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Last month I got a .email domain with plans to become my primary email address, I like it because that gTLD clearly states the purpose, but after a month long test I have some doubts.

Lots of email validator around still are hard-coded, so any TLD equal to 3 characters seems to be almost automatically validated, while with something longer you have to get some luck.

Plus, some non-fluent in IT still does not recognize it as a TLD as most are accustomed with shorter TLD; as example last week a close friend asked if my domain .email was ending in .email.com or .email.net etc.

Buy since registration I hadn't any technical issues with mail servers, no email was rejected, nor any email was lost during the receive phase (I kindly asked to put in CC the new email address)

For those reasons I'm unsure about keeping it, or switching to a .xyz, the switch seems to have some advantages as being a 3 char domain... it seems to have also a growth greater than other gTLDs, and, as such, it should be more recognizable in the short term.

I'm unfamiliar with the value of a .xyz domain, there seems to be at least a million of .xyz domain registered, but is it really that popular, or it is just marketing?

Is it safe to go with xyz rather than any other gTLD for a personal (and future professional) email contact? Yes, .com is already registered, also the corresponding .eu and my country ccTLD...

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  • If your concerned then don't buy any gTLD, it doesn't matter if its a xyz, or a .email... it's not a .com, or ccTLD which people commonly recognised, if your looking for stats who recognises a certain type of gTLD then its unlikely any case studies have been done. Also, it hugely depends on the context delivered to that person, regardless of which domain type is used most business cards will still use the prefix email: in front of the address, therefore the extension is irrelevant. A email address is rarely seen nowadays in raw format, only time really is on phone, but you tell them...
    – Simon Hayter
    Commented Nov 2, 2015 at 18:08
  • You have a point, that said, most time I found myself telling my email address rather than writing it somewhere or giving a business card...unfortunately, that was the concern.
    – Krdan
    Commented Nov 2, 2015 at 18:17

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I don't know if my answer comes too late but stick with .email. Before Google registered abc.xyz, most .xyz registrations were either imposed to clients of some big registrars - given for free - or sold for USD 1 to Chinese customers. The agenda was clear. Make .xyz seem like the no. 1 new TLD by inflating the numbers. I'm a big fan boy of the new more meaningful domain extensions, and abc.xyz is a beauty, but there are other extensions which give more meaning.

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To answer your question, it's absolutely safe to use any valid domain extension you wish. Any email validator that restricts .email is simply built wrong. While many of them actually are built incorrectly, most of these are limited to very small, custom use-cases, and likely wouldn't affect your use of mission-critical applications (e.g. I would highly doubt LinkedIn would fail your email address out). Personally, I have an email address I use frequently for one of my businesses with a .media extension and I've never had a problem with it.

In general, the email spec is actually more complicated and - at the same time - less strict than many developers believe it is. This:

"()<>[]:,;@\\\"!#$%&'*+-/=?^_`{}| ~.a"@example.org

is actually a valid email address, and the domain part isn't even required as this:

user@[IPv6:2001:db8::1]

is also a valid email address (IP address literals are actually allowed in the RFC).

Wikipedia actually has a relatively good article on the topic, here's a link to the specific section on the domain part of an email, another to the Hostname specification.

Additional links:

Valid email address examples Invalid email address examples

From the other standpoint of whether or not other people will have trouble with it, that's the case with just about anything that's not a .com, .org, or .net address. In my own experience, other TLDs are becoming common enough that it's not as much of a concern as it would have been even 2-3 years ago, and the trend should continue in that direction.

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  • Yep, I know what RFC state about email validation, and I know most people know what to do, but a lot more don't. Thanks for your experience anyway, it reassures me.
    – Krdan
    Commented Nov 2, 2015 at 20:56

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