Of course some e-mail addresses are also a sort of status symbol. A bit like having a five digit ICQ UIN is, or having an e-mail address like pete@hotmail.com

This one would indicate that, although you might be cheap and want to get your e-mail anywhere (I'm sure I can do that with telnet though...) but you were there early when hotmail was New & Exciting!(tm) There's plenty to be said for having been there before it became popular, and its fun to laugh at the people who all have sexy_kitten_1083@hotmail.com style addresses.

Your domain means a lot also... certain subscription sites give you mail addresses (real ones, not web ones) which can tell you lots about people (not just that they are willing to fork out an extra 10 bucks a month even though they most likely have an ISP addy also).

Lets be honest, which would you prefer, the well.com address or the hotmail.com address??