Recommend premium service with unlimited aliasing?

cswake · 3 Jun 2002, 01:02 PM

I plan on using the aliasing as a spam filter by setting each alias with a designated website, and only giving out my real address to my close friends and contacts. Problem is that this can easily accumulate a LOT of aliases...

so, any recommendations? TIA.

Jeremy Howard · 3 Jun 2002, 01:12 PM

With FastMail.FM you can use <anything>@username.fastmail.fm . This is included with the member account ($14.95 sign up fee, no ongoing fees). I use this to use a different email address for every registration I fill our.

FromLine · 3 Jun 2002, 05:24 PM

This is just my guess, but I would interpret the question as "unlimited aliases"

Jeremey's reply seems to answer the "subdomain feature".

Fastmail limits Full accounts to 3 aliases and Enhanced to 5 inlcuded in the service. Additional aliases are $3.60 per year I think. Also, members have only 1 and guest accounts have none.

the any-alias@username.fastmail.fm pertains more to the subdomain feature and can be counter productive for using a temporay email address to avoid spam because "anyalias" entered will always forward to the primary account.

The subdomain feature is useful in knowing which email address it was sent to (or who from by seeing the "any-alias" or who's responsible for spamming you), but the real aliases are limited.

In fastmail's case, it's important to understand the distinction between limited-aliases@domain.com vs. unlimited-aliases@username.domain.com

cswake · 3 Jun 2002, 09:43 PM

I apologize for my lack of knowledge in the subject. So is there anyway of combining the best of both worlds?

ie. Unlimited aliases/subdomains, the ability to know which alias/subdomain is forwarding the spam, and the ability to close one off if it becomes a spam-haven?

nic76 · 4 Jun 2002, 02:04 AM

There are service like mailshell.com (i'm sure there are better ones, but i don't know them) which give you a subdomain like you.mailshell.com with unlimited email-addresses. When i have to register myself at a site i fill in an email address like emailaddresses.com@me.mailshell.com. I have set in mailshell that all addresses should forward to my mail account by default. I now who sent me a mail because i use their domain name as the email address. If i don't want to receive any more mails from one source i disable it.

The problem with mailshell is that i haven't found out yet how to disable an email adress and sometimes mails get stuck in the mailshell inbox. This is because their interface is very clumsy. If this is what your looking for i suggest you do a search in the forums here: i remember there's been a thread recently about such services. I'm sure there are some better services mentioned.

There are also some services that offer you a free website with subdomain and unlimited email addresses at that subdomain. Some of these have their own interface for define the rules of mail handling. Some allow you to use another dns management like mydomain.com.

You can also register your own domain like you.com and handle all the subdomains and mail addresses you want via mydomain.com or via something like mailshell. This way you can move your domain to another service if you don't like them anymore .

I hope this makes things a bit more clear. Let me know if you have questions. It's taken me years and my email is still not 100% what i want, but i'm getting there

One more hint: if you try out a service like mailshell or some free subdomain thing, don't give out your mail email address, but use a forwarding one or an email account which is unimportant, because such service can also spam you with their unintersting 'important' newsletters

cswake · 4 Jun 2002, 07:29 AM

Mailshell looks like the answer, but the search here resulted in a fairly large number of unhappy customers. It's competitors didn't fair any better.

Jeremy Howard · 4 Jun 2002, 08:34 AM

Fb19's response is not accurate. The feature I mentioned does indeed provide unlimited addresses and can in fact be used for what you require. I use it for this purpose myself.

If you start getting spammed from an address you gave out, simply use the Define Rules screen to reject messages to that address. This approach provides exactly what you requested:

Quote:

ie. Unlimited aliases/subdomains, the ability to know which alias/subdomain is forwarding the spam, and the ability to close one off if it becomes a spam-haven?

cswake · 4 Jun 2002, 09:08 AM

Ok, looks like you have another customer!

ikxu · 6 Jun 2002, 09:20 AM

laposte.net offers 7 aliases
It is a free service in French by the French Postal Service.
10 MBs

mail2me · 6 Jun 2002, 11:21 AM

I thought of adding this to make things even clearer.

Subdomain is a superior feature compared to Aliases where it actually gives Unlimited Aliases under each subdomain.

It is like IMAP being a superior version to POP. It has all the features of POP plus more.

A lot of services which offer Aliases do not offer Subdomains.

**Shelded** · 6 Jun 2002, 12:08 PM

I don't care for using my Fastmail.FM subdomain for this purpose because it only takes a somewhat informed spammer to learn what my username is: it's the subdomain! (*)

I like mailshell (in spite of the very confusing interface, it's set-it-and-forget-it). I also note that sneakemail is good but you have to prepare ahead for the addresses. Mailshell's subdomain will let you make them up on the fly (like FM's).

I think the best solution is to have your own domain and host it free at such as mydomain or zoneedit because you get all the free subdomains and addresses you like after you pay for your domain.

-----------------------
(*) One note about Fastmail's aliases & subdomains: if you use an alias username for your subdomain instead of the real, unchangeable username you can switch those later if you have problems, and that's a free solution.

mail2me · 6 Jun 2002, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by shelded
I don't care for using my Fastmail.FM subdomain for this purpose because it only takes a somewhat informed spammer to learn what my username is: it's the subdomain!

This is true and the argument has been discussed at SpamGourmet FAQ and they have an addtional security feature for those who are freaked out with the above fear. However they recommend using without it since it is much simpler.

Their argument is that spammers are only interested in targeting mass media with hope that some of them would buy their products. Spammers are not interested in picking someone who obviously doesn't want to hear about them and chase behind them. Most of them now random generate email addresses with popular domains and will not make such complicated email addresses (which include subdomains as well in this case).

imho · 6 Jun 2002, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeremy Howard
Fb19's response is not accurate. The feature I mentioned does indeed provide unlimited addresses and can in fact be used for what you require. I use it for this purpose myself.

If you start getting spammed from an address you gave out, simply use the Define Rules screen to reject messages to that address. This approach provides exactly what you requested:

The only drawback to this is that the spam is counted towards your bandwidth limit (twice if you reject?). But if you use an alias as suggested in another post, you can periodically ditch that alias for a new one.

3 Jun 2002, 01:02 PM	#1
cswake Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 8	Recommend premium service with unlimited aliasing? I plan on using the aliasing as a spam filter by setting each alias with a designated website, and only giving out my real address to my close friends and contacts. Problem is that this can easily accumulate a LOT of aliases... so, any recommendations? TIA.

3 Jun 2002, 09:43 PM	#4
cswake Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 8	I apologize for my lack of knowledge in the subject. So is there anyway of combining the best of both worlds? ie. Unlimited aliases/subdomains, the ability to know which alias/subdomain is forwarding the spam, and the ability to close one off if it becomes a spam-haven? Last edited by cswake : 4 Jun 2002 at 01:32 AM.

3 Jun 2002, 01:12 PM	#2
Jeremy Howard Ultimate Contributor Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Australia Posts: 11,501	With FastMail.FM you can use <anything>@username.fastmail.fm . This is included with the member account ($14.95 sign up fee, no ongoing fees). I use this to use a different email address for every registration I fill our.

3 Jun 2002, 05:24 PM	#3
FromLine The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 2,619	This is just my guess, but I would interpret the question as "unlimited aliases" Jeremey's reply seems to answer the "subdomain feature". Fastmail limits Full accounts to 3 aliases and Enhanced to 5 inlcuded in the service. Additional aliases are $3.60 per year I think. Also, members have only 1 and guest accounts have none. the any-alias@username.fastmail.fm pertains more to the subdomain feature and can be counter productive for using a temporay email address to avoid spam because "anyalias" entered will always forward to the primary account. The subdomain feature is useful in knowing which email address it was sent to (or who from by seeing the "any-alias" or who's responsible for spamming you), but the real aliases are limited. In fastmail's case, it's important to understand the distinction between limited-aliases@domain.com vs. unlimited-aliases@username.domain.com

4 Jun 2002, 02:04 AM	#5
nic76 Essential Contributor Join Date: Nov 2001 Posts: 449	There are service like mailshell.com (i'm sure there are better ones, but i don't know them) which give you a subdomain like you.mailshell.com with unlimited email-addresses. When i have to register myself at a site i fill in an email address like emailaddresses.com@me.mailshell.com. I have set in mailshell that all addresses should forward to my mail account by default. I now who sent me a mail because i use their domain name as the email address. If i don't want to receive any more mails from one source i disable it. The problem with mailshell is that i haven't found out yet how to disable an email adress and sometimes mails get stuck in the mailshell inbox. This is because their interface is very clumsy. If this is what your looking for i suggest you do a search in the forums here: i remember there's been a thread recently about such services. I'm sure there are some better services mentioned. There are also some services that offer you a free website with subdomain and unlimited email addresses at that subdomain. Some of these have their own interface for define the rules of mail handling. Some allow you to use another dns management like mydomain.com. You can also register your own domain like you.com and handle all the subdomains and mail addresses you want via mydomain.com or via something like mailshell. This way you can move your domain to another service if you don't like them anymore . I hope this makes things a bit more clear. Let me know if you have questions. It's taken me years and my email is still not 100% what i want, but i'm getting there One more hint: if you try out a service like mailshell or some free subdomain thing, don't give out your mail email address, but use a forwarding one or an email account which is unimportant, because such service can also spam you with their unintersting 'important' newsletters

4 Jun 2002, 07:29 AM	#6
cswake Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 8	Mailshell looks like the answer, but the search here resulted in a fairly large number of unhappy customers. It's competitors didn't fair any better.

4 Jun 2002, 09:08 AM	#8
cswake Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 8	Ok, looks like you have another customer!

6 Jun 2002, 09:20 AM	#9
ikxu Guest Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 400	laposte.net offers 7 aliases It is a free service in French by the French Postal Service. 10 MBs

6 Jun 2002, 11:21 AM	#10
mail2me Master of the @ Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: California, USA Posts: 1,597	I thought of adding this to make things even clearer. Subdomain is a superior feature compared to Aliases where it actually gives Unlimited Aliases under each subdomain. It is like IMAP being a superior version to POP. It has all the features of POP plus more. A lot of services which offer Aliases do not offer Subdomains.

6 Jun 2002, 12:08 PM	#11
Shelded Moderator Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: USA Northwest Posts: 3,849	I don't care for using my Fastmail.FM subdomain for this purpose because it only takes a somewhat informed spammer to learn what my username is: it's the subdomain! () I like mailshell (in spite of the very confusing interface, it's set-it-and-forget-it). I also note that sneakemail is good but you have to prepare ahead for the addresses. Mailshell's subdomain will let you make them up on the fly (like FM's). I think the best solution is to have your own domain and host it free at such as mydomain or zoneedit because you get all the free subdomains and addresses you like after you pay for your domain. ----------------------- () One note about Fastmail's aliases & subdomains: if you use an alias username for your subdomain instead of the real, unchangeable username you can switch those later if you have problems, and that's a free solution.