Ask HN: Why do some of the engineers/hackers manage their own mail servers?

I want to know why do some engineers/hackers have email setup on their private domains. I like most of the people use gmail. Is the desire to learn how to manage the system makes people have their own private mail servers? I don't really see security or privacy as an issue unless gpg is used extensively.

Do you configure/setup/manage the mail servers yourself or is it handled by the hosting service providers?

They're probably procrastinating more important projects.

I do it in case Gmail ever goes kaput. I actually use Google Apps so I am basically using Gmail.

I was fortunate enough to lock in my last name as a domain, so I have first@last.com as my primary address. Sure looks a lot better in my correspondence and on my resume. I just host it via Google hosted domains, it's worth the $5/month.

Two part here:

1. Own domain means you can brand, host other services on it and generally be flexible. It also means you don't end up with the equivalent of an @aol.com or @hotmail.com address for everything.

2. Hosting it yourself also gives you options. 10 years ago gmail didn't exist and many providers charged a lot to host personalised domain (which were seen as a business service). I still keep it because:

a. I used to manage big email setups, re-building a little one was fun practice for a few hours

b. I don't really like gmail's interface.

c. A significant amount of work copying a couple of gigabytes of old email into gmail

d. If Google change some policy 5 years down the track I'll be stuck with it.

e. Trying not to tie my entire life into google.