4 ms·

Even for Gmail users, the + notation will handle this well. foobar@gmail.com and foobar+SearsSoldMyEmail@gmail.com will both direct to the same location, and r

Even for Gmail users, the + notation will handle this well. foobar@gmail.com and foobar+SearsSoldMyEmail@gmail.com will both direct to the same location, and relatively few resellers have the sense to strip the extra data.

Nadya 10y ago
I do this but note that '+' will invalidate your email on some sites and can't be used to begin with. Yay for poor email validation! Gmail ignores `.` in email addresses so you could also try `y.o.u.r.e.m.a.i.l@gmail.com` which will validate in more places - but then you can't pinpoint where exactly unless you start keeping track in a complex spreadsheet. But you will know that somewhere you signed up for sold your email address. [0] https://gmail.googleblog.com/2008/03/2-hidden-ways-to-get-more-from-your.html https://gmail.googleblog.com/2008/03/2-hidden-ways-to-get-mo...
- TeMPOraL 10y ago
  > unless you start keeping track in a complex spreadsheet The spreadsheet doesn't have to be that complex. Just treat the spaces between letters as bits. Dot is 1, no dot is 0. Suddenly, an e-mail temporal@example.com has 128 different variants, and your spreadsheet may just be a numbered list of companies :).
techsupporter 10y ago
The problem with the + notation is twofold: First, not all places accept the + character; second, you've now revealed your actual e-mail address (since foobar@gmail.com is just as valid as foobar+dontspamme@gmail.com). I use a subdomain with catch-all, like me.example.com. Everybody is fine with subdomains and then I can use companyname@me.example.com. Using that format doesn't expose my actual e-mail address and makes it easy to filter (if match companyname, immediately bin and never tell me).
- Bartweiss 10y ago
  This is a good point. For me, the actual email problem isn't huge - my first line of defense is giving out a burner email unless I want the primary site to be able to contact me. So I don't expect to get truly hammered with spam, and just want a way to know what happened if someone does sell the address. The invalidation issue is a bigger one, and a subdomain is certainly a better solution for it. Disposable emails and the + notation are nice for people who either don't want to leave gmail, or are bound to it via college or company email system. They aren't the best cure, though.
  - softawre 10y ago
    Not to mention that many spamming setups have known about the + trick for a long time and will trim it out.
- ellisv 10y ago
  > First, not all places accept the + character Additionally you cannot send an email from foobar+dontspamme@gmail.com. If you aggressively use the + character for legitimate signups but need customer support they may not be able to find your account as easily (e.g. "we couldn't find an account associated with e-mail foobar@gmail.com").
  - dawnerd 10y ago
    I've been able to. Just set it up as an alias.
  - mnw21cam 10y ago
    > Additionally you cannot send an email from foobar+dontspamme@gmail.com Um. Why not?
- duhast 10y ago
  You can use dot as well: foobar.dontspamme@gmail.com
  - Bartweiss 10y ago
    Can you? I believe gmail strips out periods, but doesn't discard content after them like it does with +.
sseagull 10y ago
If you run your own mail server you can set it to be any character you like. I have mine set to a dash, which tends to be accepted everywhere and less likely to be discovered as an alias (although certainly not impossible)
nashashmi 10y ago
That does not work because anybody who has your email address knows to remove anything after '+'. The only case it can work is if you were to only use addresses where there was a + sign, and throw all other emails to the trash. I have thought of a similar technique but this time using a period that would float between all the letters I have in my username. Any emails sent to an address without the period gets autodeleted.

Nadya 10y ago

I do this but note that '+' will invalidate your email on some sites and can't be used to begin with. Yay for poor email validation! Gmail ignores `.` in email addresses so you could also try `y.o.u.r.e.m.a.i.l@gmail.com` which will validate in more places - but then you can't pinpoint where exactly unless you start keeping track in a complex spreadsheet. But you will know that somewhere you signed up for sold your email address. [0] https://gmail.googleblog.com/2008/03/2-hidden-ways-to-get-more-from-your.html https://gmail.googleblog.com/2008/03/2-hidden-ways-to-get-mo...

TeMPOraL 10y ago
> unless you start keeping track in a complex spreadsheet The spreadsheet doesn't have to be that complex. Just treat the spaces between letters as bits. Dot is 1, no dot is 0. Suddenly, an e-mail temporal@example.com has 128 different variants, and your spreadsheet may just be a numbered list of companies :).

techsupporter 10y ago

The problem with the + notation is twofold: First, not all places accept the + character; second, you've now revealed your actual e-mail address (since foobar@gmail.com is just as valid as foobar+dontspamme@gmail.com). I use a subdomain with catch-all, like me.example.com. Everybody is fine with subdomains and then I can use companyname@me.example.com. Using that format doesn't expose my actual e-mail address and makes it easy to filter (if match companyname, immediately bin and never tell me).

Bartweiss 10y ago
This is a good point. For me, the actual email problem isn't huge - my first line of defense is giving out a burner email unless I want the primary site to be able to contact me. So I don't expect to get truly hammered with spam, and just want a way to know what happened if someone does sell the address. The invalidation issue is a bigger one, and a subdomain is certainly a better solution for it. Disposable emails and the + notation are nice for people who either don't want to leave gmail, or are bound to it via college or company email system. They aren't the best cure, though.
- softawre 10y ago
  Not to mention that many spamming setups have known about the + trick for a long time and will trim it out.
ellisv 10y ago
> First, not all places accept the + character Additionally you cannot send an email from foobar+dontspamme@gmail.com. If you aggressively use the + character for legitimate signups but need customer support they may not be able to find your account as easily (e.g. "we couldn't find an account associated with e-mail foobar@gmail.com").
- dawnerd 10y ago
  I've been able to. Just set it up as an alias.
- mnw21cam 10y ago
  > Additionally you cannot send an email from foobar+dontspamme@gmail.com Um. Why not?
duhast 10y ago
You can use dot as well: foobar.dontspamme@gmail.com
- Bartweiss 10y ago
  Can you? I believe gmail strips out periods, but doesn't discard content after them like it does with +.

sseagull 10y ago

If you run your own mail server you can set it to be any character you like. I have mine set to a dash, which tends to be accepted everywhere and less likely to be discovered as an alias (although certainly not impossible)

nashashmi 10y ago

That does not work because anybody who has your email address knows to remove anything after '+'. The only case it can work is if you were to only use addresses where there was a + sign, and throw all other emails to the trash. I have thought of a similar technique but this time using a period that would float between all the letters I have in my username. Any emails sent to an address without the period gets autodeleted.