When I learned about public git commits "leaking" my email address it was already too late. Now I'll probably use that email for this particular task. And another sad thing, is that many spammers are picking up "support" email address from Google Play Store.
Still waiting for a email service which would charge each spammer several dollars for "successful delivery", or plain "waste of time".
Ask HN: Do you track how your email address is used?
31–40 of 102 posts
Re: Ask HN: Do you track how your email address is used?
#32I care. I use a generated email address at my domain for every account/service/website. I store the account info in keepass, they all have generated passwords too. I can see when email comes in who abused the email, was compromised, or sold it. If an email starts getting spam, i block receiving to that address. if desired, I update the account to have another generated email, but usually if I'm getting spam to that e…
I do the exact same thing. It gives you quite a bit of insight and control. some examples: - at some point my email for amazon was shared, and I started getting offers from some vendor to 5-star review one of their products on amazon. I changed my amazon email address. (I generally trust amazon) - emails from my bank have to go to a specific email address. I can be pretty certain it is my bank contacting me. - I gene…
"I can be pretty certain it is my bank contacting me."
This is a neat advantage of this approach. I usually get phishing emails on a "wrong" email address, which makes them trivial to identify. So I know what to look out for should they ever manage to target the correct email address.
Re: Ask HN: Do you track how your email address is used?
#33I use Hey.com's "catch all" inbox for this but it's a bit janky. If you set up a "custom domain" Hey account, you can actually email `[anything]@yourdomain.com` and it'll arrive in the catch all inbox. (Not unique to hey obviously) It has the benefit that it's impossible to block, but Hey obviously doesn't really want me doing that since they charge per-email-address.
Re: Ask HN: Do you track how your email address is used?
#34I care. I use a generated email address at my domain for every account/service/website. I store the account info in keepass, they all have generated passwords too. I can see when email comes in who abused the email, was compromised, or sold it. If an email starts getting spam, i block receiving to that address. if desired, I update the account to have another generated email, but usually if I'm getting spam to that e…
I do this as well. Unique emails for every account along with unique passwords, password manager. Works great so far.
Re: Ask HN: Do you track how your email address is used?
#35Paid 33mail.com account.
Re: Ask HN: Do you track how your email address is used?
#36I use canaries. I point a dozen domains to fastmail and another dozen to my self hosted email servers. Each have aliases that are mapped to vendors but do not have the vendor name as some vendors are getting upset at this practice and calling it fraud . If I start getting garbage on that alias, I notify the vendor. In most cases they will give me a boiler plate response and then I delete the alias. If they are snarky…
I do this too (3 domains, Fastmail)
For specific vendors where I am at the shop, I just make up an alias email with their name in it.
For apps, services, I configured bitwarden to create email aliases on Fastmail, so they are linked to a service.
Re: Ask HN: Do you track how your email address is used?
#37What's especially awesome is how many unsolicited emails don't have unsubscribe links in them.
Re: Ask HN: Do you track how your email address is used?
#38I use Hey.com's "catch all" inbox for this but it's a bit janky. If you set up a "custom domain" Hey account, you can actually email `[anything]@yourdomain.com` and it'll arrive in the catch all inbox. (Not unique to hey obviously) It has the benefit that it's impossible to block, but Hey obviously doesn't really want me doing that since they charge per-email-address.
I do this too, with namecheap.com's email servers... I pay for a few email domains on namecheap, but one is specifically for spam, and I use their "catch all" as well.
So if I sign up for a service like amazon.com, my email address will be amazon.com@[my-spam-domain].com so I know exactly who is selling my email address. I do this for every service that asks for an email address.
I'd never use a "plus" email address from my main email account, which is far too easy for spammers to figure out my real email address from.
Re: Ask HN: Do you track how your email address is used?
#39I use canaries. I point a dozen domains to fastmail and another dozen to my self hosted email servers. Each have aliases that are mapped to vendors but do not have the vendor name as some vendors are getting upset at this practice and calling it fraud . If I start getting garbage on that alias, I notify the vendor. In most cases they will give me a boiler plate response and then I delete the alias. If they are snarky…
woah, what do you mean by calling it fraud? Have you actually had companies come after you legally due to an email alias?
Conversations caused by the odd looking email address can often get very nasty.
This is why I also like how iCloud does with their hide my mail feature; there’s nothing suspicious about the email you give out.
Re: Ask HN: Do you track how your email address is used?
#40I use canaries. I point a dozen domains to fastmail and another dozen to my self hosted email servers. Each have aliases that are mapped to vendors but do not have the vendor name as some vendors are getting upset at this practice and calling it fraud . If I start getting garbage on that alias, I notify the vendor. In most cases they will give me a boiler plate response and then I delete the alias. If they are snarky…
woah, what do you mean by calling it fraud? Have you actually had companies come after you legally due to an email alias?
I have not had anyone accuse me of fraud yet, but I have had email addresses rejected because they too obviously contained the company name in them.