Good reasons to close the route
Retire an alias when its original purpose has ended, when it receives persistent unrelated mail, when a company will not stop contacting you, or when evidence suggests the address was exposed. Harassment and impersonation are also clear reasons to replace a route.
Do not retire an address merely because one legitimate receipt is annoying. First decide whether the relationship is finished or simply needs different preferences.
Before you turn it off
- Search for accounts that use the alias as a username or recovery route.
- Update active subscriptions, orders, warranties and conversations.
- Download anything you need to keep.
- Confirm the replacement address from inside each genuine account.
- Record the change in your password manager.
Locking a door is easy. Moving the spare key is the important part.
Use a cooling-off period
If the service allows it, disable or quarantine the alias before permanent retirement. A quiet period reveals forgotten senders without putting their messages into the main inbox. Thirty to ninety days may be sensible for ordinary services; financial, legal and warranty relationships may require much longer.
Never allow a retired address to be reassigned to another person. Old senders may continue to deliver sensitive information for years.
When to keep it
Keep a quiet alias when it anchors an important account, historical purchase or person who cannot easily update records. Silence costs little; a broken recovery route can cost a great deal.
The aim is not to collect addresses forever or purge them aggressively. It is to make every open gate intentional.
Give the next relationship its own route.
Create an MXDuck alias