4 ms·

I cannot recommend fastmail to anyone for the simple reason that if your account expires and gets deleted, anyone can create an account with the same email addr

by vivan 4y ago

I cannot recommend fastmail to anyone for the simple reason that if your account expires and gets deleted, anyone can create an account with the same email address and take over your identity. This seems like a massive security flaw.

evgen 4y ago
You should always own the domain your email is sent to. If this is the case then the solution to this problem is trivial with DKIM/SPF, if this is not the case then it does not matter what third-party provider you are using because this can always happen. Your complaint has nothing to do with fastmail.
- amelius 4y ago
  > You should always own the domain your email is sent to. Can you own a domain name? I was under the impression that it can still expire, which makes this solution about just as bad.
  - nicky0 4y ago
    Well it can expire if you let it expire. There is nothing that can absolutely guarantee you keep you email address, but owning a domain name (say with a 10 year prepayment) is damned close.
    - culopatin 4y ago
      Isn’t it the same as paying Fastmail for 10 years?
- vivan 4y ago
  Other email providers don't allow recycling of account names - once they're gone, they're gone. That said, I do agree that using a domain you own is better practice. However, I have been burned there before - I used a .eu domain for pretty much all of my email sign-ups for over a decade, then had the domain yanked away because of Brexit. Yes, my fault for not realising that this would happen (I lay some of the blame with my domain provider for not mentioning it to me at all).
  - devilkin 4y ago
    I think you are woefully mistaken here, plenty of mail providers allow you to scrap your account and get a new one with the same mail address.
mdiesel 4y ago
But on the flip side, good luck making any kind of sensible Gmail account for example, which means either fastmail needs multiple domains or their service will see new customers reducing over the years as people can't get sensible email addresses. The same thing is true of phone numbers, but it's more obvious that there's a finite number of... numbers... So they need to be reused eventually.
- nicky0 4y ago
  Fastmail does indeed use multiple domains. However it's much better to use your own domain with fastmail to truly own your email address.

by vivan 4y ago

evgen 4y ago

You should always own the domain your email is sent to. If this is the case then the solution to this problem is trivial with DKIM/SPF, if this is not the case then it does not matter what third-party provider you are using because this can always happen. Your complaint has nothing to do with fastmail.

amelius 4y ago
> You should always own the domain your email is sent to. Can you own a domain name? I was under the impression that it can still expire, which makes this solution about just as bad.
- nicky0 4y ago
  Well it can expire if you let it expire. There is nothing that can absolutely guarantee you keep you email address, but owning a domain name (say with a 10 year prepayment) is damned close.
  - culopatin 4y ago
    Isn’t it the same as paying Fastmail for 10 years?
vivan 4y ago
Other email providers don't allow recycling of account names - once they're gone, they're gone. That said, I do agree that using a domain you own is better practice. However, I have been burned there before - I used a .eu domain for pretty much all of my email sign-ups for over a decade, then had the domain yanked away because of Brexit. Yes, my fault for not realising that this would happen (I lay some of the blame with my domain provider for not mentioning it to me at all).
- devilkin 4y ago
  I think you are woefully mistaken here, plenty of mail providers allow you to scrap your account and get a new one with the same mail address.

mdiesel 4y ago

But on the flip side, good luck making any kind of sensible Gmail account for example, which means either fastmail needs multiple domains or their service will see new customers reducing over the years as people can't get sensible email addresses. The same thing is true of phone numbers, but it's more obvious that there's a finite number of... numbers... So they need to be reused eventually.

nicky0 4y ago
Fastmail does indeed use multiple domains. However it's much better to use your own domain with fastmail to truly own your email address.