How do you use alias in your email account? Do you create for type of accounts (social media, banking, utilities, etc.) I’m tempted to create as many as possible and find out which of them sell my email to marketing companies. But may get unwieldy at my end.
@pratik I only use a few. Examples:
family@domain.com (sends to both my wife and myself)
public@domain.com (used for things like grocery store terminals, other things that i know will spam me but I still need it for some reason)
@Burk Makes sense. So you are not using it to monitor who passes it forward to spammers/marketers? I had hoped to shut down an alias if it go out beyond the sites I had entered it for.
@pratik I think it's a good idea, but seems impossible to track in today's environment.. I just go with delete and move on vs. trying to make it a job.
@pratik I used to have a catch-all email adresss where every email directed to my domain would arrive. For each service I subscribed to I used a unique service@example.com address. That way I could alway track the source of spam and selectively block certain addresses.
In the end I deactivated my catch-all account as I started receiving spam addressed to random addresses. I still remember the hassle of updating all my accounts…
@jeroensangers I guess fighting spam is a lost battle and better left to AI. I can imagine the hassle of changing addresses everywhere would be a pain although 1Password makes it easy to keep track.
@pratik I did this at first, but in the end, I found that powerful search/spam filter systems do a far better job than a system I manage myself. I made a one time change when I went to Fastmail, but that was almost a decade ago and the spam has not grown to unbearable levels since. I think some of this is using a .co domain and some is that the domain I use is not used for any actual web presence.
@pratik I can gladly say I don’t have much of a spam problem nowadays, mostly because of filters trained on my preferences. I had less success with generic IA, mainly because of all the people finding it easier to Mark messages as spam than to unsubscribe.
@gpittman Fastmail is a great service and not just for mail. It's calendar and contact services are solid.
@pratik I'm a Fastmail user, and FM allows the old plus-sign trick, i.e. "me+whatever@domain.tld" is a no-hassle alias of "me@domain.tld". So I used that one for a while. But in the end I didn't really care enough as long as my spam filter kept up.
@pratik Hey, for years I've had Fastmail email aliases, which ensured only actual human emails got into my Apple Mail Inbox. I wrote about this. dazne.net/email/ and dazne.net/email-bes...
@rishabh Think of it as a low overhead alias. At the point of creating an account somewhere that wants an email address, you can use an existing "alias+something". I usually use the name of the service or something that lets me know who may have used my address for spam. Downsides are that sometimes sites get email validation wrong and don't think the "+" is valid and should you start getting spam from the address, you have to setup a rule to filter.
@mcg Aren’t they smart enough to figure out your email at abc@website.com when you share email as abc+service@website.com?
@gpittman Didn't know about that method of aliasing. Very nice. I like the idea of encrypted mail systems, but if everyone you're committing treason with isn't using the same service, it's mostly pointless. Better ways to communicate if good privacy/encryption is the goal(like Signal).
@gpittman If that’s a concern, StartMail is a good option. I think they are based out of Netherlands.
@gpittman After using Fastmail for many years, I am switching to HEY and using iCloud as a secondary service.
@czottmann Thanks. Yes, I may use the plus-forwarding although some sites don't accept that format and also, I don't want too many versions of my email IDs out there (downside to a plus side)
@gpittman Hey Gregory, the reason I switched to HEY is because I believe what they believe. I don't know if it's just me, but as I get older, I strive for simplicity and subtraction.
@gpittman I have been a happy user of Fastmail (using Apple Mail) for over 16 years. What I like about HEY's approach is it makes the whole process more human. Apart from that, I like the overall experience and the simplicity of having many of those features in a single package while hiding all of the complexity behind it.
@gpittman Plus, I like the idea of having one email address I can use for personal email, email confirmations/receipts, and newsletter, without having to worry about getting unsolicited emails.
@gpittman Besides, I was paying $60 a year to Fastmail. I think HEY is totally worth it at $100. Not only did I sign up instantly, but I also secured a HEY address for my nephew.
That said, I don't think HEY is perfect by any means, but I can't help but think it will only get better.
@gpittman I think I will write about this on my personal weblog. I have more thoughts on this.
@gpittman For me, it comes down to if you believe what they believe (manifesto). Rest is just overthinking.