4 ms·

I've started using my own domain to avoid giving out my "real" addresseverywhere. It doesn't always work, but it usually does.

bmarquez 5y ago
I used to do that, but then considered I might be leaking out more inferred info by doing that. Such as WHOIS info (if not cloaked), or an algorithm may assume I'm a business and charge me higher prices, etc. I used to get marketing spam from Dropbox saying that many of my coworkers enjoy using it and to upgrade -- but I was the only user on that domain name.
- KMnO4 5y ago
  > WHOIS info (if not cloaked) I wouldn’t consider this a legitimate concern. Whois privacy is common and often free for nearly all registrars (barring TLDs which disallow this) > May assume I’m a business I really doubt this happens frequently, at least far more infrequently than a business using your permanent email for spam. Besides, if the algorithm decides that any non-gmail/outlook/yahoo/etc mail is “business”, then they’re going to assume that about any disposable email. Personally, I find the $4/year I spend on a domain name to be incredibly worth it and the downsides are far fewer than the upsides.
wjd2030 5y ago
I did the same using proton mail and catch-all addresses. Every website I give a unique email address and it all goes into a special folder. If I start receiving spam from any address it gets blocked. This also gives me a pretty solid idea if a company is selling my info.
mindslight 5y ago
Your own domain pointing to your own service or other "standard" email service (as contrasted with say mailinator's custom domain feature) ? I have never had any problem using unique addresses at my own domain with anybody. It makes for funny interactions with customer service people though, because those addresses generally contain the name of the company I give it out to. (Obviously anything at a domain I own is directly associable to me, and for many trashwalls I still prefer to use mailinator etc)
Aachen 5y ago
Why doesn't it always work? I'm also using my own domain, not sure why'd that ever 'not work'.
- bmarquez 5y ago
  As an experiment, I once tried to see if online services accepted role-based emails (like admin@domain info@domin sales@domain contact@domain). Surprisingly, the game Eve Online was super-strict in refusing these types of addresses. Most other services were fine though.
  - universenz 5y ago
    EVE Online has highly sophisticated user fingerprinting to prevent fraud and real money trading. So even if you got through with that email address it wouldn't be long before an issue was raised for your account. With EVE, fraud comes in many ways and most would presume credit card fraud but because you can earn ISK in-game, which can be converted/sold for PLEX (their game-time subscription currency, worth real $) many items (Capital Ships, High Experience Characters, Corporations) are bought and sold for real money outside of the platform - which in some cases, is revenue that EVE would/could benefit from if PLEX was purchased from them directly and used legitimately instead. So aside from basic things like blocking utility email addresses, they have sophisticated algorithms that monitor user accounts for unusual activity. The definition of unusual is constantly growing/changing and it is monitored and managed by a dedicated "security" team. Source: Friend of friend works in that security team.
- detaro 5y ago
  Because some people implementing email rules implement stupid rules. Biggest name that I remember that silently just didn't work with a private domain was aliexpress.
Nextgrid 5y ago
I do the same but my worry is that any kind of smart enough spammer or stalker can use the domain as a fingerprint.
- bmarquez 5y ago
  It's been reported[1] that PayPal (and probably other services as well) use the entire domain name as a fingerprint, banning everyone connected if there is a serious issue. Since they're presumably more closely linked in a way than a Gmail/Protonmail/etc email domain shared by unrelated users. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29940133 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29940133

bmarquez 5y ago

I used to do that, but then considered I might be leaking out more inferred info by doing that. Such as WHOIS info (if not cloaked), or an algorithm may assume I'm a business and charge me higher prices, etc. I used to get marketing spam from Dropbox saying that many of my coworkers enjoy using it and to upgrade -- but I was the only user on that domain name.

KMnO4 5y ago
> WHOIS info (if not cloaked) I wouldn’t consider this a legitimate concern. Whois privacy is common and often free for nearly all registrars (barring TLDs which disallow this) > May assume I’m a business I really doubt this happens frequently, at least far more infrequently than a business using your permanent email for spam. Besides, if the algorithm decides that any non-gmail/outlook/yahoo/etc mail is “business”, then they’re going to assume that about any disposable email. Personally, I find the $4/year I spend on a domain name to be incredibly worth it and the downsides are far fewer than the upsides.

wjd2030 5y ago

I did the same using proton mail and catch-all addresses. Every website I give a unique email address and it all goes into a special folder. If I start receiving spam from any address it gets blocked. This also gives me a pretty solid idea if a company is selling my info.

mindslight 5y ago

Your own domain pointing to your own service or other "standard" email service (as contrasted with say mailinator's custom domain feature) ? I have never had any problem using unique addresses at my own domain with anybody. It makes for funny interactions with customer service people though, because those addresses generally contain the name of the company I give it out to. (Obviously anything at a domain I own is directly associable to me, and for many trashwalls I still prefer to use mailinator etc)

Aachen 5y ago

Why doesn't it always work? I'm also using my own domain, not sure why'd that ever 'not work'.

bmarquez 5y ago
As an experiment, I once tried to see if online services accepted role-based emails (like admin@domain info@domin sales@domain contact@domain). Surprisingly, the game Eve Online was super-strict in refusing these types of addresses. Most other services were fine though.
- universenz 5y ago
  EVE Online has highly sophisticated user fingerprinting to prevent fraud and real money trading. So even if you got through with that email address it wouldn't be long before an issue was raised for your account. With EVE, fraud comes in many ways and most would presume credit card fraud but because you can earn ISK in-game, which can be converted/sold for PLEX (their game-time subscription currency, worth real $) many items (Capital Ships, High Experience Characters, Corporations) are bought and sold for real money outside of the platform - which in some cases, is revenue that EVE would/could benefit from if PLEX was purchased from them directly and used legitimately instead. So aside from basic things like blocking utility email addresses, they have sophisticated algorithms that monitor user accounts for unusual activity. The definition of unusual is constantly growing/changing and it is monitored and managed by a dedicated "security" team. Source: Friend of friend works in that security team.
detaro 5y ago
Because some people implementing email rules implement stupid rules. Biggest name that I remember that silently just didn't work with a private domain was aliexpress.

Nextgrid 5y ago

I do the same but my worry is that any kind of smart enough spammer or stalker can use the domain as a fingerprint.

bmarquez 5y ago
It's been reported[1] that PayPal (and probably other services as well) use the entire domain name as a fingerprint, banning everyone connected if there is a serious issue. Since they're presumably more closely linked in a way than a Gmail/Protonmail/etc email domain shared by unrelated users. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29940133 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29940133