Email Catch-all: That was a big mistake
Before I knew better, it seemed like such a good idea…. Set up one catch-all email address and then make up email addresses as I registered for various online sites. I could track where the email was coming from and sort it in my inbox without having to set up all those different email addresses.
Not sure what a catch-all email address is? Find an explanation at the bottom of this post.
Now I know better….. a catch-all address is a spammers best friend. Not only can they send email to my server by making up any email name they want (toanybody@myserver2.com), but they can forge email headers with any number of email addresses on my domain and I’ll get all the bounced email messages.
I’ve considered just turning off the catch-all address, but I’m not sure I want to risk losing some of the email that comes through on the catch-all
My current plan…..
I’m slowly but surely sorting through my incoming mail and changing email addresses for the contacts I want to keep. Those I’m setting up with real email addresses or with email aliases. Others I’m either unsubscribing, closing accounts, or just deciding that it’s not a problem if email just bounces for that address. Many of them were probably one time uses only.
Learn from my mistake…. don’t use a catch-all email address. Be aware that many hosting companies automatically set up a catch-all address when they set up your domain. You can usually turn it off in your control panel. If not, contact your hosting company to find out how to disable it.
Definitions
Catch-all Email:
“A Catch-all for email, usually refers to an mailbox on a domain that will “catch all” of the email addressed to it, so any email address at the domain that doesn’t belong to another mailbox will end up in this default mailbox.”
Catch-all (Mail).” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 30 Nov 2006, 09:01 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 5 Jan 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Catch-all_%28Mail%29&oldid=91117747>.
Email Alias
To the sender, an email alias looks just like a regular email address, but is handled differently on your server (behind the scenes). Email send to an alias is not stored on your server, but rather is immediately delivered to a regular email address on the same server. Regular email is stored on your server until you retrieve it either through your web based email service or your local email client (like Outlook or Thunderbird).
Email Forwarder
An email forwarder can be forwarded to any email server, unlike an alias which can be forwarded only to an email on the same server.