What are the best lists of temporary email account generators and should they be blocked?
Summary
What email marketers say9Marketer opinions
Email marketer from Email Hippo explains that blocking disposable emails can improve data quality and prevent fake sign-ups. However, they also note that some legitimate users might use temporary emails for privacy reasons, so consider the potential impact on user experience.
Email marketer from ZeroBounce shares that disposable email addresses are often used for malicious purposes, such as spamming and creating fake accounts. They recommend using an email validation service to detect and block these addresses.
Email marketer from Reddit suggests that instead of hard blocking disposable email addresses, consider flagging them and applying stricter rules. For example, require phone verification or limit access to certain features. This allows you to still capture some users while mitigating potential abuse.
Email marketer from Reddit shares that maintaining a blocklist of disposable email addresses is an ongoing effort. They suggest using community-maintained lists and regularly updating your own to keep up with new disposable email services.
Email marketer from Mailjet shares that disposable email addresses can negatively impact email marketing efforts. They can lead to lower engagement rates, higher bounce rates, and damage sender reputation. Mailjet advises using email verification to filter out disposable addresses.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares a link to a list of disposable email domains: <https://github.com/martenson/disposable-email-domains/blob/master/disposable_email_blocklist.conf>
Email marketer from Stack Overflow explains the benefits of blocking disposable email addresses. They state that it helps prevent abuse, spam, and protects against users who only want to use a service once. It can also improve the quality of your user base by ensuring users provide legitimate contact information.
Email marketer from Kickbox recommends email verification tools like Kickbox to identify disposable emails. It helps improve deliverability and prevents spam traps.
Email marketer from NeverBounce shares that disposable email addresses are often used to sign up for free trials, access gated content, or create multiple accounts. He shares this can distort marketing metrics and indicates potentially fraudulent activity.
What the experts say3Expert opinions
Expert from Email Geeks explains that blocking known disposable email addresses can be ineffective and potentially harmful. He shares that people can easily create throwaway addresses on major platforms like Yahoo or Gmail. Blocking disposable emails can damage your reputation at those platforms as they will not bounce but also won't interact with your mail.
Expert from Word to the Wise responds that preventing temporary email addresses is difficult and likely not worth the effort. Instead, focus on the outcome you're hoping to prevent (like fake accounts). Implement measures to identify and deal with the outcome, instead of trying to identify temporary email addresses.
Expert from Email Geeks shares a link to a list of disposable email domains: <https://github.com/ivolo/disposable-email-domains>
What the documentation says6Technical articles
Documentation from OWASP (Open Web Application Security Project) recommends implementing server-side validation to prevent the use of disposable email addresses during account creation. They suggest using a regularly updated list of known disposable email domains or a real-time API to identify and block these addresses.
Documentation from Wikipedia defines disposable email addresses as a service that allows users to receive emails at a temporary address that expires after a certain time. This allows users to avoid giving out their primary email address to untrusted websites.
Documentation from Hunter.io explains methods for detecting disposable email addresses. It suggests checking the domain's reputation, looking for common disposable email patterns, and using email verification tools.
Documentation from StopForumSpam offers a regularly updated list of disposable email domains and IPs. This resource can be used to prevent spammers from creating accounts on forums and other online platforms using temporary email addresses.
Documentation from Mailfence support explains that disposable email addresses can be used for privacy reasons to avoid spam and protect personal information. Some users may prefer to use them when signing up for services they don't fully trust.
Documentation from RFC 2606 defines reserved domain names for documentation purposes. While not a list of disposable email domains, it highlights the importance of standardizing domain usage and identifying domains for specific purposes.