7 ms·

I switched to using a custom domain + catchall email setup. So when I go to a retail store that requires an email to get a receipt, I just give them STORENAME@

• Gigachad 3y ago
  Yeah but you look really weird trying to give this email in person or over the phone. I used to do that but these days I just set up a filter rule to move emails from their domain to junk. Most stuff that comes from email leaks gets caught but the spam filter already.
  • hammyhavoc 3y ago
    An email address is an email address. Who cares if it looks weird? It's far more weird to sell someone's data or not respect if they wish to be contacted. If necessary, blag it. Walmart? `wallace.martin@yourdomain.suffix`.
    • londons_explore 3y ago
      There are more and more sites that now demand you use a hotmail/outlook/bigco email address. If you try to use your own domain, they'll say "sorry, you need to use your personal email for this - for business use contact our sales department".
      • hammyhavoc 3y ago
        Then use the `+` system on them and forward your emails wherever you want them to ultimately be stored. https://gmail.googleblog.com/2008/03/2-hidden-ways-to-get-more-from-your.html?m=1 https://gmail.googleblog.com/2008/03/2-hidden-ways-to-get-mo... Works on outlook.com addresses too.
        • dspillett 3y ago
          While this generally works as a way of filtering that one company if needed, it doesn't protect against spam when if they have their mailing lists stolen (or selling them is BAU), and many spammers know about this and will send to the base address instead. Unless you automatically file anything without +something as junk, of course.
          • hammyhavoc 3y ago
            I apply labels and `skip inbox` via Gmail filters automatically. It's probably the one redeeming quality of Gmail at this point and is what keeps me using it so that email can be processed prior to it sending a push notification to my devices. With that said, it's a niche use anyway, stick to the catch-all on your own domain whenever possible, and for anything else, it's a fringe case anyway.
        • JohnFen 3y ago
          That would require you to get an account on the big name mail providers, though.
      • scrollaway 3y ago
        I don't believe you. I'm sure a couple of examples of this exist, but they're the exception, and certainly not a case of "more and more".
        • hammyhavoc 3y ago
          And you are very welcome not to believe the commenter because both of your experiences are anecdotal n+1. I have seen this happen with increasing frequency, but I am admittedly terminally online, and of all the sites I visit, it's probably 2 in 10 that don't allow me to use my own domain, but this is again completely anecdotal and based on the sites that I visit and I am not representative of the average user whatsoever.
          • genewitch 3y ago
            give some examples, so those of us with personal domains can test it and see why it's failing. "not having a gmail account" smacks of "lol you have compuserv? everyone else is on AOL!"
            • mthoms 3y ago
              Here's an example, but it only applies to residents of B.C. https://app.bchydro.com/BCHCustomerPortal/createProfile.html https://app.bchydro.com/BCHCustomerPortal/createProfile.html >we can't accept generic addresses (e.g. sales@company.com). Please use an individual address (e.g. john@company.com) Apparently hello@<firstname><lastname>.com isn't individual enough.
              • genewitch 3y ago
                that let me sign up with myhydro@domain which i am now going to route to trashcan.
              • scrollaway 3y ago
                I have seen admin@, info@ etc addresses being rejected before but that is very different from the domain being rejected… Your problem is with the hello@.
      • dspillett 3y ago
        I can't say I've ever seen this, and I've used my own domain for decades, I think it is unlikely to really happen. I can imagine services refusing known temporary address domains and giving that response as a “fake” error message rather than honestly saying they don't accept temporary addresses because they have less value. Do you have any specific examples if it has actually happened for a non-throw-away address? I'll make sure I don't waste time even trying to subscribe to their services!
        • hammyhavoc 3y ago
          Banks and utility companies aren't an uncommon one. When your method of account recovery is email, it's far more trustworthy to trust a major email provider than it is to trust Joe Schmoe running his mailserver at home to keep it secure, or to trust that someone isn't going to be abusive. Example: scorned employee or spouse, they redirect or copy email to x address, and they gain access to accounts via that. "That could never happen." It's happened plenty of times that it's a consideration for a lot of major institutions, and it's happened enough that the radio and bus stops in the UK have ads warning people of the signs of financial abuse. That's without even getting into people not having automatic renewal set on their domain and losing the domain.
        • digging 3y ago
          I've had it happen infrequently because my TLD is an unusual one (not .com, .net, .org, etc). I am told I have not entered a valid email address.
          • TRiG_Ireland 3y ago
            I use a .name address (a .name domain with a catch-all address), and have only once had it rejected by any automatic process. I've had a couple of humans question it, though.
        • mthoms 3y ago
          I thought it unlikely too. But our local utility (BC Hydro) won't allow me to use hello@<firstname><lastname>.com because their system flags it as a generic corporate email address. According to them you must use the email address of a specific person in your company (paraphrased). But I got this error when updating my residential account. Since when did companies get to decide what is or isn't a valid email address?
      • marssaxman 3y ago
        I have never used any bigco email address, and I have never encountered this. I almost want to experience this, now, just so I can give them a hard time about it.
      • JohnFen 3y ago
        > If you try to use your own domain, they'll say "sorry, you need to use your personal email for this Are these companies really unaware that lots of individuals have their own domains for personal use?
        • hammyhavoc 3y ago
          Can you even register a domain without an existing email address in 2023?
          • JohnFen 3y ago
            I have no idea. All of my domain names are ones I registered decades ago. But, in the US anyway, I don't think there is an ISP that doesn't give you an email address as part of the service. You could use that to register your domain.
            • hammyhavoc 3y ago
              You certainly could use it to register your domain, but then, arguably, the default "personal" email address is the one that isn't on your own domain, even if that's what we consider "personal" as you could forget to set automatic renewal, the payment method could fail, and somebody could register your domain and gain access to the accounts and setup catch-all email, and parse database leaks for @domain.suffix addresses. I do understand where you're coming from though. I remember the days of setting up my first ever domain via post in the UK! I still have the letter lmao.
              • JohnFen 3y ago
                > the default "personal" email address is the one that isn't on your own domain I don't follow. That reasoning would mean that if you use a gmail account, for instance, that isn't a "personal" email address either. It seems to me a personal email address is an email address you use for personal communications as opposed to business communications. Where that address is hosted, or what domain its on, isn't relevant to the question.
  • whitemary 3y ago
    I use Fastmail's masked emails all the time and nobody minds at all. I just used another one at H&M yesterday, which I do every single time because you get 15% for creating a new account with them. I don't even read it out to them. I just hold up my phone and show it to them, which they appreciate.
    • londons_explore 3y ago
      Just remember that misrepresenting your identity as a way to get a benefit (like a discount) is technically wire fraud. You're unlikely to get prosecuted till the day you do it to the wrong company...
      • ipaddr 3y ago
        No it's wire fraud. I invite you to back that somehow. Using different emails or addresses or different cards is not illegal
      • whitemary 3y ago
        Lmao having multiple email addresses or H&M accounts is definitely not "wire fraud."
      • carlosjobim 3y ago
        Just remember what? Unless he claims to be somebody else he is hardly committing any fraud. If they don't remember him or if their system doesn't remember him - isn't that their own problem? But the steps people take to get a discount... He could probably just straihgt ask for a discount and get it anyway without making a new registration.
    • IG_Semmelweiss 3y ago
      ANyone minding will not tell you they actually mind.... Case in point. ChatGPT will not accept any masked email from fastmail. I tried multiple traditional domains. No luck. The error was something to the effect "try later, too much traffic" something or other. (Hiding behind public perception, slick). This went on for days. One day, after the 20th try...on the next second, I finally relented and used my google workplace email... (which ironically enough is not very liked , particularly by banks, since its not a traditional dot com domain). That worked immediately.
  • Semaphor 3y ago
    > Yeah but you look really weird trying to give this email in person or over the phone. Less often than you’d think. Though I had one legal department write me, and a confused music label owner with a by-mail order process ;)
  • dspillett 3y ago
    > Yeah but you look really weird trying to give this email in person or over the phone. I really don't care about that. If anyone questions it I'm honest: “it lets me filter messages into folders/tags so I can prioritise easily, and it lets me easily block your company if it sends too much or sell my details on”. I once had someone (an in-physical-store “signup and we'll send you some vouchers” deal) refuse to accept such an address to which my response was “Fair enough, but if you won't take that I'm not signing up, you aren't getting other contact details out of me”. Other than that one example I've had no trouble in this regard, the only other significant reactions I've had being something along the lines of “I might have to start doing that”. Never let commercial interests embarrass or guilt you into behaving in their favour! I used a sub-domain for the catch all which has one or twice over the years caused an issue due to bad validation, not liking the extra “.” unless it is near the end like in .co.uk, at which point I step away because a company that can't deal with a perfectly valid email address domain part probably can't store anything securely! > Most stuff that comes from email leaks gets caught but the spam filter already. It isn't just leaks, it is when the company itself sends too much or gives your details to its parent/child/partner companies (most likely there was a non-optional, or at least default-on, checkbox that give them permission to do this). That sort of thing is less likely to be caught by general spam filters, though admittedly the volume or that is likely rather lower so the irritation likewise.
  • Vvector 3y ago
    That works 99% of the time. But that one unscrupulous company sells your email to their "partners" and now you have to block dozens of domains.
    • genewitch 3y ago
      yes, this is the reason to use email on your own domain, it doesn't matter if a company sells the email address, you just spambox all the email to that address after cancelling or whatever. everyone is hip to the dot separation and + of google et al. it does nothing. good luck getting me to look at genewitch@mydomain emails, since i have used that exactly zero times.
  • JohnFen 3y ago
    > Yeah but you look really weird trying to give this email in person or over the phone. That's not a problem. I look weird anyway.
• dspillett 3y ago
  > STORENAME@mycustomdomain.com I regretted using the main domain for that, as some junk mailers either cotton on to there being a catchall or just chance that many domains have many users with common names, so sometimes I would get several messages for andrew@domain.tld, brian@domain.tld, carl@domain.tld, etc. These days I use STORENAME@sub.domain.tld which seems to attract a lot less junk, practically none, by the above manner. The catchall on the main domain was replaced by large forwarding list of the addresses I'd got legitimate emails from, with anything else now bouncing as usual. > Retailers that don't honor the unsubscribe button It also protects against when retailers are hacked and their mailing list taken, or them selling it on either as BAU or during the fire sale as they go out of business.
  • Semaphor 3y ago
    > I would get several messages for andrew@domain.tld, brian@domain.tld, carl@domain.tld, etc. I read about that sometimes (or well, rather the less specific one where you’d get generally random spam to your domain), and in over 7 years of doing website@exmaple.org I never had this happen. I wonder what the difference between people like me, and people like you is?
    • digging 3y ago
      I have this setup as well for the past 4 years and I always worry about the GP's problem popping up, but it hasn't yet. I am also very curious.
      • deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
    • AshamedCaptain 3y ago
      "You never had this happen?" I have had a catch all email for over 3 decades and spammers practically try everything under the sun for the local part of the email address. It's like the usernames you see in the "random background ssh noise" of the internet. On more recent decades I have seen bots even split by separator, e.g. if prefix.suffix@example.com is published online, they will try prefix@example.com and suffix@example.com.
• bombcar 3y ago
  Samsung is onto this - you can't signup with an email that has the word Samsung in it. So slamsung@ it is.