Anyone not honor the “email+who_is_spamming_me[at]gmail.com” strategy?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35567209

by gugagore • 3 years ago

8 8 3 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I use this strategy in an attempt to know who is selling/leaking my email address, but it is very easily subverted. Does anyone know of code that removes the `+[...]` and the purpose behind such code?

FeistySkink• 3 years ago

I prefer [company name]@[my domain]. That way there's nothing to remove. Still most companies that spam do it either through [first name].[last name]@gmail.com or info@[my domain].

RecycledEle• 3 years ago

[company name]@[my domain] has been my anti-spam for decades. Just register your own domain name, and create a catch-all email account. Then give out tagged emails to every company. Once in a while I get some idiot who thinks I'm their boss or a scammer because of the email. Imagine getting a call to customer service transferred to AT&T security because they don't like ATT@[my domain].

x7ci• 3 years ago

Interesting. I just set this up on my email provider - it was fairly easy to do. Thanks.

phpsecure• 3 years ago

Thank you, the advice is helpful for me.

gabelschlager• 3 years ago

Most of the time I try it to use it, the website won't allow me to use the '+' in an email or will never send the verification mail to activate my account.

DANmode• 3 years ago

They're just regex rules, and unfortunately, they strip them out for exactly the reasons you might guess.

As another commenter mentioned, company@domain.com is difficult for them to get around.

I will add that this tactic has caused additional friction or touches for things it shouldn't have¹, but has finally delivered the desired effect.

¹e.g. insurance offices calling to confirm my email address, customer service people curiously wondering aloud if I work for their company

mitchellpkt• 3 years ago

+1. To expand on your friction comment: I’ve been doing unique @myname.com for years and learned quickly to avoid putting the full company name to avoid confusion.

Now, I just use the first 2 and last 2 letters, so for example hackernews would be haws@myname.com. When I go back later to log in, it is easy to re-derive on the spot. And if I forget what an email address corresponds to I can just search my inbox history for that address to find the site registration confirmation or whatever they sent previously.

quickthrower2• 3 years ago

If they do block all email to the root, and only accept email to the +

Anyone not honor the “email+who_is_spamming_me[at]gmail.com” strategy?

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