Ask HN: What is your preferred approach to mask your email address?
11 comments
Get your own domain.
Host your own email server or pay for one that allows for unlimited addressed on a hosted domain. You'll learn a lot from self-hosting, mainly that email isn't as open as it has been.
Give out email addresses that identifies whom you gave the address to.
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
1 contact, 1 email address.
Forward to your 'true' account by default, block once you've had enough of their junk. Be careful when replying as to not email from the 'true' account.
Host your own email server or pay for one that allows for unlimited addressed on a hosted domain. You'll learn a lot from self-hosting, mainly that email isn't as open as it has been.
Give out email addresses that identifies whom you gave the address to.
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
1 contact, 1 email address.
Forward to your 'true' account by default, block once you've had enough of their junk. Be careful when replying as to not email from the 'true' account.
I do this with self-hosted domain and docker-mailserver. There is a CLI feature for easily adding aliases. I often ssh in from my phone to do so.
SimpleLogin has been working great for a long while. I originally self-hosted but for $30/year I said it’s not worth screwing around with all the other services I host.
Get yourself a domain and wildcard all emails to a trash gmail or even your primary as it’s extremely easy to turn off the incoming email. You can do it straight from gmail or iOS messages (I’m sure any email client) because SimpleLogin generates automatic unsubscribe headers.
The UI is also nice and the browser plug-in is helpful because it can record what site you created the trash address for. It also integrates with my password manager BitWarden. 10/10.
It has really changed my web habits for the better. I can sign up for anything with zero repercussions and I don’t have to deal with it possibly not working like with temp mail services.
It has really changed my web habits for the better. I can sign up for anything with zero repercussions and I don’t have to deal with it possibly not working like with temp mail services.
Just wanted to add, it really comes in clutch for services like Facebook that don’t allow login with iCloud masked emails and other related services. By using your own domain you look legit.
I use iCloud "Hide My Email" for nearly everything. It's handled seamlessly inline in macOS/iOS, synced between devices, and I never have to think about it.
I don't check my email unless it's to verify a signup, or send attachments. I currently have 13,169 unread emails, and I don't care.
I'm out of the work force, so that might not be a good strategy for you.
My friend does what mikecoles suggests, has his own domain, and generates a unique email address for each contact/organization he interacts with, so he can figure out where the spam came from.
If I were to somehow reenter the workforce, I'd keep keep my current personal emails out of it, and rely on the spam filtering of my employer along with obscurity, to keep things down. Sign-ups would be through a sacrificial second address I'd beg out of IT.
I'm out of the work force, so that might not be a good strategy for you.
My friend does what mikecoles suggests, has his own domain, and generates a unique email address for each contact/organization he interacts with, so he can figure out where the spam came from.
If I were to somehow reenter the workforce, I'd keep keep my current personal emails out of it, and rely on the spam filtering of my employer along with obscurity, to keep things down. Sign-ups would be through a sacrificial second address I'd beg out of IT.
Figuring out where the spam came from doesn't prevent the spam coming. I would prefer a solution that prevents the spam from coming.
I built such a system. I made it available and nobody used it or cared. It works great for me.
I built such a system. I made it available and nobody used it or cared. It works great for me.
I have a couple of dummy email addresses with gmail and hotmail. I don’t care too much about them (nor if I receive spam). I use them for reddit or hn, for example. I log in a couple of times per year to check what’s in my mailbox.
I do own a domain, and associated email inboxes. I’m very picky regarding when I use them (e.g., never for e-commerce or social media). In general, I don’t feel like I need to mask these email addresses since very few external entities know about them.
And then I have yet a couple of gmail/hotmail addresses that I use for stuff that requires my real name and address(e.g., e-commerce). I don’t mind too much either, although I use them regularly.
I do own a domain, and associated email inboxes. I’m very picky regarding when I use them (e.g., never for e-commerce or social media). In general, I don’t feel like I need to mask these email addresses since very few external entities know about them.
And then I have yet a couple of gmail/hotmail addresses that I use for stuff that requires my real name and address(e.g., e-commerce). I don’t mind too much either, although I use them regularly.
I mostly gave up after years of trying different techniques. For most things I use a public address that goes to a G Suite account. For financial/banking stuff I use aliases that cannot be logged into (eg [email protected] where the underlying mailbox is actually something like [email protected]). I've just started using the iCloud hide my mail but you need to remember to capture the generated email address if you're using other non–Apple ecosystem systems.
Fastmail without 1Password but with maskedmail-cli...
[1] https://github.com/dvcrn/maskedemail-cli
[2] https://christiantietze.de/posts/2023/04/create-fastmail-mas...
[1] https://github.com/dvcrn/maskedemail-cli
[2] https://christiantietze.de/posts/2023/04/create-fastmail-mas...
I use Firefox Relay but I'm super unhappy with it. They only offer 1 domain (or subdomains for it in paid version) and this domain is blocked on many websites. You can't send mail from a relay alias. Too few aliases available in free version.
I self host email and have a catchall E-Mail adress.
Don't even need to create one, I just use the company name or whatever I like and then I get it automatically sorted into my directory structure with a sieve script.
Don't even need to create one, I just use the company name or whatever I like and then I get it automatically sorted into my directory structure with a sieve script.
Similar to SimpleLogin, BurnerMail.io has been pretty good. Its a bit of a pain on mobile as you have to use the website, but its worth the lack of spam for sure.
Using Fastmail aliases so regular suppliers/contacts drop into separate Inboxes. Much easier to find emails from each one.
If you create or generate unique email addresses for different services, what's your preferred approach?
I have been wanting to set this up for a while and I'm curious what others' experiences have been so far.
For those wondering, here is an incomplete list of available services:
- FastMail + 1Password https://support.1password.com/fastmail/
- SimpleLogin https://simplelogin.io/ (bought by Proton)
- Proton Mail https://proton.me/blog/proton-pass-launch
- DuckDuckGo Email Protection https://duckduckgo.com/email/
- Firefox Relay https://relay.firefox.com/