Keith Devens .com

So what's the story on that: what was the old domain, who controlled it, and why did he lose it? (Yes, I followed the link.)

Also what part of it is so obvious?

I assume you/he mean:

"NEVER (under any circumstances) publish a weblog to a domain that you don't control [to personally assure it's secure and backed up properly]."

As far as I understand, he used to work at Userland, and had a weblog on one of Userland's domains. He no longer works there, and he had to find a new place to host his site, which caused all links pointing to him to break. I think that was his emphasis, not that he wasn't backed up.

Ah. Makes sense.

Do you think this "rule" also applies to email domains you don't own, but are "permanent" (not tied to a particular job), like Yahoo or Hotmail?

I guess not, since you can probably assume that Yahoo and Hotmail will be around "forever". But I'd still stay away from that myself. I've never understood people's willingness to make a Yahoo or Hotmail address their primary address. Besides the fact that they're forced to use a web-based interface instead of standard protocols like POP3 or IMAP, they don't own their address - they have no control over it.

What if you start getting too much e-mail for the space the services provide, or want to use better tools than a web-based interface for reading your e-mail? You're stuck. What if you have a Geocities web site, but start getting too much traffic on it and they kick you off. You're stuck. What if the service at Yahoo, Hotmail, or Geocities starts to suck? You're stuck. Having your own domain allows you to be free to move at will. And this doesn't just apply to addresses that aren't "tied to a particular job". It includes ISPs as well. If my cable internet provider starts to provide poor service, but I use their domain in my e-mail address, I'm stuck again.

Owning your own domain frees you from ever having to change your address for the rest of your life. I wish things worked like that in the real world so you didn't have to change your phone number and your mailing address when you physically move. Or even your cell phone number when you change cell phone carriers! Though, I think they're starting to make it possible to carry your cell phone numbers with you.