I registered a domain name, then configured an email system to use it. Now I'm not locked in to the same degree.
I initially ran my own email server. Spam filtering was easy.
Then things got more complicated.
Now I only use email for corporations to send me bills.
To the person just entering the world and getting exposed to computers and the internet I can almost understand the perspective.
There are a lot of silly things that exist because of necessity and systems being built over time.
Why isn't our mail just routed to a three-word address?
Like every tax system in government and system architecture, if we knew now how it would be implemented in used, we would do things differently.
There is a loss when oral history is removed from a culture. The stories of why are gone.
There is a warning, do not move the ancient landmarks. Do not tear down an old fence. After learning this I now ask, why is it this way?
> why isn't our mail just routed to a three-word address?
If only there was something that could take words like "grdotcloud gmail com" that we could use to deliver mail!
I don't see any spam in my inbox either, the little spam I do receive ends up in the spam box where it belongs.
Whatever mail setup Mailcow defaults to has worked great for me. Mailcow and mail-in-a-box have made the classic email setup very painless.