Changing my email identity

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ChrisGreaves
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Changing my email identity

Post by ChrisGreaves »

I am contemplating changing my email identity in order to hide myself from spam.
I have two email addresses, old@gmail.com and old@chrisgreaves.com. OK, not “old”, but you get the idea.
When I retired from Sales & Marketing I decided to orphan/abandon the ChrisGreaves.com stuff; I told my contacts to use the gMail address, and it is the gMail address I use nowadays.
MailWasher prefaces Thunderbird, and does a reasonably good job of tagging spam, but there are still problems.
Untitled.png
Good Folks, such as my friend Ms B is flagged as “good”, but MailWasher marks her messages for deletion. It is up to me to change the “good” to “friend” and/or to uncheck the deletion box. A up-to-date version of the spam filter program might fix this problem, but the bottom line is that nowadays *I* am working to solve a problem I don’t need – whether I am unchecking boxes, upgrading software, or waiting while a spam filter checks 438 messages that have accumulated since I checked email yesterday morning.
Too many “friends” have CC’d me so that their friends infected computers can sell my email address to mailing lists.
Too many companies have insisted I supply an email address before they will consider my enquiry or purchase, and I’m sure that some of them sell my email address to mailing lists. I’m never staying at a Best Western hotel again.

SO.

What is involved in a change of identity?

1: I will remain ChrisGreaves on forums such as Eileen’s Lounge – I’m not hiding from the law – but I would somehow have to tell Eileen’s Lounge and every other online service that I am no longer old@gmail.com, I am now new@gmail.com. And some services may not allow me to do this. I might be ChrisGreaves forever at Eileen's Lounge, but that identity might always be tied to old@gmail.com. And if it is not so for Eileen’s Lounge, it might be true for other agencies, such as my hosting agent or my domain name registrar.
2: I can use my current “friends” list from the spam filter to announce the new@gmail.com to the people currently in favour.
3: I presume that I can delete the old@chrisgreaves.com from the mail server. There’s really little reason for anyone to email me via that domain from now on.
4: Blogs (BlogSpot et al) of mine are in limbo. I haven’t posted to a real blog in two years.

And what of the future? I assume that some new “friends” will CC me so that their friends infected computers can sell my email address to mailing lists. And some commercial sites will insist that I supply an email address before they will consider my enquiry or purchase, and I’m sure that some of them will sell my new email address to mailing lists.
If I can work out how to accomplish a change of email identity then there’s no reason not to perform the act every couple of years.
In principle. Or on principle.

A recent TVO Steve Paikin podcast “Theresa Payton: The Data of Our Lives” suggests separate email addresses for each function – one for banking, one for retail, one for student registration etc. I conceive generating a dozen email addresses to have in hand the next time someone insists on an email address (cgreaves01@gmail.com, cgreaves02@gmail.com, cgreaves03@gmail.com and so on) and a set of specific and memorable addresses for regular use (cgreavesBanking@gmail.com, cgreavesStudent@gmail.com, cgreavesHealth@gmail.com and so on).

P.S. If I do go ahead with this, I’ll be sure to document it in a web page/diary.
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HansV
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Re: Changing my email identity

Post by HansV »

As far as I know, all online services provide a means to change the e-mail address linked to your account. For example, here in Eileen's Lounge, it is User Control Panel > Profile > Edit account settings.
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Roderunner
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Re: Changing my email identity

Post by Roderunner »

Hi Chris, I read your post a few times so I hope I have understood it correctly.
What I suggest is opening a new 'outlook.com' mail account for your 'other mickey mouse' contacts or keeping one of your older accounts and forward it to your Gmail account.
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My 'mickey mouse' address is hotmail.com. I store all my contacts in it and keep a copy of them by exporting them in .CSV format. I also use it to sign-in to WLM But only use my Gmail account in it. If I get too much spam or the account gets compromised I can create a new one in minutes.
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In my Gmail, I create filters and labels for my mail.
RR.JPG
These are my filtered messages and are colour coded.
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I don't use any other program to filter my mail i.e. MailWasher.
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BobH
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Re: Changing my email identity

Post by BobH »

Howdy, Chris!

Is all the snow gone yet?

I use at least 5 email addresses routinely, but I don't have one for each online function. I keep one that I use only for family and very close friends whom I've asked not to share with others. I use another 'throw away' address that I use for ad hoc online transactions. I use another for 'nom de forum posting' and yet another for transactions, like online banking, that I wish to keep to very limited use. I have filters set up for each. As I receive a spam message, I add the sender to the Spam Killer filter in Thunderbird for that email address. I have used spam filter software - MailWasher - in the past but found, as you did, that it was not effective without too much intervention.

On a slightly different topic, for each website that I visit more or less regularly, I have a separate password that is algorithmically generated by KeePass. I never use the same password for more than one login and I change them all every few months. These pw's are 26 characters in length and include all the allowable characters and capitalization to inhibit casual code breaking. I feel that the passwords (although you didn't ask about them) are worth more effort than the email addresses, primarily because I think my spam problems are greatly reduced over what they once were. (Now, having said that, my inbox will be stuffed and I'll have to come back here with hat in hand asking for advice.)

Cheers!

:cheers: :chocciebar: :thankyou:
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Changing my email identity

Post by ChrisGreaves »

HansV wrote:As far as I know, all online services provide a means to change the e-mail address linked to your account.
Well, of course, using the planet's premier communication lounge as an example works; I'd expect no less of this fine board.
But I'll bet a return air-fare to Paris that at least one of the services I use is irrevocably tied to an email account.
I wish I'd never started in computers all those years ago :grumpy:
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Changing my email identity

Post by ChrisGreaves »

Roderunner wrote:Hi Chris, I read your post a few times so I hope I have understood it correctly.
Thanks for the response, Roderunner, but I suspect I didn't make myself clear.
Imagine that your/my gmail account is horribly overburdened with mischievous email. Forwarding ANYthing to my CURRENT gmail account is a bad idea.
The problem lies in, say, receiving a spam email every minute (an extreme example).
I've just used my gmail account to request an appointment with UofT staff; their reply comes back buried in a pile of filth.
Because I've just submitted the request, I expect to see a response instanter, but if I don't check my gmail account within five minutes, if I wait until tmorrow, the response will be buried in a flood of apparent spam.

My idea is to disappear as old@gmail.com altogether and be able to ignore mail sent to old@gmail.com forever.

Only a select few will know about new2014@gmail.com, and those folks/services, if they really love me, will have to switch to new2015@gmail.com in about 9 months time.
If it isn't one thing it's another, and very often both. E.F.Benson

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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Changing my email identity

Post by ChrisGreaves »

BobH wrote:Is all the snow gone yet?
:time:
...As I receive a spam message, I add the sender to the Spam Killer filter in Thunderbird for that email address.
Sure; that'd work, but look now that YOU have to work to avoid spam; some filters are better than others, but it seems to me that switching to a new name every 12 months for truly long-term contacts is the best bet.
I have an advantage in that I compile my web pages automatically, so sending email through chrisgreaves.com should always work (as long as I've set up a proper email address that bots can't see).

Disposable emails would work fine for short-term contacts, such as appliance shopping, booking a hotel.

My accountant of 30 years trips to Phoenix twice a year ("to check up on a client's property, next to a golf course"), and opens a new credit card account for each trip, pays the bill and closes the account once he gets home; no credit card fraud for him!

I'd be doing much the same thing with disposable email addresses - use them for booking for a trip, then once I get home, stop reading that channel.
On a slightly different topic, for each website that I visit more or less regularly, I have a separate password that is algorithmically generated by KeePass.
Sure! I have a littlre WordVBA macro that generates a gibberish password based on the date/time, e.g. right now it spewed "73sxuvon"; I generate the password in a Word Document Table, save the document, and then use the password. I'd probably use the same sort of thing for disposable email addresses, or maybe just go with e.g ChrisGreavesBestWestern@gmail.com so I could keep track of which malevolent hotel chain was abusing my privacy.

Not that I want to spend my valuable (retirement) time complaining to them.
and I'll have to come back here with hat in hand asking for advice.)
Forget the "cap in hand" rubbish; come with a firm grip on your snow-shovel. :laugh:
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BobH
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Re: Changing my email identity

Post by BobH »

ChrisGreaves wrote: and I'll have to come back here with hat in hand asking for advice.)
Forget the "cap in hand" rubbish; come with a firm grip on your snow-shovel. :laugh:
Snow shovel? What is that? I have a manure fork with 9 tines and a garden spade with a pointed end about 6" wide, but I've never even heard of a snow shovel. Is that some kind of weird Canadjun April Fool's joke?

:flee:
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DaveA
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Re: Changing my email identity

Post by DaveA »

Since I use Outlook 2010, All I need to do add them to the junk list and they all get dumped there. I browse the junk folder before closing each session and then empty it.

Yes, the list get very long, but I have found that I can delete all of the entries in the Junk list and start over. Most of thee spammers use an email address only for a few weeks and then use another.
I am so far behind, I think I am First :evilgrin:
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Roderunner
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Re: Changing my email identity

Post by Roderunner »

Hi Chris, I did suggest creating a new Outlook.com account or using one of your older ones. I forgot to include 'unless it gets too much spam'.
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Changing my email identity

Post by ChrisGreaves »

BobH wrote: I have a manure fork ...
Well, I can understand that you have a need for that :rofl: :laugh: :rofl: :laugh: :rofl: :laugh:
(Actually, these two comments are disturbingly close to the topic of spam!)
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Changing my email identity

Post by ChrisGreaves »

DaveA wrote:... the junk folder before closing each session and then empty it. ... delete all of the entries in the Junk list and start over.
Hi Dave. Your methods are quite close to mine; I am grudging(?) the amount of housekeeping I have to do to keep my slate clean.
You have outlined two related tasks, time that you spend to cope with spam.
I spend that time too.
Now I'm trying to evaluate the time-cost of setting up and implementing a regular procedure to hide from the bulk of the spam.

I feel that spam will always be with us, and that spam-coping with always be with us.
I'm trying to avoid daily scrolling through massses of automatically-flagged spam just in case a novel communicator has slipped through the gaps.
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Changing my email identity

Post by ChrisGreaves »

Roderunner wrote:... 'unless it gets too much spam'.
The nub of my problem as I see it.
Eyeballing hundreds of flagged messages just-in-case is both a burden (on my time) and a stress-inducer ("what if I delete a valid message from a novel communicator?").
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Roderunner
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Re: Changing my email identity

Post by Roderunner »

ChrisGreaves wrote:
Roderunner wrote:... 'unless it gets too much spam'.
The nub of my problem as I see it.
Eyeballing hundreds of flagged messages just-in-case is both a burden (on my time) and a stress-inducer ("what if I delete a valid message from a novel communicator?").
If your mail is accessed through WLM you could export your mail, I don't know if this is possible with other apps as I've never tried it.
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DaveA
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Re: Changing my email identity

Post by DaveA »

I think that a lot of people spend more time changing email addresses than they would just by browsing their Junk folder.
I know that I spend a lot less time worrying about spam by using the built in Junk filters of the email programs.

Being that I am into Family Research, I have email addresses at way to many web sites and some go back to the early 1990's. My spam intake is NOTHING like it use to be. I find that I need to go and have a look at some of the junk boxes at the different email providers that I have. These providers seem to be doing a much better job of snagging this Junk.
I am so far behind, I think I am First :evilgrin:
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Changing my email identity

Post by ChrisGreaves »

Roderunner wrote:... keeping one of your older accounts and forward it to your Gmail account ... I don't use any other program to filter my mail i.e. MailWasher.
Hi again. My old brain has run through a few more cycles, and I think I'm seeing some light here.

When I log directly into gmail, I see very little spam, so it seems to me that gmail *IS* doing a good job of smam filtering.
That leaves my domain email old@chrisgreaves.com as suspect.
I think I should investigate how much of the spam is coming from the gmail server, and how much is coming from my own mail server.

Hmmmm.

On a related note, I guess what has been bugging me about MailWasher is that I get a screen full of stuff that (a) Mailwasher has declared spam and (b) I have declared spam.
Once I declare something to the spam list, I really don't want to see it or its ilk ever again.
This would apply especially to BlackListed items. Perhaps I can tell Mailwasher to not-display any items on the blacklist; that would reduce the clutter on the screen.
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Changing my email identity

Post by ChrisGreaves »

BobH wrote:... the Spam Killer filter in Thunderbird
Hi Bob; please see also my "brain is cycling" response to RodeRunner.
Thunderbird's spam filter, huh?
OK. What version of Thunderbird are you using at the moment, please.
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Roderunner
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Re: Changing my email identity

Post by Roderunner »

Hi Chris, once you decide which Gmail you want to keep & what one of your other accounts you want to keep, once you set up filtering in Gmail, you will have a very clean inbox.
I have a live.co.uk & a hotmail.com accounts, both forwarded to my other Gmail account without any filtering. It in turn is forwarded to my main Gmail account with filtering set. I can't remember when my main Gmail account last got any spam.
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BobH
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Re: Changing my email identity

Post by BobH »

ChrisGreaves wrote:
BobH wrote:... the Spam Killer filter in Thunderbird
Hi Bob; please see also my "brain is cycling" response to RodeRunner.
Thunderbird's spam filter, huh?
OK. What version of Thunderbird are you using at the moment, please.
I'm using TB 28.0, Chris.

TB has both message filters that are specific to folders within the inbox and a 'junk mail controls' (which is what I referred to as a spam filter). I'm still learning a great deal about both and how to use them.

HTH
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Changing my email identity

Post by ChrisGreaves »

ChrisGreaves wrote:I am contemplating changing my email identity in order to hide myself from spam.
Eileen's Lounge is good to/for me.

Over the past week or so I've had time to cogitate.
No doubt about it, changing identity is a big step, hence my in initial post.
Members comments have caused me to pause and reflect.
Here is a screen snapshot of what I see from my spam filter pre-processor:-
Untitled.png
With the display sorted by status, all those spam which I have previously flagged are at the bottom of the list.
Questionable spam is flagged as Good/Spam at the top of the list (there were no good/spam this morning!).
That means that once I have eyeballed the two or three good/spam at the top of the list, I do no need to examine the rest of the list. The rest-of-the-list is there because I have previously made a decision that they are forever spam.

So, I've been eyeballing stuff needlessly all these years.

A separate question for me and my spam-filter is whether I can cause these previously marked emails to be inhibited from the display.
Another separate question is whether I ought to just shut down my old@chrisgreaves.com address - i have no reason to use it from now on.

My next step, regardless, is to update to Thunderbird twenty-something and get with the program!

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions.
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