In the old days, there were only a few places where a regular fellow could get an email account. For most, it was either America Online or Compuserve, the two service providers for regular folks who paid for a way to get online. Back then, getting a good email address was a sign that you were awfully darn cool. But times change.
I hadn’t given it any thought until Doug Cornelius twitted about it yesterday.
When I questioned whether this means that all my clients would flee because of my ancient email address, I was told by Jeffrey Brandt to just suck it up and “Just rip that band-aid off!
” I felt so old. So feeble. So pathetic. Sure, today I have plenty of business, but it could all be gone tomorrow when they realize that I use an AOL email address.
This troubled me, since I’m so used to being on the cutting edge and realized that others look to me as an early adapter to show them the way to the next cool thing. Could I let them down like this? Oh, the horror.
However, after some deep contemplation and soul-searching, I’ve reached a decision. Screw anyone who thinks that my 1993 email address means that I’m not cool enough to be your lawyer. Go find some lawyer whose concern is whether they have the newest iPhone, or the Kindle 39, or doesn’t have to google the Urban Dictionary to look up the meaning of the word “choad”. So what if I don’t text or leave 487 minutes unused on my 500 minute plan.
Call me an anachronism. An old man. A dinosaur. If you’re looking for a Dude, you’re in the wrong place. I don’t hold it against anyone that they are obsessed with the superficial accouterments of coolness and geekdom. Well, maybe I sneer at them a little and think they smell like elderberries, but they’re allowed. Just not me.
I prefer to think of myself as a rebel. Someone who refuses to be a slave to trends, to each new shiny thing that comes along. I have a great email address, even if it’s got a suffix for a service upon which the sun has set. If you think a different URL would make me a better lawyer, then I would pay attention. But to make me look trendier? Forget it.
I’m sticking with my stinky, old AOL email address. If that puts you off, then don’t email me. I can live with that.
I hadn’t given it any thought until Doug Cornelius twitted about it yesterday.
Esquire’s Rule #1033. If your lawyer’s email address ends in hotmail.com, gmail.com or yahoo.com (or aol.com), find a new lawyer.OMG! Am I that out of touch? You see, while I have email via Simple Justice, the truth is that I still use the email address I handpicked in 1993, when all the cool kids used AOL. It’s SHGLaw, from back in the days when LALaw was cutting edge. Today, it would be SHGLaw318795 if I tried to get it again. But I don’t have to. It’s mine. It’s always been mine. Everybody who knows me emails me there.
When I questioned whether this means that all my clients would flee because of my ancient email address, I was told by Jeffrey Brandt to just suck it up and “Just rip that band-aid off!
” I felt so old. So feeble. So pathetic. Sure, today I have plenty of business, but it could all be gone tomorrow when they realize that I use an AOL email address.This troubled me, since I’m so used to being on the cutting edge and realized that others look to me as an early adapter to show them the way to the next cool thing. Could I let them down like this? Oh, the horror.
However, after some deep contemplation and soul-searching, I’ve reached a decision. Screw anyone who thinks that my 1993 email address means that I’m not cool enough to be your lawyer. Go find some lawyer whose concern is whether they have the newest iPhone, or the Kindle 39, or doesn’t have to google the Urban Dictionary to look up the meaning of the word “choad”. So what if I don’t text or leave 487 minutes unused on my 500 minute plan.
Call me an anachronism. An old man. A dinosaur. If you’re looking for a Dude, you’re in the wrong place. I don’t hold it against anyone that they are obsessed with the superficial accouterments of coolness and geekdom. Well, maybe I sneer at them a little and think they smell like elderberries, but they’re allowed. Just not me.
I prefer to think of myself as a rebel. Someone who refuses to be a slave to trends, to each new shiny thing that comes along. I have a great email address, even if it’s got a suffix for a service upon which the sun has set. If you think a different URL would make me a better lawyer, then I would pay attention. But to make me look trendier? Forget it.
I’m sticking with my stinky, old AOL email address. If that puts you off, then don’t email me. I can live with that.
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I’m psyched you don’t put the dash in e-mail!
Surprised you had to look up choad. I’m not sure what it means but I could guess.
Like the play on words “adapter” vs “adopter”.
AOL sucks.
Perhaps Esquire Magazine had you in mind.
The original rule was “Esquire’s Rule #1033. If your lawyer’s email address ends in hotmail.com, gmail.com or yahoo.com, find a new lawyer.” After I originally relayed that rule, several people responded back that it left AOL off the list. So I resent it with AOL.
Maybe Esquire had it correct by omitting AOL?
A lawyer having email way back in 1993 was cutting edge. Now its just expected.
For you, having a cranky, crusty old email address may be the best match.
Thank you. Though I don’t think I’ve ever used the word “crusty”.
Me, I’ve long since embraced my inner geek. I’m not sure it makes me look cool, but I hear that some of the chicks dig it. Then again, at my age, the hearing’s long since started to go.
I’m not sure it is anything to do with coolness; rather, it speaks to one’s professionalism, professional identity, and concerns over client confidentiality/privacy. If you’re using a hosted AOL solution for your work email, then I wouldn’t want to email you any details of my case (hypothetical, of course). It would be like having the mailing address of your firm as your parents’ house.
As a corollary, you have a good, easy-to-remember domain, and your blog has built up ‘brand identity’. Why not capitalise on it, and use [email protected]?
Wouldn’t anyone who doesn’t have their own server have the same problem? I mean, what’s the difference if you use [email protected] or if you pay yahoo ten bucks a month to have the “professional” appearance of [email protected]? Its still a “hosted solution” isn’t it?
I was going to say the same thing, Dan. Don’t see any benefit as to confidentiality. However, I am thankful that I decided to buy SimpleJustice.us rather than my second choice, ScuzzyOldLawyer.com. Of course, Jewwithagun.com was locked up already.
So ScuzzyOldLawyer.com is available? Sweet.
Well, hey — you snooze, you lose.
As to confidentiality (which I think is being used here as a proxy for security), it’s probably bull, as Dan suggests, and just about certainly is if you’re comparing an aol.com account to one also hosted at aol.com.
If you’re running your own servers, you almost certainly have different security holes.
I go by [email protected]. You probably saw my e-mail on top of teh resume I txt’ed you. U never wrote me back; wat up?
What is the point of this piece?
[email protected]