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I now use one-off email addresses for every service I sign up for. e.g. <random>@mydomain.com It’s great to detect security leaks, but I can also just delete t

I now use one-off email addresses for every service I sign up for. e.g. <random>@mydomain.com It’s great to detect security leaks, but I can also just delete the address and then any email to it will bounce. This usually gets you off their list anyway after a hard bounce.

Delk 5y ago
Are all of those addresses aliases for the same mailbox? Do you run your own email server, or how do you manage creating a new address for each service with reasonable convenience?
- gingerlime 5y ago
  yes I run my own email server, but essentially forward to fastmail. I have a small script that generates a new forwarder. I add a note to remember what’s the purpose of the new email, and it also sends me an email with the note for quick lookup later on if necessary. I think there are some services that lets you set up forwarders, and even some domain registrars will give you this for free or a small fee (although I guess the script part might be something you’ll have to figure out)
  - quantumofalpha 5y ago
    What's the benefit of running own server in this case? Wildcard aliases is actually a standard fastmail feature, I use it a lot. No per-email setup needed whatsoever, I just give out <whatever>@mydomain.com, they all will reach my inbox. Haven't seen people sending spam to random aliases at my domain yet.
    - gingerlime 5y ago
      can you bounce one of those aliases? I have other reasons for having my own server (more mailboxes, domains, vendor lockin protection, own backups etc)
      - quantumofalpha 5y ago
        Yes, you can explicitly set up additional aliases that will bounce incoming mail (or redirect it). It's an option in "New Alias" screen - "Reject (bounce) all mail sent to this address (disable the alias)". While everything else not explicitly configured would get caught by the wildcard alias and delivered to the inbox you specified for it.
        gingerlime 5y ago
        That’s good to know!
zzo38computer 5y ago
I do the same. If I receive messages I don't want, I disable the address they are sending the message to. (Then they will get a error message from the SMTP server when trying to send the RCPT TO command.) I run my own email server and just use the /etc/aliases file to list the names that are acceptable. (I also have it configured so that real user names don't work, only aliases will work)
Crosseye_Jack 5y ago
I used to do this on gmail too before swapping to my own domain. On gmail you can use + to create aliases on demands. If you username is Foo.Bar and you are signing up to example.com you can use the email address “Foo.Bar+exampleCom@gmail.com” and it will land in your inbox. If a company leaks your email or stops respecting your choice about how they email you, you can just blackhole that username+aliases@gmail.com straight to trash. If a service refuses to allow you to use + in your email address you can use the period “hack” (I call it a hack, cause iirc it was meant as impersonation protectionand not meant to be used this way). On gmail your username can basically have as many or as few periods in it as you like. So using the Foo.Bar@gmail example foobar@ f.oobar@ fo.obar@ Fooba.r@ etc etc etc all work. You will just have to keep track on which username&period combo you used on X service yourself.
- jrootabega 5y ago
  This will work if the sender is just incompetent or uncoordinated. If they want to keep sending you spam against your wishes, they will just normalize back to your base address. you could keep a dotted form that you only share with entities that you trust absolutely, but that seems fragile
dmak 5y ago
I do the same, but I use catch-all so I don't have to create emails for each service.

Delk 5y ago

Are all of those addresses aliases for the same mailbox? Do you run your own email server, or how do you manage creating a new address for each service with reasonable convenience?

gingerlime 5y ago
yes I run my own email server, but essentially forward to fastmail. I have a small script that generates a new forwarder. I add a note to remember what’s the purpose of the new email, and it also sends me an email with the note for quick lookup later on if necessary. I think there are some services that lets you set up forwarders, and even some domain registrars will give you this for free or a small fee (although I guess the script part might be something you’ll have to figure out)
- quantumofalpha 5y ago
  What's the benefit of running own server in this case? Wildcard aliases is actually a standard fastmail feature, I use it a lot. No per-email setup needed whatsoever, I just give out <whatever>@mydomain.com, they all will reach my inbox. Haven't seen people sending spam to random aliases at my domain yet.
  - gingerlime 5y ago
    can you bounce one of those aliases? I have other reasons for having my own server (more mailboxes, domains, vendor lockin protection, own backups etc)
    - quantumofalpha 5y ago
      Yes, you can explicitly set up additional aliases that will bounce incoming mail (or redirect it). It's an option in "New Alias" screen - "Reject (bounce) all mail sent to this address (disable the alias)". While everything else not explicitly configured would get caught by the wildcard alias and delivered to the inbox you specified for it.
      - gingerlime 5y ago
        That’s good to know!

zzo38computer 5y ago

I do the same. If I receive messages I don't want, I disable the address they are sending the message to. (Then they will get a error message from the SMTP server when trying to send the RCPT TO command.) I run my own email server and just use the /etc/aliases file to list the names that are acceptable. (I also have it configured so that real user names don't work, only aliases will work)

Crosseye_Jack 5y ago

I used to do this on gmail too before swapping to my own domain. On gmail you can use + to create aliases on demands. If you username is Foo.Bar and you are signing up to example.com you can use the email address “Foo.Bar+exampleCom@gmail.com” and it will land in your inbox. If a company leaks your email or stops respecting your choice about how they email you, you can just blackhole that username+aliases@gmail.com straight to trash. If a service refuses to allow you to use + in your email address you can use the period “hack” (I call it a hack, cause iirc it was meant as impersonation protectionand not meant to be used this way). On gmail your username can basically have as many or as few periods in it as you like. So using the Foo.Bar@gmail example foobar@ f.oobar@ fo.obar@ Fooba.r@ etc etc etc all work. You will just have to keep track on which username&period combo you used on X service yourself.

jrootabega 5y ago
This will work if the sender is just incompetent or uncoordinated. If they want to keep sending you spam against your wishes, they will just normalize back to your base address. you could keep a dotted form that you only share with entities that you trust absolutely, but that seems fragile

dmak 5y ago

I do the same, but I use catch-all so I don't have to create emails for each service.