Welcome!
First off, you might be asking yourself, “what is hello, world?” It’s typically one of the first lines of code you learn in a programming language. This Medium post explains a little more.
I am Richard Beck, and welcome to my personal website. I created Beck.id back in October 2024 so I could use the domain to setup a personal/professional email address for myself. I got tired of using the big email providers such as Gmail, Outlook, and so on. Prior to October 2024, I purchased a couple other domains, but it didn’t work out. One of the domains had .GQ as the TLD, and that went away after Facebook sued the domain extension! I was SOL and had to switch email addresses again. The next domain was for a small web hosting business I setup and ran for a couple years. That worked, but once I sold the business I had to find yet ANOTHER domain. And that’s how I ended up with Beck.id! With a short last name like mine, I don’t think I could have done any better! Especially when folks hear “.id” they think of identification.
I had been trying to buy RichardBeck.com for years. I monitored the domain to see if the resale company would finally ever let it go. They’ve had it registered since 2009, but they are not giving it up! They wanted $9,500 for the domain, and that’s simply not going to happen. I did search for other domain extensions, but again, it’s tough with a short last name that only has 4 letters.
Why bother?
Well, let’s be honest, I am a nerd at heart! Hosting your own email is kind of fun! If you’re not happy with your email provider, you can change to another company in less than an hour. You also have way more control over your spam filters, and get access to lots of features like aliases and masked emails.
You do have to pay a minimal amount to host your own email address with a company. However, your data is more secure and it is not being sold. Remember, if the product is free, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT! The company is selling your data to make money.
What email companies have I tried and who is my current provider?
1. cPanel webmail
When I first started hosting my own email, I used the built-in webmail that comes with most cheap cPanel web hosting companies. That was mehhh… The spam filters were horrible, and most tend to only have outgoing filters to ensure you’re not sending spam from their servers. Sometimes mail wasn’t delivered to me. This option was short lived.
2. Microsoft Exchange
Next up, was Microsoft Exchange at $4/month per mailbox. I stayed with Microsoft for the next 3-4 years because their product is phenomenal. It’s not the easiest to configure, but once you do, you can setup your email on any device with little effort. Microsoft’s proprietary they have on Exchange is the gold standard. It just works with nearly any email client on your computer, phone, tablet, etc. You do not need to configure the server settings or port numbers. So why did I leave? Great question. I think I just wanted to see what else was out there! I’m always learning in Information Technology. That’s what we do as an industry!
3. Mail-in-a-Box
After Microsoft, I setup my own Virtual Private Server (VPS) with OVH for about $4/month. This allowed me to install the open-source software called Mail-in-a-Box. I could host virtually unlimited domains and mailboxes! It actually worked quite well, but I got tired of server maintenance and installing updates just to host email. I would rather let someone else handle that work since the cost is roughly the same.
4. Fastmail
Finally, I ended up with Fastmail.com. I have been with them since July 2025, and I don’t think I will ever leave! If you jump over to their Reddit page and read some of the posts, they have customers that have been with them for 20+ years. That’s impressive! Fastmail does one thing, and they do it really well. Email. They are not called “Fastmail” for nothing! Their web interface is the fastest and BEST interface I have ever seen for webmail:
Fastmail’s interface is super clean. There are multiple email clients you can download to your computer, phone, or tablet. This is how I prefer to access my email, as I don’t like to keep a browser tab open. In fact, I switched to Fastmail’s dedicated iOS mail app on my phone and ditched the default iOS mail app after using it for 15~ years!
If you do have a static HTML website, you can also host it with Fastmail for free! They give you 10GB of storage to host websites and share files with others. You can make files public so anyone can access. Think of the feature as something similar to DropBox. These couple extra features are a nice perk!
Conclusion and what’s next for my site
I had my website redesigned in January 2026 (hence why I’m making this Hello World post.) Previously, I had a 1-page static HTML page with a generic resume on the front page. Similar to what I have now, but my redesign is now WordPress. I wanted a place to be able to post projects I am working on and document my notes into blog category posts to keep my thoughts organized.
I have been working on a LOT of projects these last couple of years, and my notes are scattered. I have some in Microsoft Word, others in my iOS notes, and some are in my head. I decided to convert to a WordPress site so that way I can publish my notes in an organized fashion and use categories. If by chance someone stumbles upon a post of mine and it helps them, then I feel better knowing that I’m sharing the knowledge!
Anyway, that’s it! Feel free to drop me a comment and say hi any time. If I can be of assistance, please let me know!
