Today, let’s talk about .

If you want to be taken seriously, get off the Big Four. Buy a domain. Use your ISP’s email. Or at least switch to a modern, less-spammed provider.

We’ve all seen it. You’re reviewing a new user sign-up, a contact form submission, or a business inquiry, and you come across an email address that makes you do a double-take.

Because we are watching for 1carlos@ . And we are hitting “deny.” Do you filter out Hotmail, AOL, Yahoo, or Gmail on your forms? Let us know in the comments below.

While there is technically nothing wrong with these free, massive providers, a growing number of power users, IT admins, and security professionals are starting to filter them out. Here is why looking at “1 Carlos” (and his generic domain) matters more than you think. Let’s be blunt: Hotmail, AOL, and Yahoo are spam havens.