Overwhelmed newbie - rushed email strategy guidance

General
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Oh hey! :waving_hand:t2:
This is exactly where my username comes from[1]. :watermelon:

I just share my POV yes, not saying that people should copy it.
Meanwhile, sometimes you can’t just do the thing later on or progressively because it will just be postponing and/or delay the work anyway.

My approach is not that hardcore tho:

  • get Addy with giftcards or crypto
  • get a new free Proton email account[2]
  • forward Addy → Proton email
  • done :green_circle:

Benefits of it:

  • no need come back to it later on
  • deal with anything Gmail-related as a parallel topic that can be dealt with anytime later on
  • fresh and fully anonymous approach that leaves no traces and starts with a blank slate
  • tested myself and working flawlessly with flexibility of just using addy.io and/or custom domains later on if needed :+1:t2:
    • been on the SimpleLogin bandwagon, it’s just a honestly worse experience that I cannot recommend to anyone if being objective :man_shrugging:t2:
    • my family actually got a very bad and slow adoption of SimpleLogin’s mobile app, Addy’s clicked instantly and was less of a friction overall tho, YMMV but my personal one was far more positive with Addy’s UX
  • depending on which deal you take[3], it might actually also be cheaper: 36€ yearly total (including taxes)
    • you can even add another PG-recommended VPN (non-Proton) to the mix and it might still be cheaper even if you have a family :+1:t2:

Hence, not sure how this one :index_pointing_up:t2: could happen with 3 easy steps.

Now, let’s check your approach point by point:

  • Create a 2nd Proton email: been there, done that. It will be annoying to have the mental burden of “damn, which one do I need to give again? this one or the other?”
    • moreover, requires a paid Proton plan, hence KYC with your bank details
    • This will be for friends and family, you use emails communications between friends/family rather than something like Signal?? Addy can help you forward 1 alias to 1 or X people’s mail boxes with a breeze. No need to forward any kind of stuff back and forth, you handle it in 1 place[4].
      • Want to do 1 alias into X mailboxes on SimpleLogin? Good luck. Tried that one myself it’s achievable-ich but very confusing, not planned for and I don’t think they are ready to implement that kind of change anytime soon. Addy’s dev’s roadmap is public and doing pretty well overall. Gonna give credit to good work where it’s due.
    • if it becomes a problem, down the track you can update your email, so quick win but enjoy redoing all the work down the road once you face some issues? Opting in to aliases now saves that kind of cumbersome work from the start and you will never look back.
  • Create a 3rd Proton email, so 3 email main inboxes is simpler than 1? Proton still knows it’s you with the 3rd one too btw. Might not be a relevant threat model to everybody but it’s one that you might again, opt out early on if you burn your trails and start from scratch.
    • also, if Proton goes evil, you’ll need to move your aliases and main inboxes that day too → more work down the pipe for quick wins early on.
  • migrating to SimpleLogin aliases:
    • subpar tool that is hard to recommend[5]
    • an alias service, hence not simpler than Addy meaning that OP will still need to understand how an alias service works it being SL or Addy, I don’t see where it’s more KISS than my approach because the learning curve will still be there nonetheless
    • want to move away from Proton to let’s say Tuta (or else?), sure enjoy migrating your SimpleLogin + paying for it now :slight_smile:

OP explicitly said they do not want that, hence no point recommending it.
It is anyway compatible with both Addy and SL, hence no need to add complexity for it right now.

Yes. With the asterisk of: no need to wait 2 years for it to be effective.
If you make a Google backup of your data + are sure that you updated all of your accounts from Gmail’s to aliases’, no need to wait extra.
Anyway, only work + government + taxes + banks + paid things are important here but that’s as easy as going through all of your Gmail received/sent emails domain by domain.

  1. from the KISS principle ↩︎

  2. no bank details needed ↩︎

  3. if going down from paid Proton to Addy + free Proton mail combo ↩︎

  4. as explained at the bottom of my message here: For people who use email alias, what things do you use your actual email for? - #17 by kissu ↩︎

  5. do you recommend a subpar solution to someone willing to switch from iOS to Android? no, you recommend GOS and it’s a done + forget kind of deal :+1:t2: you could start with LineageOS :skull:, /eOS/ or whatever but what’s the point exactly?? ↩︎

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