alias is useful, but sometimes I hate it

[jeffpan]

I had an alias user@fantasymail.de, which was used to sign up Namesilo registrar.
And then I deleted that alais. One day I logined into namesilo it required me to input the auth code from email, surely I couldn't input it. So I took many time to communicate with them to obtain the access again.

The another case is an alias from @gmx.fr, and I deleted that alias. So I lost access to an important (20 years history) yahoo account, b/c it was used as yahoo recovery email.

As you see, alias sometimes sucks.

[hadaso]

But these are not aliases. Each one is a separate email account at a different provider.
Anyway, there's no difference between deleting an alias you used to register to an important service or deleting an email account you used to register. People that use only one email address and change it, have to change their email address with each important service they use, or risk losing that service.

[jeffpan]

both fantasymail.de and gmx.fr are aliases provided by GMX.

[xylon]

Aliases are useful. Why did you delete them?

[TenFour]

I think for this reason one should never use most aliases for recovery email addresses for anything important. I use a bunch of aliases for things that are less important: forums, newsletters, ordering things. However, when signing up for a service I would use either a main email address or a significant alias I know I will maintain forever. I'm beginning to think that most of us here on EMD, including me, use way too many email addresses and aliases. I know lost of people who have one email address, and they seem to do just fine.

[n5bb]

I use subdomain addresses at Fastmail aliases (both at my personal domain and Fastmail domains) for most signups. This means that I only need to keep active a few main aliases and then can create the subdomain addresses “on the fly”. Some services don’t allow subdomain addresses but do allow plus+addressing. Here is the Fastmail support page:
Fastmail subdomain and plus addressing help
Here is how this works:

• Subdomain addressing: If you control the email address test@example.com, you can use anything@test.example.com, such as bank@test.example.com and utility@test.example.com.
• Plus addressing: If you control the email address test@example.com, you can use test+anything@example.com, such as test+bank@example.com and test+utility@example.com.
• Only some email providers (including Fastmail) support one or both of these techniques. Again, the advantage is that you only need to keep one email main address or alias active, since you can add a new subdomain or plus address at any time. Years ago some sites didn’t accept subdomain or plus addresses, but in my experience there is no problem using at least subdomain addresses now.

Bill