers and customer service folks. So, i should have just gotten an easier TLD, but ah well. Live and learn! :-) EDIT: Forgot to add that choossing the more common .COM, .NET, or .ORG TLDs for a domain name *tends* to be cheaper than many premium domains names. Each registrar wil of course vary, but mostly these tend to be reasonably priced.

bsoles 1y ago
That hasn't been my experience in US. Login.gov, Social Security, Global Entry, etc. all work perfectly fine with Proton (@pm.me) domains. At least, so far.
- mxuribe 1y ago
  To clarify my point, i mean that over the years, as i have engaged with *human beings* in situations that involve in real life/physical interaction (like standing in line at motrovehilces, getting passport photos at county clerk office, etc., it had been an interesting thing having to briefly explain to folks that .com, .net, and .org are not the only valid TLDs for email addresses....and where i most encountered that is gov. services as well as customer service reps. To your point, agreed that *logins* for web site/apps and mobile apps are usually not an issue for my non- .com/.net/.org email addresses. In fact, for logins, gov services tend to be quite accomoddating and i don't ever think i had any issues there, and usually not a problem...But, years ago i *DID* encounter a couple of commercial/business/non-gov websites where they only expected .com/.net/.org email address...so it was a problem there on the non-gov website side of things...but even then, it thankfully was not very often, and nowadays its nearly a non-issue. Again, my recommendation was just saying that for real, human interactions, if its possible, pick a common enough TLD to make life easier. ;-)