4 ms·

Not sure why people bother to use the << spam at google's email >> approach when they can use an email forwarding service that lets you turn email addresses off

Not sure why people bother to use the << spam at google's email >> approach when they can use an email forwarding service that lets you turn email addresses off, like https://idbloc.co https://idbloc.co (disclaimer, I built this)

sametmax 7y ago
Because I don't want to shutdown the address later: people may try to use it to reach me. I use anti spam addresses to register to new services.
perseaalexandra 7y ago
Not sure why people bother using idbloc.co instead of burnermail.io
omegabravo 7y ago
I think these are a great idea. The reason that people use that method is because it is free, and the suggested alternative costs money. I typically use throw away email addresses instead since they're free. If I actually want to use the service/account some day I'll sign up properly. I expect someday the primary email providers will generate aliases on demand.
- giancarlostoro 7y ago
  > I typically use throw away email addresses instead since they're free. If I actually want to use the service/account some day I'll sign up properly. The example above is about giving a direct line to be contacted through email on a personal site or blog, heck even a professional one. > I expect someday the primary email providers will generate aliases on demand. I know at least ProtonMail does it. But also theres the email#tag@gmail.com trick that works nicely enough.
- myu701 7y ago
  Fastmail lets you convert myusername@fastmail.com to whateverwebsiteorservice@myusername.fastmail.com It's not a literal alias, but it works out fine. One of these days I'm going to propose the Thunderbird + K-9 mail addons that say 'set the sent from email address to be equal to the sent to email address', that way if service@myusername.fastmail.com is the recipient, it will be the sender to any replies, rather than the MUA default replying with myusername@fastmail.com (but that's a separate discussion)
  - asdkhadsj 7y ago
    I didn't know that was possible, really neat!
prashnts 7y ago
That example is quite common within academic context: most of the researchers and professors I know, who have a university homepage, use this. I guess its because they do want legitimate people to reach them easily (students, collaborators etc) and if spams do go through — well they'd probably ignore it, just like they ignore other emails.

sametmax 7y ago

Because I don't want to shutdown the address later: people may try to use it to reach me. I use anti spam addresses to register to new services.

perseaalexandra 7y ago

Not sure why people bother using idbloc.co instead of burnermail.io

omegabravo 7y ago

I think these are a great idea. The reason that people use that method is because it is free, and the suggested alternative costs money. I typically use throw away email addresses instead since they're free. If I actually want to use the service/account some day I'll sign up properly. I expect someday the primary email providers will generate aliases on demand.

giancarlostoro 7y ago
> I typically use throw away email addresses instead since they're free. If I actually want to use the service/account some day I'll sign up properly. The example above is about giving a direct line to be contacted through email on a personal site or blog, heck even a professional one. > I expect someday the primary email providers will generate aliases on demand. I know at least ProtonMail does it. But also theres the email#tag@gmail.com trick that works nicely enough.
myu701 7y ago
Fastmail lets you convert myusername@fastmail.com to whateverwebsiteorservice@myusername.fastmail.com It's not a literal alias, but it works out fine. One of these days I'm going to propose the Thunderbird + K-9 mail addons that say 'set the sent from email address to be equal to the sent to email address', that way if service@myusername.fastmail.com is the recipient, it will be the sender to any replies, rather than the MUA default replying with myusername@fastmail.com (but that's a separate discussion)
- asdkhadsj 7y ago
  I didn't know that was possible, really neat!

prashnts 7y ago

That example is quite common within academic context: most of the researchers and professors I know, who have a university homepage, use this. I guess its because they do want legitimate people to reach them easily (students, collaborators etc) and if spams do go through — well they'd probably ignore it, just like they ignore other emails.