It's not because of automated bounces. It's not because of spam issues. It's not even because of laziness. The startups that do this probably do it it because

It's not because of automated bounces. It's not because of spam issues. It's not even because of laziness. The startups that do this probably do it it because they get a ton of spam back. I've lead a couple of projects now that have a few thousand users each. Nothing huge, all consumer-focused. I always make my notification emails be from jeff@{project}.com to give it that "human touch". And I get the most ridiculous replies ever. Not only do I get bounces (not a big deal) and vacation auto-responders (also not a big deal), but I also get messages from people that know they're getting someone's real email address. People that want to talk. People that add you to their Google Talk or their "Fwd: FWD: FWD:" emails. People with insecure Hotmail passwords who start spamming you when their account gets hacked. Obviously, some of the emails are very helpful - bug reports, feature requests, unsubscribes, etc... But some (I'm going to say most) are essentially just spam in the other direction. I've moved my notification emails to be from "amy@{project}.com", a Mailgun inbox, and process it accordingly (e.g.: bounces get and unsub'd). It has a human name, but a mechanical backend. I strongly suggest it.