Fortunately, Mailblocks has a solution to all these potential problems. The solution is called "Mailblocks Trackers", and that's essentially another name for disposable email addresses.
A disposable email address is an address that you create on the fly and throw away just as easily -- as soon as it gets in the hands of spammers. In Mailblocks, Trackers are special in that mail sent to such a disposable Tracker address gets through to your Mailblocks inbox or a special folder without the need for the sender to authorize.
Of course, this means you run the risk of the address being given or sold to spammers, when then can send you their junk unhampered. Unhampered? No, because as soon as that happens, you disable the Tracker and the spam avalanche is stopped in its tracks.
Use Mailblocks Trackers to:
- sign up for newsletters,
- receive confirmation emails when you register (for) something,
- be able to provide an email address guaranteed to work on your home page,
- subscribe to mailing lists.
Now, to set up a Mailblocks Tracker:
- Select trackers from the Mailblocks toolbar.
- Click New Tracker.
- Give the tracker a recognizable name under Tracker Name:.
- If you create a Tracker to sign up for About newsletters, for example, you could use something like "about-nl".
- You can usually leave the Tracker PIN: alone.
- Click Next.
- Choose whether you want mail received through the Tracker to go to your Inbox or an automatically created folder.
- If you select the special folder, you'll spot spam received at a Tracker address right away.
- Click Next.
- Optionally, add a comment that helps you recognize what you created the Tracker for.
- Click Next again.
- Click Finish.
To use your newly created Mailblocks Tracker, copy its address from the trackers page and use it like your "real" email address.
