When you register for an ISKCON.NET account, we determine your email address, display name and email aliases in accordance with this policy. The policy is designed to maximize your utility of the service whilst ensuring a fair and safe environment for everyone. You cannot specify your main email address or official display name, but you can request email aliases and you can customize your display name.
All ISKCON.NET email addresses must end in @iskcon.net. There are no other domain names in the ISKCON.NET system.
INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTS
Your main email address and display name will always be in the following format:
1. If you are initiated:
Format: initiated.name@iskcon.net or initiated.name.guruinitials@iskcon.net
Examples: krishna@iskcon.net, krishna.acbsp@iskcon.net, krishna.chaitanya@iskcon.net, krishna.chaitanya.xyz@iskcon.net, radharani.xyz@iskcon.net
Display name examples: Krishna Das, Krishna Chaitanya Das, Radharani Devi Dasi, Radharani Dasi
2. If you are not initiated:
Format: firstname.lastname@iskcon.net, except for names from South India which can take the format lastname.firstinitials@iskcon.net
Example: john.smith@iskcon.net, rajagopalan.s@iskcon.net
Display name examples: John Smith, Rajagopalan S
3. If you are a sannyasi:
Format: sannyasa.name.swami@iskcon.net or sannyasa.name.goswami@iskcon.net
Example: bhakti.swami@iskcon.net, bhakti.goswami@iskcon.net
Display name examples: Bhakti Swami, Bhakti Goswami
Suffixes such as ‘das’, ‘dasi’ and ‘devi.dasi’ are not permitted in your main email address, but they are permitted in your email aliases.
You cannot edit your main email address or display name unless it is a legal or spiritual name change (e.g. you get initiated or married) in which case you can email us to modify it for you.
Your email address must be unique, but your official display name need not be. If someone else has already been assigned an email address or email alias that is appropriate for your name, then we will suffix a number to create your email address e.g. if your name is Krishna Das and your guru is Srila Prabhupada, and if krishna.acbsp@iskcon.net is already taken by another user, we will grant you krishna1.acbsp@iskcon.net – but you can request minor modifications such as krishna.das.acbsp@iskcon.net or krsna.acbsp@iskcon.net.
Internal users will always be able to see your main email address and display name in the directory. However, you can send email as an email alias, and you can customize your email display name in Gmail Settings > Accounts, or by using a custom display name in your email software.
Email addresses and aliases may only contain Roman letters, numbers and the period (.) symbol. Additionally, hyphen (-) is permitted if your legal or spiritual name contains a hyphen.
The official spiritual/legal name part of your display name may only contain Roman letters, although you can set a custom display name in Gmail or your email software.
The internal contacts directory shows your location including town/city, your state (if in the US or India), and your country code in ISO 2-letter format. No designations or other formats are permitted. If you have no fixed abode, you should sign up with your current location. You can edit your directory location by emailing us.
EMAIL ALIASES
Email aliases are additional email addresses that you can add to your mailbox. Emails sent to any of your email aliases will appear in your inbox.
You can change your settings to sometimes or always send emails from your email alias (or even from your external email accounts).
When you sign up for ISKCON.NET, you may request one or two aliases.
You can use email aliases only to send and receive mail. You must keep using your primary address to sign in to your account, send calendar invitations, sync with a mobile device, or share Google Docs and Sites.
Email aliases must conform to the following rules:
1. Email aliases must be unique, and are granted on a first-come, first-serve basis. At the time of registering, you can request email aliases but you will not be able to determine if any email alias is taken or available. If your registration is approved, you can check your granted email aliases by going to My Account > Your personal info > Email.
2. You can request us to add/modify/delete your email aliases at any time by emailing us.
3. The recommended email alias format for an initiated devotee is your initials followed by your guru’s initials e.g. Krishna Chaitanya Das ACBSP would have ‘kcd.acbsp’; and the recommended email alias format for sannyasis is your own initials e.g. Bhakti Vedanta Swami would have ‘bvs’.
4. Email aliases must be at least two characters. You may only request a 2-character or 3-character email alias if you are a Prabhupada disciple, guru, sannyasi, GBC member or deputy, GBC minister or a Global Duty Officer. Everyone else may only request email aliases of four characters or more.
5. Your email alias should be sensible and relevant to your identity i.e. it cannot misrepresent you.
Permitted: ‘kd.acbsp’ if your name is Krishna Das and your guru is Srila Prabhupada.
Permitted: ‘krishna’, ‘krishna.chaitanya’, ‘krishnachaitanya’ if your initiated name is Krishna Chaitanya Das.
Permitted: ‘krishnachaitanya.acbsp’ – this differs from your main email address in that no period is included in between the words of your name.
Permitted: ‘john’ if your legal name begins with John.
Permitted: ‘john.smith’ if you are initiated and your main email address is your initiated name, and your legal name is John Smith.
Permitted: ‘radha’ if your initiated or legal name is Radharani
Not permitted: ‘krishna’ if your initiated name does not contain the word Krishna.
Not permitted: ‘dasanudas’ or ‘radhe’ if this is not your name – unrelated nicknames are not permitted.
Not permitted: ‘bd’ if your initiated name does not begin with the letter ‘b’.
Not permitted: Any email alias containing a guru’s initials (e.g. ‘krishna.acbsp’) if you are not a disciple of that guru.
6. Email aliases may contain ‘das’ or ‘dasa’ if you are male, and ‘dasi’, ‘devi.dasi’, ‘dd’ or ‘d.d’ if you are female. Email aliases cannot end in ‘das’, unless DAS are the initials of your guru. Email aliases which are abbreviations may not end in the letter ‘s’ unless you are a sannyasi.
Permitted: ‘krishna.dasa’, ‘krishna.dasa.acbsp’, ‘krishna.das.acbsp’, ‘radharani.dd’
Permitted: ‘kcs’ if you are a sannyasi.
Permitted: ‘krishna.das1’
Not permitted: ‘krishna.das’, if you are not a disciple of H.H. Devamrita Swami (whose initials are DAS).
Not permitted: ‘kcs’ if you are not a sannyasi.
7. Email aliases cannot be only a number, but they can end in a sequential number if your preferred email alias is already taken e.g. if ‘kcd’ is already taken then you can have ‘kcd1’. You cannot request a custom number.
8. Email aliases cannot be or contain: a business/organisation name, a trading name, a place name, a center name, a ministry/department/team name, the word ‘iskcon’, anything offensive, or anything that is not a proper noun.
NON-INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTS
Non-individual accounts are accounts of temples, centers, teams, departments, ministries and projects. Different rules apply for email addresses, display names and email aliases of non-individual accounts. These rules will be published here shortly.
POLICY CHANGES AND ENFORCEMENT
This policy is subject to change at any time.
The ISKCON.NET Administrators reserve the right to modify your email address and/or display name, and add/remove/modify your email aliases. We will do so only with good cause and we will try to provide you with an explanation or justification, although we are not obliged to do so.
