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I configured about a dozen domains to have MX records for the mailinator disposable inbox service for about a decade for free as a gift and the domains were tox

I configured about a dozen domains to have MX records for the mailinator disposable inbox service for about a decade for free as a gift and the domains were toxic for any other email use case for years afterwards… they were so abused you couldn’t even sign up for most web services with any email associated by the time I stopped renewing them… there are still GitHub lists of disposable email addresses that list to blacklist those domains (and many other), so, I agree. If the big providers don’t offer disposable email addresses there is no good option.

nunez 23d ago
Mailinator was an awesome service when it first worked. Thank you!!!
ocdtrekkie 23d ago
The reason it's toxic is because the Venn diagram between disposable email addresses and email addresses used for CSAM is a circle: If you accept disposable email and allow users to upload anything, you will have CSAM. Whereas a Fastmail masked email or iCloud relay is still in the backend tied to your real account and identity which means it provides privacy generally for you but is traceable enough that it is unappealing for predators.
- dwroberts 23d ago
  Why CSAM specifically? Isn’t it mostly going to be just vanilla fraud?
  - ocdtrekkie 23d ago
    Disposable mail providers generate a ton of spam too, but CSAM is illegal to host, so it's pretty risky to allow them unmitigated.
    - inigyou 22d ago
      Citation needed that you'll go to jail if a user uploads child porn to your site and you remove it when notified
mrweasel 23d ago
So assuming that I wanted a domain, which would be worthless on any mailing listing and pretty much any service, only good for regular emails, then letting them sit a mailinator aliases for a year or so is a good option? Sadly mailinator and similar services aren't really working anymore.
- duskwuff 22d ago
  No - if you did that, you're likely to end up with an email address which many services will treat as suspicious or reject entirely, both for incoming and outbound mail. And you'll still get spam.

nunez 23d ago

Mailinator was an awesome service when it first worked. Thank you!!!

ocdtrekkie 23d ago

The reason it's toxic is because the Venn diagram between disposable email addresses and email addresses used for CSAM is a circle: If you accept disposable email and allow users to upload anything, you will have CSAM. Whereas a Fastmail masked email or iCloud relay is still in the backend tied to your real account and identity which means it provides privacy generally for you but is traceable enough that it is unappealing for predators.

dwroberts 23d ago
Why CSAM specifically? Isn’t it mostly going to be just vanilla fraud?
- ocdtrekkie 23d ago
  Disposable mail providers generate a ton of spam too, but CSAM is illegal to host, so it's pretty risky to allow them unmitigated.
  - inigyou 22d ago
    Citation needed that you'll go to jail if a user uploads child porn to your site and you remove it when notified

mrweasel 23d ago

So assuming that I wanted a domain, which would be worthless on any mailing listing and pretty much any service, only good for regular emails, then letting them sit a mailinator aliases for a year or so is a good option? Sadly mailinator and similar services aren't really working anymore.

duskwuff 22d ago
No - if you did that, you're likely to end up with an email address which many services will treat as suspicious or reject entirely, both for incoming and outbound mail. And you'll still get spam.