Netiquette and Dispoable Email Sites - Via Netiquette IQ

Many times an email user will take the opportunity to utilize an offer or trial of a product or a service. There are such legitimate circumstances where it is perfectly good Netiquette to utilize a disposable email address. However, it clearly should be stated here that the use of such a device is definitely discouraged in every Netiquette way. It is wrong when intended for any deception or misrepresentation.

As I believe  all the readers of this blog are netizens in good and ethical standing, it is a good item of knowledge to have a tool such as this available. The segment below was put together by Brandon Widder  —    Digitatrends.com December 18, 2013. It is top rate research. Enjoy the article and remember to put it to good use only within the bounds of good Netiquette IQ!

Best sites for creating a disposable email address

Non-forwarding disposable email services

GuerrillaMail

While technically disposable, GuerrillaMail email addresses are also timeless. Each address can be tailored using one of nine different domain names and a custom inbox ID, much like a standard email address, making address options virtually limitless whether you rely on domain names like “sharklasers.com” or “guerrillamail.net.” Although the email address you choose at GuerrillaMail will never actually expire, recently-received emails that appear in your email inbox will automatically be deleted within an hour regardless if they’ve been viewed or not. Additional tools for encrypting your inbox ID and filtering unwanted spam is also built into the software, as is a simple email composer and capable of sending attachments up to 150 MB with little fanfare.

Mailinator

When Mailinator boasts it’s “a different kind of email service on its site,” it’s not kidding around. The free service is a unique service on the Web, essentially offering a public address owned and accessible by anyone with an Internet connection. Instead of relying on a signup process or built-in creator like other services on our roundup, Mailinator creates an account for whatever email address you use as soon as a email arrives for that address. For instance, if you register for a service with the address “boondocks@mailinator.com”, the site will create an account for that particular address if one doesn’t exist already. Afterward, you can simple navigate to the Mailinator’s homepage and type in your inbox of choice — as can anyone else since the inbox lacks any sort of password protection. Also, although emails are deleted from the system after a few hours, email addresses will remain intact indefinitely. However, keep in mind many mainstream sites like Facebook already block the well-known domain.

10 Minute Mail

Ten minutes isn’t a lot of time, but it’s often more than enough to hand out your disposable email address to the masses. Ten Minute Mail isn’t swimming with features — it won’t even let you create your own custom address — but it instead revels in simplicity. Once you arrive at the site’s homepage, it will provide you with an auto-generated email address that will expire after 10 minutes unless you opt for an additional 10 minutes using the short link below your given email address. Additionally, there are various inbox settings located at the bottom of the page for viewing messages and a link above your given email address for quickly copying the address to your clipboard. It doesn’t boast a highly-robust interface or tool set, but services for creating throwaway emails rarely need to.

Fake Inbox

With an accompanying domain name like “fakeinbox.com”, the basic site clearly has nothing to hide. Users can choose either an auto-generated or custom username, but each will expire once the 60-minute doomsday clock at the bottom of the page hits zero. However, there are options for refreshing the email address’ lifespan and instantly deleting it, and the site offers the ability to read as well as reply to any email you receive within the dark interface. Note that the site does come with a few banner ads you want to avoid clicking like most email services, but other than that, our qualms are few and far in between.

Air Mail

Using a disposable email service doesn’t necessarily mean you have to sacrifice the well-known comforts of traditional email. Air Mail is a perfect case in point, a disposable email service that offers several perks often reserved for more comprehensive email clients. The site will auto-generate an email address upon your arrival, as well as begin checking for messages every 10 seconds, but you can always cycle through the email addresses until you find one with a username and domain you prefer. Incoming emails are displayed within the classic interface and accompanied by an alert notification, and you can continually access the inbox by returning to the site using the same browser or your private inbox URL on another machine. The email address will also remain valid as long as you keep your browser window active, only disappearing after 24 hours of inactivity, and Air Mail claims to hide your IP address from the sender to prevent third-party theft of information.

Forwarding disposable email services

Melt Mail

Melt Mail isn’t revolutionary in terms of features and utilities, but it’s yet another tried-and-true service took tuck away within your tool belt. Upon accessing the site’s homepage, users will be prompted to enter the real email address they would like their email forwarded to, as well as select the duration of the forwarding service. Afterward, the site will provide a temporary email address and a clock indicating for how long the address will remain valid (i.e. three, six, 12 and 24 hours). The lack of a privacy statement is somewhat concerning — the point of using a disposable email is to avoid giving out your real email — but it’s not a bad solution if you’re looking for an incredibly sleek and straightforward solution for using a disposable email with forwarding capabilities. There’s even a free iOS and Android app for creating and saving fake email addresses to your clipboard on the go. 

Easy Trash Mail

Easy Trash Mail takes Melt Mail’s forwarding duration to the next level, albeit with a tan-and-olive interface that’s a bit more clumsy to use. Once users navigate to the site’s homepage, they merely enter their real email address in the text field and select how long they would like the resulting, temporary email to last. Duration options are a little more extensive than others offered on our roundup, from 15 minutes and six hours to two weeks and an entire month, but the email forwarding will cease at the end of the allotted time no matter the amount of time you choose. Again, the service only offers email forwarding from an Easy Trash Mail domain, meaning all emails must be read in your real inbox opposed to a Web interface, but the service will also notify you 10 minutes before the disposable email expires so you can quickly peruse your inbox for any worthwhile message you may have missed.

Trash Mail

Not to be confused with aforementioned Easy Trash Mail, the German-built Trash Mail is a different type of disposable email service — one constructed with Chrome and Mozilla Firefox add-ons in mind. Both the site and add-ons require users to input their real email address for temporary email forwarding, but Trash Mail includes a limited number of forwards in addition to standard options for selecting the life span of the email address. For instance, users can limit the number of forwarded emails to one, 10 or even 10,000 and set the temporary email address’ life span anywhere from one day to 6 months (or indefinite). On top of that, users can personally create the fake email addresses using more than 10 varying domain names, as well as filter incoming emails using a CAPTCHA system and set up automatic notifications informing them when their account has expired. Trash Mail might be overkill for the average user, but the coupled browser add-ons make creating disposable emails on the fly a breeze without having to navigate elsewhere.
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In addition to this blog, I have authored the premiere book on Netiquette, " Netiquette IQ - A comprehensive Guide to Improve, Enhance and Add Power to Your Email". You can view my profile, reviews of the book and content excerpts at:

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