Email addresses and "professional" appearance

Started by Walkman, February 22, 2014, 11:56:51 PM

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Walkman

I've had my own web domain and email address since the late 90s/early 00s (eurekaville.com). It's a great domain for my business as a freelance graphic designer & photographer. However, I got an email today from NHQ that a prospective member had asked for info about our local unit. As I responded to him, I got thinking about the impression my personal email might make.

Anyone thought about this before? Is it better to create an email just for CAP that has a more "military" feel to it or am I over analizing things?

I remember a thread a long time about about getting some sort of cap.gov email address, but I couldn't find it in a search. Any one know anything about this?

Spaceman3750

I just have firstname.lastname@gmail.com. Always seems to work fine. I have a myunit.org address that forwards if I feel the need to give something else. I have enough email addresses to check.

JoeTomasone

FLWG has flwg.us (for general use) and flwg.gov (for more formal use with external partners/agencies, etc). 

I absolutely believe that use of professional email addresses establishes a more professional image.

antdetroitwallyball

It might be helpfull to remember that CAP is a non-profit organization comprised (or is it "composed" ?) primarily of volunteers. If you were really striving for "accuracy" in terms of a domain name for email addresses, it would be "recruitment_guy@cap.org, as opposed to a @.gov email address.

Personnally, I don't think domain name is the issue. Having a seperate recruitment email address might not be a bad idea, especially if your regular email address is something goofy, informal, difficult to remember, or non-descriptive in nature.

I am now a member of both CAP and USCG AUX. Due to the nature of what I do with the CG AUX, I have both a uscg.mil and dhs.gov email address. However, these are official government email accounts and I'm scared to be giving out my full email address to just anyone because I don't want to risk getting on some spam list. Again, this is perhaps where getting a dedicated email address for just CAP recruiting is not a idea.

James Shaw

A professional email address is very important. This of course depends on the target audience. I see job applicants that have some real "unique ones ". When I was part of National Staff as National Curator I had caphistorian@......... I don't have it anymore.  I like the suggestions presented in the earlier posts.

You can't change a first impression and that includes email addresses.

Some of the funnier ones I have seen have been through online job applications.
Jim Shaw
USN: 1987-1992
GANG: 1996-1998
CAP:2000 - Current
USCGA:2018 - Current
SGAUS: 2017 - Current

Eclipse

Quote from: Walkman on February 22, 2014, 11:56:51 PM
Anyone thought about this before? Is it better to create an email just for CAP that has a more "military" feel to it or am I over analyzing things?
Constantly, some of the email addresses I see fly by on official business emails are ridiculous. "tenderpilot69@juno.com" "topgunmaverickshooterghost77@whocaresbecauseialreadydeletedthemessage.com"
etc.

More "military"? Not necessarily.  More professional, absolutely.

Hint: If your email address ends in juno.com, netzero.com, or aol.com, you lose 50% of hit points from the first time it is noticed.
Yahoo knocks you about 25%.  "@facebook.com"? 100% loss of all hit points and disqualification from the game.



Quote from: Walkman on February 22, 2014, 11:56:51 PM
I remember a thread a long time about about getting some sort of cap.gov email address, but I couldn't find it in a search. Any one know anything about this?

There's info on this site - wing and other echelons can request a "@wing.group.unit.cap.gov" domain for web and email as respectively applies.
You have to contact the cap.gov administrator to set it up, and it's an excellent way to utilize Google Apps for Non-Profits (free). My wing and
former Group have accounts set up and it always made me feel much more professional to use these, especialy the .gov, since that does
speak "somehow connected with the guv'mint".

Quote from: capsafety on February 23, 2014, 02:52:32 AM
You can't change a first impression and that includes email addresses.

So, so, true, and that's not just a CAP issue.  It's an issue in any correspondence.

"That Others May Zoom"

Eclipse

Quote from: Spaceman3750 on February 23, 2014, 12:19:52 AM
I just have firstname.lastname@gmail.com. Always seems to work fine. I have a myunit.org address that forwards if I feel the need to give something else. I have enough email addresses to check.

If you're using Gmail you can consolidate all of them into one place, including reply and sending-as seamlessly with very simple setup.

I currently aggregate 9 email addresses into my main personal domain account, from 8 different domains.  I love it when someone
complains that "I have to check in two places." 

It's a thing of beauty.

"That Others May Zoom"

Storm Chaser

I use firstname.lastname.cap@gmail.com for all my CAP related e-mails. I get and send so many e-mails that I prefer to keep my CAP mail separate from my personal or professional mail.

I know that some wings issue wing e-mail addresses (e.g. @flwg.us), but I wish CAP did what the Air Force did when it moved away from base specific e-mail addresses to "e-mails for life" (e.g. firstname.lastname@us.af.mil). No matter where you go now, you always have the same e-mail. I know that in CAP people don't move as often. But I still would prefer to have a "cap.gov" or "cap.us" (or anything similar) that I could keep no matter where I go.

Quote from: Eclipse on February 23, 2014, 03:23:18 AM
It's a thing of beauty.

Gmail? Gmail is a great e-mail service (I have several accounts), but I wouldn't go as far as calling it "a thing a beauty".
That's a bit of a stretch even for a Google fan.  >:D

Eclipse

Quote from: Storm Chaser on February 23, 2014, 03:32:39 AM
Gmail? Gmail is a great e-mail service (I have several accounts), but I wouldn't go as far as calling it "a thing a beauty".
That's a bit of a stretch even for a Google fan.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course.  Send me an email to any of those 9 emails, they go to the same
message store.  When I hit "reply" they go out as the proper address (except when being read in Outlook, which no one with sense uses any more anyway).
That's beautiful to me.

Google Apps ≠ Gmail, except in superficial appearances.

There is no singular better messaging service, or bang-for-the-buck, then Google Apps, regardless of which flavor is chosen.

Robust, secure, platform-agnostic, and run by the most successful services company in the history of the universe.

Not sure what more you'd ask for in something which is also free.

"That Others May Zoom"

Storm Chaser


Eclipse

Yeah, I kinda figured, but my FanBoy personality took over.

His name is Serge.

"That Others May Zoom"

SARDOC

The National Capital wing uses the Google App.  I saw a presentation on it and it was fantastic.  Every member of the Wing is given a NATCAPWING.ORG email address and it works in Google.

They have different wing Calendars for Trainings, Vehicles, Aircraft, Meeting, Cadet Programs, anything you can think of.  They can share and edit documents.

I can't articulate how well the National Capital wing pulled this off.  Now, if I can just get my wing to do it.

RiverAux

As long as your email address isn't something incredibly goofy no one is going to notice or care what it is. 

Paul Creed III

Ohio Wing also uses Google Apps, i.e. @ohwg.cap.gov.

Quote from: SARDOC on February 23, 2014, 05:01:32 AM
The National Capital wing uses the Google App.  I saw a presentation on it and it was fantastic.  Every member of the Wing is given a NATCAPWING.ORG email address and it works in Google.

They have different wing Calendars for Trainings, Vehicles, Aircraft, Meeting, Cadet Programs, anything you can think of.  They can share and edit documents.

I can't articulate how well the National Capital wing pulled this off.  Now, if I can just get my wing to do it.
Lt Col Paul Creed III, CAP
Group 3 Ohio Wing sUAS Program Manager

James Shaw

I just eliminated several old email accounts. I had 7 total and many had not been used for a long time. I tailored my emails at one time to the project or activity and had too many. I had them all forwarded to my primary account. Way too many to keep up with.

Jim Shaw
USN: 1987-1992
GANG: 1996-1998
CAP:2000 - Current
USCGA:2018 - Current
SGAUS: 2017 - Current

MakeItRight

I have my professional (municipal gov't) email address and the "everything else" gmail address. I use gmail labels (folders) to attempt to keep it all separated and organized. Works well for me most of the time.

The city I work for is considering moving toward Google Apps for Government. I, too would like to see my Wing utilize Google Apps for email/website/file sharing with live editing/video meetings and the rest.

However, there are several platforms within Google Apps. ...for Non-profits, education, government.... So far only Non-profit looks like it would be free. Need to do more research. I wonder if just using individual Google accounts can accomplish most of this.

I think the email address should indicate who/what/where you are... like my.name.@wing.cap.gov... It's easier to remember and search for if it's forgotten. There's merit in the email-for-life concept, too. Wonky-sounding email addresses give others an impression that may not be consistent with putting our best foot forward.

Spaceman3750

Quote from: RiverAux on February 23, 2014, 01:23:24 PM
As long as your email address isn't something incredibly goofy no one is going to notice or care what it is.

I agree. As long as your email address isn't sexyflyboy@yahoo.com or studsalad@gmail.com you should be OK. That said, if it doesn't make sense while you'll be OK, you're probably better off creating some kind of address out of your name. Will be useful both in CAP and out.

Eclipse

Apps for non-profits is free, the services are the same as the paid offerings (for anything that matters in a CAP context).

Why keep looking?


"That Others May Zoom"

MakeItRight

Can everything that matters in CAP be accomplished with individual accounts? Maybe the domain hosting for a common email address like name@wing.cap.gov? But perhaps we can use name.wing@gmail.com and accomplish the same thing.

What's the advantage of Non-profit (or any of the others) over just using the individual? More storage? Better support? Encrypting?

a2capt

Except keeping track of it, and keeping others from making their own, using individual accounts is virtually impossible.

Managing who has access to what is a crap shoot, as you can't do it by groups easily, and would have to be done individually for every single thing. Keeping the accounts "yours" is impossible, as they could set the recovery address something different and Google is not going to help you.

With managed stuff, if that person leaves, one click and they're -gone- or redirected as needed. The Wing retains the account control.