There is a large graveyard filled with my dead email addresses.

Recently, Protonmail had a controversy. I’m not weighing in on that here, but it made me think–do I really want to change email addresses again? I have nearly moved everything from gmail to Protonmail. F!@#$

But being on Bluesky, I remembered that a key feature of Bluesky is that you can own your identity.

I don’t need to be @my_name.bsky.social anymore.

I can be my own domain. I can own my identity.

So why not own my email address as well? Now if a service goes downhill, or becomes Evil (you know who you are), I can simply move my email address to a new provider. But I get to keep my email address completely the same.

You might be saying, “I don’t know how,” or “I don’t want to have a website.” The thing is you don’t need to. You just need the domain. Sure this isn’t free, you will need to buy a domain and you will probably need to pay for your email service, but as the saying goes, “If you are not paying, then you are the product”.

Here are the steps I took.

1. Register a Domain
   • I used Namecheap, and I have been using them for years. All my steps will match their process, but use whatever domain provider you want. I don’t get paid by them. (Feel free to pay me, Namecheap.)
2. Sign up for an email host
   • I currently use Protonmail, but Tuta is another great option. Regardless, you will need to pay to use your own domain, but remember this is about owning your identity, it won’t be free.
   • A key feature to look for is encryption. Whatever email service you choose should offer end-to-end encryption. They should not have access to scan your mailbox, gather info to advertise to you, or train their AI on your email.
   • One more thing, try and avoid using the email service from the place you registered your domain. It seems convenient to have it all in one place, but then everything is tied to the same company. It is good practice to keep these things segregated.
3. Set up your email
   • Use the guide here to set up Protonmail: https://proton.me/support/custom-domain-namecheap. I am sure Tuta will be similar.
   • A quick note, if you are using that domain for a website, too, make sure you do NOT follow these instructions: https://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx/10375/2208/how-do-i-link-a-domain-to-my-digitalocean-account/. If you did, you will need to move your domain information from CustomDNS to Advanced DNS. Use these instructions: https://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx/319/2237/how-can-i-set-up-an-a-address-record-for-my-domain/
4. Set up Bluesky with your domain
   • Follow this link for instructions to set up Bluesky: https://bsky.social/about/blog/4-28-2023-domain-handle-tutorial. One note is that after you click Verify DNS record, the button will then change to switch handle. You have to press the button twice. I completely missed that the first time.

Now you are one step closer to owning your digital identity, and if you get upset with Protonmail or Tuta, you can simply move your email address to a new provider. No more abandoned AOL or hotmail email addresses. Your identity is yours.

Hello…friend!?

Is that less lame then “hello, world”? Maybe I will call you “reader”. But that’s a slippery slope since the only person reading this is in my head. Sh*t, this is actually happening, I’m writing to an imaginary person.

What I’m about to tell you is by no means top secret, but it may occasionally involve conspiracies. There are powerful groups of people out there that are up to no good. I may sometimes talk about guys no one knows about, but usually I’ll just be talking about tech and 3D printing. I don’t really have a plan, so I will write this without permission…and now, I hope you follow me.