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IMO at some point someone is going to build Email extensions/plugins for all the major providers that just deny all mail and require reception to be opt-in. If

IMO at some point someone is going to build Email extensions/plugins for all the major providers that just deny all mail and require reception to be opt-in. If you prefer, imagine hyper effective AI filtering. Marketing and advertising will get exponentially harder for new companies, mailing lists, whatever else, but the average consumer will appreciate spam going to ~zero. Nerds will lament the serendipity/loss of openness of Email and what it was supposed to be and how easy it was to reach people. Not sure if this sketch of a possible future is better or worse.

fc417fc802 2y ago
That already exists. Filter on whether the sender is in your address book (or inbox or etc) and send to junk folder (or just drop) if not. Another one is using extensions (ex name+ext@example.com) every time you provide the address and then auto-trashing anything that arrives without an extension. Rotate and blacklist as needed.
- jasode 2y ago
  >Filter on whether the sender is in your address book (or inbox or etc) That strategy doesn't work when you don't know ahead of time what email addresses the sender will legitimately use in the future. E.g. register with New York state tax authority to file business taxes at https://www.tax.ny.gov https://www.tax.ny.gov. A few months later, you get an real legitimate email from ny.comptroller@service.govdelivery.com. How would "govdelivery.com" be added to your address book? Presumably, you never added that address because you never saw it. You never saw it because it went to the Junk Folder.
  - fc417fc802 2y ago
    Agreed, there are serious issues if the sender and receiver don't coordinate. The feature already exists with only minimal DIY though. An alternative implementation would have to contend with the same social issue. The easiest solution to the social coordination issue I'm aware of is the second option I mentioned. Hand out a unique address that you whitelist. Possibly burn it later if necessary.
- hardwaresofton 2y ago
  Yeah this is too hard for the average user. People IMO don’t manage addressbooks, and they don’t know about + aliases. The innovation will be partially making it easy and intuitive — for people in their mailboxes, and for organizations with legitimate need to send emails (at the point where the user provides their email)

fc417fc802 2y ago

That already exists. Filter on whether the sender is in your address book (or inbox or etc) and send to junk folder (or just drop) if not. Another one is using extensions (ex name+ext@example.com) every time you provide the address and then auto-trashing anything that arrives without an extension. Rotate and blacklist as needed.

jasode 2y ago
>Filter on whether the sender is in your address book (or inbox or etc) That strategy doesn't work when you don't know ahead of time what email addresses the sender will legitimately use in the future. E.g. register with New York state tax authority to file business taxes at https://www.tax.ny.gov https://www.tax.ny.gov. A few months later, you get an real legitimate email from ny.comptroller@service.govdelivery.com. How would "govdelivery.com" be added to your address book? Presumably, you never added that address because you never saw it. You never saw it because it went to the Junk Folder.
- fc417fc802 2y ago
  Agreed, there are serious issues if the sender and receiver don't coordinate. The feature already exists with only minimal DIY though. An alternative implementation would have to contend with the same social issue. The easiest solution to the social coordination issue I'm aware of is the second option I mentioned. Hand out a unique address that you whitelist. Possibly burn it later if necessary.
hardwaresofton 2y ago
Yeah this is too hard for the average user. People IMO don’t manage addressbooks, and they don’t know about + aliases. The innovation will be partially making it easy and intuitive — for people in their mailboxes, and for organizations with legitimate need to send emails (at the point where the user provides their email)