The only “safe” email host is the one you run yourself or pay for with actual dollars, not data.

The hard part is taking your second paragraph to action. Most people are not ready for that conversation because the major freemail providers have been in service for such a long time that most people really can’t grasp the concept that email is something you have to pay for.

I really blame a lot of that on Google from the very beginning. Gmail, and essentially all free mail providers, are what they are today because of the precedent Google set and the only way companies were going to be able to compete with that was to also make their email services free.

  > It’s useful to have your own domain with your own email

Having too many active domains can be a pain tho

A more permanent way to buy - not rent - domain names would solve many of these issues. And changing ownership of domains should be just as difficult as changing ownership of real estate, the only people benefiting from the current ease of changing domain ownership are speculators.

I’m not sure why icann wouldn’t let anyone pay for 10-50 years for a domain.

I had no idea or time to figure this out and luckily we weren’t the first to come across this :)

Nothing is perfect and the domain situation is really far from perfect, and it doesn't hurt to consider edge cases. But the Venn diagram intersection there of someone who cares enough to have custom domain that is critical, commits a serious felony, considers having the domain after release a key priority, isn't legally barred from it, and doesn't or can't take any steps towards it, seems kinda small. In that case maybe indeed "domains aren't for you" but that doesn't really take away from its use to the rest of us.

The impermanence of which isn’t the greatest.

A domain that important is worth putting multiple recurring yearly calendar reminders up.

An email serving your identity is probably worth a bit more investing in.

It’s possible to leave a credit card on file to auto renew, renew for maximum years at a time, And lock down the domain enough to prevent hijacking.

I think it could be something to start seeing instead like not paying a cell phone bill.

You can easily lose access any particular email address, even if it's on your own domain. Losing access to all your email addresses and phone numbers at the same time is far less likely.

In which scenario would this happen, except for loss of ownership of the domain itself?

For instance, my main email address is on a domain that is now owned by my company (it wasn't originally). If I ever sell the company, I lose access to the domain as well. My wife's email address is on that domain too.

> my main email address is on a domain that is now owned by my company

I never mix work and private. My email addresses on my company's domain are for work-related things only. If I ever sell or close the company, it doesn't matter. I own a separate domain for personal email.

That's definitely a good idea. My company sort of emerged from a personal activity and things got mixed up. If I could do it again I would handle it differently, but you know, life's twists and turns... :-)