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Ask HN: Is it a bad idea to make an email domain with an uncommon TLD?

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Ask HN: Is it a bad idea to make an email domain with an uncommon TLD?

#1
I want to make a lifelong email domain, but don't want to pay an enormous amount for a .com.

If I do a ".party" or something, will that ruin my life? Will web forms still reject it and will people always be adding ".com" whenever I tell it to them?

Re: Ask HN: Is it a bad idea to make an email domain with an uncommon TLD?

#4
It’s possible that you’ll lose some basic conveniences not using one of the original TLDs, and there may be some software out there somewhere that assigns implicit higher risk scores to non-conventional domain names, but you should be fine.

Re: Ask HN: Is it a bad idea to make an email domain with an uncommon TLD?

#5
I’ve used .ME in the past, but then I settled on just using a .COM. The cost difference was negligible and nobody ever queries a .COM – I had people thinking my .ME was a mistake.

Unless you desperately want COMMONNAME.TLD, I’d go with the .COM for the lack of headaches. They’re ~$20 a year, which doesn’t seem like much money for the simplicity.

Re: Ask HN: Is it a bad idea to make an email domain with an uncommon TLD?

#6
My primary email domain is a .me. Never have problems with web forms. It can be more difficult to communicate verbally, so when saying it to non-technical folks I preface it with “my email is a bit weird” and then spell it out slowly. Young people seem to get it more easily.

I also have an email on a .email domain, I have seen it occasionally get rejected by web forms. .party would likely have similar issues.

Re: Ask HN: Is it a bad idea to make an email domain with an uncommon TLD?

#8
I've known a several admins who just flat out block all the new TLDs, because the ratio of spam and phishing to legitimate email is so high for them.

So as well as the issues with trying to explain a TLD to people and bad validation, you're also going to find that your emails are more likely to get flagged as spam out outright blocked.

Re: Ask HN: Is it a bad idea to make an email domain with an uncommon TLD?

#9
There's definitely some risk, I wouldn't personally do it. Non popular TLDs can also change owners and things can get weirder.

Even with an .com domain you might face some problems from time to time. I've had a few sites outright ban any address that doesn't end with popular providers (gmail.com, live.com, etc). I have a burner gmail address just for these cases.

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