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Not to be an asshole but I absolutely loathe this... these sort of things are why I'm forced to give my email address to organizations I don't trust. This is of

Not to be an asshole but I absolutely loathe this... these sort of things are why I'm forced to give my email address to organizations I don't trust. This is offensive to my sense of privacy and I wish people would stop doing it. Too often now sites/app want a login for no benefit other than to SPAM me with newsletters and crap I never wanted. That's why I use disposable email addresses, you're providing me no real value, at least sight unseen, but I must give you something I know is valuable-- my contact information.

cryptarch 10y ago
I add the name of whomever I'm mailing whenever I enter my address, like "cryptarch+microsoft@gmail.com". If they remove the "+microsoft" portion mailing me, that email is sent to my spambox and reported to spamcop, because I did not sign up with that address; the address I signed up with has the +etc infix. Eventually I figure companies will get wise to this and I'll have to set up my own server which does the same trick with an underscore instead of the "+" sign.
- bb88 10y ago
  Not all email validators respect the + symbol.
  - cryptarch 10y ago
    Most do however, and setting up your own server and making it use underscores or dashes for that purpose is one way around that. Related tutorial on how to set that up in Postfix: https://www.stevejenkins.com/blog/2011/03/how-to-use-address-tagging-usertagexample-com-with-postfix/ https://www.stevejenkins.com/blog/2011/03/how-to-use-address...
  - jrsmith1279 10y ago
    With gmail you can use periods in the email address and gmail will ignore them. i.e. bob.smith@gmail.com is the same as bobsmith@gmail.com or even bo.bsmith@gmail.com.
    - SparkyMcUnicorn 10y ago
      I did that for a bit, but there's only so many variations and remembering which email belongs to which service is not nearly as straight forward.
- imron 10y ago
  Switch to Fastmail. You can make addresses on the fly like microsoft@cryptarch.fastmail.com (which will automatically be resolved and sent to cryptarch+microsoft@fastmail.com) and you'll save the hassle of having to run and maintain your own mail server.
  - Doxin 10y ago
    gmail supports having +stuff in your email address too. it's fairly easy to set up filters to put stuff into folders based on the email it got sent to.
    - imron 10y ago
      That's different from what I described above. You don't use a '+' at all in the fastmail email addresses you give out. For example, say with gmail you have name+stuff@gmail.com, with fastmail you could use that if you wanted, but you can also use stuff@name.fastmail.com If fastmail receives mail on that address, it converts it for you as if it had been sent to name+stuff@fastmail.com instead. This happens entirely on the fly so you can make 'proper looking' emails without a '+'
- croon 10y ago
  That doesn't help if they sell your email though, because you don't know what company to match the spam with. I use mynamemicrosoft@mydomain.tld for each service, and i catch every email regardless of mail address. Sure they can manually fool me or use more sophisticated regex to find their service name (and i can obfuscate it), but in practically all cases i know which service has leaked my address if i get spam against a certain address that's not the service i signed up for.
- tscs37 10y ago
  The +company trick doesn't work everywhere anymore. I recommend using a personal domain and a mail service that offers catch-all filters. Stuff regex on that and you can also filter all emails of this type into a specific folder.
aembleton 10y ago
If they're not providing you with any value, then don't give them your email address. If it's just a Regex check then you can just use dslfkjsdlfj@fdsjfs.com. If it requires you to click on a verification link in the email then that is quite a high bar for you to go through to obtain something of `no value`.
- rubyn00bie 10y ago
  Most places aren't using a regex only unless someone high up is trying to covertly respect user privacy. If it's a walled garden, which more are becoming because it's the path to VC money, you have no way to know until you're inside. Most organizations who do this crap also require you click a link in the email to activate the account.
tyingq 10y ago
I think the mistake was using the word "block". A general purpose "email type classifier" might be useful. No need to block the temporary email, but you might use that information for other purposes, like having it be some weight to a fraud detection system. Note, not calling it out as fraud outright, but using it as one data point among others.
- clusterman 10y ago
  +1, and it all depends on how the website owners, SaaS providers, etc use it. They may choose to block or let them in with nice notifications message then block later. I just provide the tool for those in need.
hatsunearu 10y ago
Damn right, this is straight up evil technology, with high probability of harming society.
otterpro 10y ago
I have a secondary email address as a throw-away email, just for the purpose of registration, i.e. my-other-email@gmail.com.
- frogpelt 10y ago
  This is the solution. If OP can't manage this, then OP isn't that worried about privacy.
  - rubyn00bie 10y ago
    I don't see how you can say my approach, a disposable email address, is less secure or privacy focused than yours. It makes zero sense to me. Please by all means explain this to me.
    - frogpelt 10y ago
      I'm 13 days late but, I'm not arguing that your approach is less secure or privacy-focused. My point is, if you can't be bothered to create an extra email address for this purpose, then you probably aren't that concerned about it. But I'm subject to being wrong.
Exuma 10y ago
These guys let you add your own domain https://www.guerrillamail.com/ https://www.guerrillamail.com/
- clusterman 10y ago
  Hi Exuma. FYI, I do check custom domain names pointing to disposable email address providers. If you add your own domain name, it will be also blocked.
  - Exuma 10y ago
    Well you are an asshole then. Just kidding! But not really :/
mike-cardwell 10y ago
I just give out automatically expiring email addresses. here's an email address which will work until Thursday and then start bouncing: 2017-03-30@tmp.grepular.com I didn't have to click a button or anything to create it. It just exists, thanks to the pattern. Here's how I did it: https://www.grepular.com/Automatically_Expiring_Email_Addresses https://www.grepular.com/Automatically_Expiring_Email_Addres...

cryptarch 10y ago

I add the name of whomever I'm mailing whenever I enter my address, like "cryptarch+microsoft@gmail.com". If they remove the "+microsoft" portion mailing me, that email is sent to my spambox and reported to spamcop, because I did not sign up with that address; the address I signed up with has the +etc infix. Eventually I figure companies will get wise to this and I'll have to set up my own server which does the same trick with an underscore instead of the "+" sign.

bb88 10y ago
Not all email validators respect the + symbol.
- cryptarch 10y ago
  Most do however, and setting up your own server and making it use underscores or dashes for that purpose is one way around that. Related tutorial on how to set that up in Postfix: https://www.stevejenkins.com/blog/2011/03/how-to-use-address-tagging-usertagexample-com-with-postfix/ https://www.stevejenkins.com/blog/2011/03/how-to-use-address...
- jrsmith1279 10y ago
  With gmail you can use periods in the email address and gmail will ignore them. i.e. bob.smith@gmail.com is the same as bobsmith@gmail.com or even bo.bsmith@gmail.com.
  - SparkyMcUnicorn 10y ago
    I did that for a bit, but there's only so many variations and remembering which email belongs to which service is not nearly as straight forward.
imron 10y ago
Switch to Fastmail. You can make addresses on the fly like microsoft@cryptarch.fastmail.com (which will automatically be resolved and sent to cryptarch+microsoft@fastmail.com) and you'll save the hassle of having to run and maintain your own mail server.
- Doxin 10y ago
  gmail supports having +stuff in your email address too. it's fairly easy to set up filters to put stuff into folders based on the email it got sent to.
  - imron 10y ago
    That's different from what I described above. You don't use a '+' at all in the fastmail email addresses you give out. For example, say with gmail you have name+stuff@gmail.com, with fastmail you could use that if you wanted, but you can also use stuff@name.fastmail.com If fastmail receives mail on that address, it converts it for you as if it had been sent to name+stuff@fastmail.com instead. This happens entirely on the fly so you can make 'proper looking' emails without a '+'
croon 10y ago
That doesn't help if they sell your email though, because you don't know what company to match the spam with. I use mynamemicrosoft@mydomain.tld for each service, and i catch every email regardless of mail address. Sure they can manually fool me or use more sophisticated regex to find their service name (and i can obfuscate it), but in practically all cases i know which service has leaked my address if i get spam against a certain address that's not the service i signed up for.
tscs37 10y ago
The +company trick doesn't work everywhere anymore. I recommend using a personal domain and a mail service that offers catch-all filters. Stuff regex on that and you can also filter all emails of this type into a specific folder.

aembleton 10y ago

If they're not providing you with any value, then don't give them your email address. If it's just a Regex check then you can just use dslfkjsdlfj@fdsjfs.com. If it requires you to click on a verification link in the email then that is quite a high bar for you to go through to obtain something of `no value`.

rubyn00bie 10y ago
Most places aren't using a regex only unless someone high up is trying to covertly respect user privacy. If it's a walled garden, which more are becoming because it's the path to VC money, you have no way to know until you're inside. Most organizations who do this crap also require you click a link in the email to activate the account.

tyingq 10y ago

I think the mistake was using the word "block". A general purpose "email type classifier" might be useful. No need to block the temporary email, but you might use that information for other purposes, like having it be some weight to a fraud detection system. Note, not calling it out as fraud outright, but using it as one data point among others.

clusterman 10y ago
+1, and it all depends on how the website owners, SaaS providers, etc use it. They may choose to block or let them in with nice notifications message then block later. I just provide the tool for those in need.

hatsunearu 10y ago

Damn right, this is straight up evil technology, with high probability of harming society.

otterpro 10y ago

I have a secondary email address as a throw-away email, just for the purpose of registration, i.e. my-other-email@gmail.com.

frogpelt 10y ago
This is the solution. If OP can't manage this, then OP isn't that worried about privacy.
- rubyn00bie 10y ago
  I don't see how you can say my approach, a disposable email address, is less secure or privacy focused than yours. It makes zero sense to me. Please by all means explain this to me.
  - frogpelt 10y ago
    I'm 13 days late but, I'm not arguing that your approach is less secure or privacy-focused. My point is, if you can't be bothered to create an extra email address for this purpose, then you probably aren't that concerned about it. But I'm subject to being wrong.

Exuma 10y ago

These guys let you add your own domain https://www.guerrillamail.com/ https://www.guerrillamail.com/

clusterman 10y ago
Hi Exuma. FYI, I do check custom domain names pointing to disposable email address providers. If you add your own domain name, it will be also blocked.
- Exuma 10y ago
  Well you are an asshole then. Just kidding! But not really :/

mike-cardwell 10y ago

I just give out automatically expiring email addresses. here's an email address which will work until Thursday and then start bouncing: 2017-03-30@tmp.grepular.com I didn't have to click a button or anything to create it. It just exists, thanks to the pattern. Here's how I did it: https://www.grepular.com/Automatically_Expiring_Email_Addresses https://www.grepular.com/Automatically_Expiring_Email_Addres...