This is the second-edition of a post I made a long time ago on a different blog.  I'm posting it because of a post made by Eric Bowden about his new approach to personal email management.

"So here is the approach:  I have a dedicated domain name "scrappydog.com" with just one email user (me).  All email to any email address in the scrappydog.com domain lands in my inbox.  This allows me to created a separate dedicated email address for every organization I do business with, and I can create a one off random address for any interaction I want."

In the comments Tony Toews quickly points out a flaw in Eric's plan:

"However, once the spammers start using your domain in their spam emails you will be inundated with bounces.  Several of my domains are getting hundreds of bouncers per day.  And you will be forced to created individual email accounts on your server.  So keep track of all those account somehow."

Currently I have a two tools (both free) that I use for spam management beyond the provided spam filters:

SpamGourmet

SpamGourmet.com is a free service that allows you to generate disposable email addresses.  Once you create an account, you can create unlimited disposable email address.  If my username is "Tim", I create a disposable email address using the following pattern: <disposableIdentifier>.<maxEmails>.<username>@spamgourmet.com. If I was signing up for an account with CNN.com I would use the email address CNN.20.Tim@spamgourmet.com.

Any email sent to that address will be forwarded to my real email address.  I use this service for websites that require an email address for signing up and I may wish to receive emails in the future.  Having SpamGourmet allows me to make sure the website hasn't sold my email address.  If my email address is ever sold I will know who sold it, by the identifier I used to create it.  Also, given that I've set a maximum number of emails, if it does get sold, I won't get inundated with emails.

It should be noted that SpamGourmet comes with many slick advanced options, whereby the situation described above by Tony can also be averted easily.

SpamBox

SpamBox.us allows the same type of service, however you don't need to create an account.  Again, all emails to that account are forwarded to your real account which is hidden.  SpamBox is time based.  You have to go to their website to create an email address and while creating the address you specify how long before the email address is deleted.  I use this service for websites that require an email address for signing up and I'm fairly certain I don't care if I ever hear from them again.

Do I trust SpamBox and SpamGourmet not to sell my email?  Not entirely. They say they won't, but  you never know.  The way I see it though, is that if they do in fact sell it, it'll only becoming from one source rather than 35-50 accounts I have opened around the internet.