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While it is the sum of all parts that will equate to your complete online identity, your e-mail address is the glue that binds it all together. E-mail is the basic block of correspondence through the blogosphere. You will use your e-mail address as a login, as a place to receive follow up comments, and as a link to your avatar. If you already have an e-mail address that will suit you and your online identity, then that’s great! If not, then here are some options for you to consider:

Image via WikipediaG-Mail - The Google mail service is popular for a number of reasons. One of it’s most notable features is being able to thread the messages by subject. This can be especially helpful when subscribing to comments on blogs notorious for a proliferation of them.

Yahoo! Mail - While Yahoo! does not feature the organization skills of G-Mail, what Yahoo! does offer is the MyBlogLog Community. By getting an e-mail account at Yahoo!, integration and interaction within MyBlogLog becomes a bit easier. One of the true downsides about Yahoo! Mail is the number of e-mail messages you receive from all the other arms of Yahoo!. The frequency fringes on being spam, which is something Yahoo! in general needs to cut down on.

AOL - One of the last internet gateways standing, AOL Mail continues to try and improve on their mail service. Recent changes, including integrating the AIM List in the sidepanel and unlimited storage, show that AOL is on the move in the right direction… but still has awhile to go.

YourName@YourBlogName - If you choose to go self-hosted for your blog, provided your host provides e-mail accounts (which if they don’t, then seriously consider someone else), this is the equivalent to having vanity plates. However, one of the many downsides you may experience is the interface is generally not the prettiest nor greatest for either reading or writing. Mail programs, like ThunderBird, can usually make up for the lack of features, but you won’t be able to use them at just any computer. Still… it’s a pretty sweet thing to have.