Do You Alias Your Emails When Signing up to Websites?

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  JIMB0 on 26/01/2017 - 19:53

  It wouldn't be hard for them to strip out the +ozbaragin bit or the dots to get the base email address. Whats added is common knowledge. Then you won't know who sold it.

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  GregMonarch on 26/01/2017 - 19:54

  I began using it but the forgot to again. The emails I don't want I just unsubscribe. Others that are spam gmail's spam detection is exceptionally - too good in fact, because it catches legit emails and nearly never allows real spam through. I think gmail has missed 5 or less real spam messages in several years. So no, I don't bother with aliases anymore.

  Edit: Oh - and I've found some sites detect the alias and remove that part of it anyway.

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  seal the deal on 26/01/2017 - 20:10

  The only sure way to do this is to supply a completely new address to each service. If spamming is their business they will already know to strip out the suffix.

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  altomic on 26/01/2017 - 20:45

  +4

  always.

  scotty@ozbargain.com.au is my favourite alias

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    scotty on 27/01/2017 - 08:51

    +2

    That explains all the spams I am getting.

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  John Kimble on 27/01/2017 - 07:07

  It's not technically aliases, but I have created multiple Gmail addresses and have forwarded then all to my main address, which allows me to create filters/rules to organise them based on what email addresses they were sent to. Can also send from any email address from the same inbox too which can be handy.

  I suppose it would be a bit of a hassle to create and set up a new email address per website though.

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    tomsco on 27/01/2017 - 08:37

    I've got a personalised domain and using google apps for my email, etc.

    I believe through google groups you are able to have infinite email addresses just by creating a new group (I know my work does this, but don't know the process).

    Mind you, I'm on one of the google apps accounts that has 10 free users - new sign ups this might not be practical.

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  rambutann on 27/01/2017 - 08:30

  I've got multiple spam accounts in order to divide up the spam in which I'm receiving. In line with your example, I have John.doe.spam@gmail.com, John.doe.spam1@gmail.com and John.doe.spam2@gmail.com.

  Each account represents a different type of spam. The first one I actually use a lot for website such as PayPal, eBay and other important website that'll send me crap. The second one is for stuff that I may occasionally find useful or may buy stuff from their store and the last one is the real dreg crap that never needs to be read.

  Works fairly well. (I also have a John.doe@gmail.com as my main account, these accounts simply get rid of the spam).

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  OZB Al on 27/01/2017 - 09:28

  +2

  I use spamgourmet.com to automatically create an alias for every registration. Every signup gets a sitename.alias@xoxy.net address that will forward 10 emails to my Gmail then die. If I decide I want email from them I edit the address to allow another 20 emails, or set their domain as the exclusive senders for that address.

  I've found the worst for getting spam are the addresses you use for eBay and paypal, which I now change annually.

  How spamgourmet works

  If you give your email address to everyone, you are bound to receive spam emails, and you won't know where they came from. Wouldn't it be convenient to give a different email address to every business or web site, while getting all your email as before? Wouldn't it be easiest to assume the address will be given to spammers, and have it work as a spam blocker by shutting off automatically unless you decide otherwise?

  That's exactly what spamgourmet offers! There is nothing to install on your computer, and once you're set up, it's likely you won't ever have to come back here. This is what makes spamgourmet one of the most convenient and effective anti-spam tools available.

  Protect yourself from spam in three easy steps:

  1. If you haven't done it yet, create a spamgourmet account. Enter your user name and the email address you want to be protected. You will be asked to identify the word in a picture and pick a password.

  2. Spamgourmet will forward to this address all the emails sent to your spamgourmet disposable addresses — that way you don't have to tell anyone else what it is — this is why it's called the protected address. Of course, this protected address must exist. That's why you have to confirm it. You'll receive an email asking you to confirm.

  3. After you have confirmed your protected address, you can give out self-destructing disposable email addresses whenever you want. The disposable addresses are like:

  someword.x.user@spamgourmet.com

  where someword is a word you have never used before, x (optional) is the number of email messages you want to receive at this address (up to 20, and the number 3 will be used if you leave it out), and user is your username.

  For example, if your user name is "spamcowboy", and BigCorp wants you to give them your email address (on the web, on the phone, at a store - it doesn't matter), instead of giving them your protected address, give them this one:

  frombigcorp.3.spamcowboy@spamgourmet.com
  (and frombigcorp.spamcowboy@spamgourmet.com will work the same way)

  This disposable email address will be created here the first time BigCorp uses it (you don't have to do anything to create it), and you'll receive at most 3 messages, forwarded to your protected address. The rest will be indelicately consumed.

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  hashtagbargain on 27/01/2017 - 10:11

  Certainly do the username+alias@email.com trick… But some websites dont like a '+' in the email is. So then I have to revert to usernam.e@email.com to get around.

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  retiredfeline on 27/01/2017 - 23:33

  I have separate accounts for personal, work and shopping mail to start with.

  Generally I have no qualms about giving my shopping mail address without aliases to Aussie businesses. So far all of them have been observant about unsubscription on request, though I had to threaten one or two small operators with reporting them to the ACMA.

  Big overseas operators like Amazon, etc. I have no problems with either.

  The rogues are the ones who took your address from stolen address books, scraping web pages, etc. Fortunately they are nearly always classified as spam by Gmail, etc.

  In my reckoning, spam is not just mail that annoys, some of the time one will feel flooded by offers, but as long as you can opt out nicely, it's not spam. It has to be a rogue that ignores unsubscription requests.

  Oh and I got a lot of commercial spam, which only tapered off recently, by signing up for the CeBIT tickets years ago. Big mistake, should have used a disposable address.

  And now and then there are the sales critters who try cold calls, er, cold emails?, trying to interest me in something I have no interest in and in any case don't have any authority to purchase in my workplace. Those go into the junk pile right away.

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  WaffleCrusader on 28/01/2017 - 16:42

  I always signup using a secondary gmail account. Cool thing to do in addition is don't use your real name and instead use the website name so for example:
  Firstname: Ozbargain
  Lastname: Ozbargain

  Interesting to see who sold your info out when Magnum Condoms starts emailing you "Mr Ozbargain, got wood?".

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  [Deactivated] on 29/01/2017 - 05:03

  That is a lot easier than my current system (I slightly mispell my name, running out of combos and associations i can easily remember), thanks for the LPT.