Does anyone know of an email account that I can use for a few weeks and then, after I shut it down, it bounces back emails received as undelivered? And it immediately shuts down, not after days or weeks of delay.

I don't want people to send me any important messages that I am unaware of.

Another better alternative, which I am unlikely to find, would be an account that only accepts messages from email addresses that you have already sent emails to yourself, and rejects everything else. Ideally you would be able to edit the list of addresses from which email is accepted. Using a system like this would end spam.

Thanks, and Happy Christmas and New Year!

This makes zero sense. Doesn't matter if it's shut down after days/weeks or immediately...either way, you wouldn't be aware of any messages sent to that address. And if they're 'important', why would you use a disposable email account in the first place???

And if it's bounced back, and that's the only address the sender had for you, care to explain how they'd get in touch with you about those 'important' emails that bounced???
Gmail, Proton mail, Outlook, and many others can. It's known as a 'whitelist', and you can easily set it up to accept emails from only those in a list...all others can be dealt with as you want. Which would be deleted/bounced/auto-replied/whatever.

Putting "accept email from known senders only" into any search engine can be a good starting point.

Another option may be to communicate using encrypted apps like Whatsapp. Lately even on Whatsapp I've received unwanted calls or messages. I think Signal is an excellent communication app for calls and messages.

In Linux, is it possible to have all emails received from addresses on a blacklist bounced back as undelivered?

Thanks.

Yes. And you were told how.

"TBone" - please stop responding to my posts, they are not being looked at. You are the only person I've ever had on my Ignore list.


For others, unfortunately in the UK you can serve legal documents on people by emailing them. So it's important to not receive them, and not just dispose of them.

I don't want to be a slave to an email account and have to keep looking at it every day just in case I might possibly have been served something. Anyone who wants to serve something can post it to me on paper.

And you have more deterrence and security if the unsolicited sender thinks your email address does not exist.

Maybe I want something like Postfix with an allowlist - but it seems very complicated to use. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postfix_(software)

Not-delivering every email except for those from addresses on your allowlist is such a simple idea - why has it not been implemented? Why is it not commonplace? Why isn't there some easy to use GUI thing that does it? Or is there?

Postfix is a mail transport agent (MTA) used in the operation of a mail server. Is that what you want to do? Operate your own mail server?
If so, yes, that is fairly complicated.
If not, any good email provider will give you the capability to define allowed (whitelisted) and denied (blacklisted) addresses and how to process them.
(As stated).
Exactly how each works is best understood by perusing the provider’s documentation.

Too bad this is a public forum where anyone can reply. If you want to remain ignorant and not read answers to questions you asked, that's your decision
You were told how, and again your whole 'problem' makes zero sense. If you don't want to be emailed 'important' things, then WHY did you give them your email address??? And changing your email address repeatedly makes no sense either. You either want to receive emails or not...if you don't, don't give them an address. But in your case, you're a 'slave' to MANY email addresses, since you now have to hop from one place to another, so you can get your 'important' things.

Again: pretty much any email provider has the ability for a whitelist. One of the MANY things you could find if you (AGAIN) bothered to do anything like research:
https://blog.bounceless.io/bounce-em...nder-in-gmail/

That's for Gmail...similar docs for Protonmail, Yahoo Mail, and probably others. Which you can look up for yourself.

Yep...told that to the OP in my first reply, and the OP could find that easily had they tried to do any research of their own, but they rarely (if ever) do so. Proton, Gmail, and Yahoo all have this. I believe even Outlook has it as well.

Past that, the OP's 'problem' makes zero sense, as stated. First post says: "I don't want people to send me any important messages that I am unaware of."...after saying they want an email address that disappears/bounces. Right off the bat, the OP would NOT be aware of important messages in any way, since they'd either bounce or be in an unmonitored email box pending deletion of the account. The only way the OP could know anything was sent, would be if they *LOOKED*. So deleting an account (either instantly or with a short delay) would result in the same thing...they wouldn't know.

Their assertion that they can be served legal documents via email is true, but again the OP does little in the way of research. Because there are caveats to this, which are outlined here in basics, related to PD6A (which is more complicated):
https://watsonmorrisfamilylaw.co.uk/...rved-by-email/

...and quoting from that:
The article says the receiver has to agree to, in writing, receive such things via email in the first place. Changing/deleting your address after such an agreement probably wouldn't go over well in a court-case. Past that, no matter what, the receiver has to receive something in the mail, saying that documents have been emailed to them. Which makes the argument about not knowing they had something emailed moot.

Any way you look at this, it's a non-problem that has easy solutions;

• Don't provide an email address
• Set up a whitelist, which is amply documented and been used for years

The email provider gmx.com makes it easy to delete your account.

They all do. They also all have whitelists.

And you aren't actually solving your 'problem', no matter who you go with.

Please check with your attorney or solicitor on what is the law on using whitelist in a email account. Bouncing emails from an active email account may not hold water in court.

If you need disposable email addresses then you can use alias from Outlook, Proton and others. Outlook, in their free tier, provides upto 5 email aliases. Once those aliases are no longer needed then you can delete them, thus the email to them will bounce. Downside, it will be difficult to recreate or next to impossible to recreate the same alias post deletion. And you will not receive any notification regarding this bounce. Nor will you be able to see such emails.

The best option, get your own domain and setup a mail server hosted somewhere, either on premise or in the cloud. There you can define unlimited aliases or disposable email addresses. Check with your attorney or solicitor on how will having a email setup controlled and paid by you will work, i.e. If a court summons or notice is sent across to you via email and it bounces.

I understand your aversion of being served via email and insisting on being served via snail mail or postman. Not that I support it, but I understand it.