Dead letter bin / black hole email address

I'm looking for an email address that can be sent to where the mail will just be deleted without a bounce back. RFC 2606 defines example.com as a fictitious domain for documentation. Is there something similar for email? This will be used in printed documentation, needs to be stable (the domain can't go stale or replaced by an NSFW site), and as generic as possible.

skypanther

Posted 2010-03-19T13:18:37.437

Reputation: 343

Answers

bit-bucket@test.smtp.org
The good old bitbucket, just what you're looking for.

Chris S

Posted 2010-03-19T13:18:37.437

Reputation: 5 907

is this documented anywhere? – Matt Crinklaw-Vogt – 2015-03-06T21:05:22.763

@MattCrinklaw-Vogt http://test.smtp.org/

– EKW – 2015-03-09T18:44:43.893

1Fantastic! I knew there must be something like this. My searches kept coming up empty. Thank you. – skypanther – 2010-03-19T15:10:12.113

This NO LONGER WORKS! I put it in without checking before a big operation, and they all bounced back:

bit-bucket@test.smtp.org: host test.smtp.org[52.2.168.164] said: 553 5.3.0 bit-bucket@test.smtp.org... Disabled due to abuse (in reply to RCPT TO command)

– mlncn – 2017-02-27T16:07:41.040

@mlncn By the documentation at http://test.smtp.org/, it doesn't look like this is intended as a public blackhole address, so being disabled due to abuse makes sense.

– Tim Malone – 2018-07-26T01:10:22.253

"Mail sent to bit-bucket@test.smtp.org will be accepted and discarded. Use this e-mail address for testing." Looks like this might be back up again... – cs44 – 2019-05-01T00:00:31.707

You could use a service such as Mailinator, where you can send an email to addresses such as:

{any-valid-string}@mailinator.com

The email will be deleted after a few hours. However, in theory, the email can be read by anyone who knows the {any-valid-string} you pick, and there are some other caveats in the FAQ. And (as for any server) you would have to assume the Mailinator servers are up and running when needed; otherwise you may get a bounce-back.

sblair

Posted 2010-03-19T13:18:37.437

Reputation: 12 231

Mailinator is an interesting option. Thanks. I had not heard of it. – skypanther – 2010-03-19T15:13:25.337

How much (if any) control do you have over your e-mail addresses?

If you have none, then the simplest solution might be to set up a hotmail (or similar) account and effectively abandon it.

If you have a lot, then you can add an address to your domain (junk@yourdomain.com) this will then be valid and not generate a bounce. Depending on your mail server you should be able to just delete mails going to this account.

If you want to go this route then asking the question at Server Fault might get you better responses.

I would have posted this a comment, but it got rather long winded

If you do choose to go the create-your-own route, the following .procmailrc script should delete all mail coming to it:

VERBOSE=off
LOGFILE=/dev/null

# delete all mail

:0
/dev/null

(see http://www.beedub.com/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi/27 for other examples)

ChrisF

Posted 2010-03-19T13:18:37.437

Reputation: 39 650

It should also be possible to just specify bitbucket: /dev/null in /etc/aliases. – user1686 – 2010-03-19T14:37:16.590

I'm afraid that I won't have much control because the documentation will go to other users who won't have access to any systems I set up. But thanks just the same. – skypanther – 2010-03-19T15:11:08.053

You could also use:

~~http://blackhole.io/~~

quote:

"All data sent to blackhole.io will be forgotten instantly, we store nothing you send. Point your application’s outgoing SMTP server to ‘blackhole.io’, Sit back and watch mail never get delivered to a real user.

or, send an email to blackhole.io using an @blackhole.io address, any address is fine e.g.: user1@blackhole.io"

so you could just use: blackhole@blackhole.io

user1284631

Posted 2010-03-19T13:18:37.437

Reputation: 212

7It seems blackhole.io has since ceased operation. – Wander Nauta – 2015-08-14T15:46:46.133