# I Think all Mods/Admins should remove all dopers from their email contact lists, but I'll settle ... **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [March 12, 2013, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-all-mods-admins-should-remove-all-dopers-from-their-email-contact-lists-but-ill-settle/652716 "2013-03-12T15:41:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-all-mods-admins-should-remove-all-dopers-from-their-email-contact-lists-but-ill-settle/652716/101 "2013-03-13T20:02:43Z")
> [@spinky](#): > > And if you really want to get fancy, you use an email service like gmail, which allows you to generate an infinite number of unique addresses to give out to people just by adding a suffix to your address. Say you’re [boyojim@gmail.com](mailto:boyojim@gmail.com). When you sign up for the straight dope message board, you give them [boyojim+straightdope@gmail.com](mailto:boyojim+straightdope@gmail.com) as the address. When you sign up for linkedin, you give them [boyojim+linkedin@gmail.com](mailto:boyojim+linkedin@gmail.com) as the address. They all go to the same email box, so you still get the email, but if you decide one of them is too spammy, you don’t need to trust them to honor your unsubscribe request, because you can just create a filter that sends all email to boyojim+\@gmail.com to the trash. I’ve been doing this for at least 15 years now and it works flawlessly. Just about the only downside is that occasionally someone is confused when you’re giving your email address to them in person. “Wait, your email address is [boyojim+1800flowers@gmail.com](mailto:boyojim+1800flowers@gmail.com)? Are you sure?” Yes. This is the answer, right here. Very simple, too. And of course, MsWhatsit’s post is good common sense. I am not knocking Jim, because lawd knows I can get frustrated over something small sometimes, but I am honestly just straining to understand his frustration this time. You can get loads of email addresses for free and use them however you like. If one is spam city (I’ve had yahoo for too long to let it go, but I have managed it pretty well in regards to keeping it clean.) you just get another. And another. But yeah, I think the gmail thing that spinky suggested is the best solution for you. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-all-mods-admins-should-remove-all-dopers-from-their-email-contact-lists-but-ill-settle/652716/102 "2013-03-13T20:11:12Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Yes. This is the answer, right here. Very simple, too. > > And of course, MsWhatsit’s post is good common sense. > > I am not knocking Jim, because lawd knows I can get frustrated over something small sometimes, but I am honestly just straining to understand his frustration this time. You can get loads of email addresses for free and use them however you like. If one is spam city (I’ve had yahoo for too long to let it go, but I have managed it pretty well in regards to keeping it clean.) you just get another. And another. But yeah, I think the gmail thing that spinky suggested is the best solution for you. You’re forgetting the third option which is that everyone who ever corresponds with **Boyo Jim** make a special email address just for that purpose. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-all-mods-admins-should-remove-all-dopers-from-their-email-contact-lists-but-ill-settle/652716/103 "2013-03-13T21:34:50Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > You’re forgetting the third option which is that everyone who ever corresponds with **Boyo Jim** make a special email address just for that purpose. Including Pizza Hut? ---
**Author:** ![spinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@spinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinky)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-all-mods-admins-should-remove-all-dopers-from-their-email-contact-lists-but-ill-settle/652716/104 "2013-03-13T21:39:50Z")
From: [specialoffers+boyojim@pizzahut.com](mailto:specialoffers+boyojim@pizzahut.com) To: [boyojim+pizzahut@gmail.com](mailto:boyojim+pizzahut@gmail.com) Subject: free crazy bread ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-all-mods-admins-should-remove-all-dopers-from-their-email-contact-lists-but-ill-settle/652716/105 "2013-03-14T11:39:18Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > Including Pizza Hut? um - “offers you can’t refuse”? :eek: _especially_ Pizza Hut! ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-all-mods-admins-should-remove-all-dopers-from-their-email-contact-lists-but-ill-settle/652716/106 "2013-03-14T19:29:37Z")
> [@spinky](#): > > Say you’re [EMAIL=“[boyojim@gmail.com](mailto:boyojim@gmail.com)”]boyojim@gmail.com. When you sign up for the straight dope message board, you give them [boyojim+straightdope@gmail.com](mailto:boyojim+straightdope@gmail.com) as the address. When you sign up for linkedin, you give them [boyojim+linkedin@gmail.com](mailto:boyojim+linkedin@gmail.com) as the address. They all go to the same email box, so you still get the email, but if you decide one of them is too spammy, you don’t need to trust them to honor your unsubscribe request, because you can just create a filter that sends all email to boyojim+\@gmail.com to the trash. That method, the problem is that it is trivially easy to extract the true email address from the filtered subset email. If I were a spammer and I saw that, I would just extract the +extension and continue my spammage. Using a completely different name, even if on the same service provider, and even if forwarded to your primary address, is much cleaner, **as long as you never reply to emails in the filter account using your primary account**. _You_ have to protect that yourself. Mess up and you link the primary account to your throw away account. ---
**Author:** ![spinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@spinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinky)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-all-mods-admins-should-remove-all-dopers-from-their-email-contact-lists-but-ill-settle/652716/107 "2013-03-14T23:45:45Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > That method, the problem is that it is trivially easy to extract the true email address from the filtered subset email. If I were a spammer and I saw that, I would just extract the +extension and continue my spammage. Technically, this is a “problem”, but in practice it’s not. Nobody processing giant lists of addresses to spam is going to the trouble of trying alternate forms of each one just in case it gets filtered away. And if I was really worried about that problem, the addresses could easily look like [spinky+1800flowers-54fd549be3635b0407cfddfa0c03005f@mydomain.com](mailto:spinky+1800flowers-54fd549be3635b0407cfddfa0c03005f@mydomain.com) and be verified to not be tampered with. Of course, that’s not something you can do on gmail. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-all-mods-admins-should-remove-all-dopers-from-their-email-contact-lists-but-ill-settle/652716.md?page=5)