[kentonv]

Problem is, if you implement strict email verification, you lose users. Because that step of "please open your email and verify" is actually a big drop-off point in the funnel. No amount of "shaming" people over lax email validation is going to convince them to implement a change that loses them money.

Don't get me wrong, I hate it too. Every single day I have to block about a dozen new sender addresses for services that someone has signed up for under my email. Because my email address just so happens to be temporal at gmail.com (it was my teenage gamer tag), and it just happens that "temporal" means "temporary" in Spanish, so about half a billion humans think it's a great throw-away address.

Luckily I can very easily identify the emails that aren't meant for me, because they are in Spanish, which I do not speak. Still, I thought that after years of blocking a dozen senders a day, I'd have blocked just about everything... but no, they just keep coming. I've given up on clicking "unsubscribe" or trying to hijack accounts to shut them down, I just go straight to "block" now...

But yeah. I've been demanding that people validate email addresses for decades, and can assure you than nobody cares and they're not going to start.

The best you can hope for really is that they put a link in the email to disavow the account with one click. I've only seen a few companies do that but I really appreciate it!

[RandomBacon]

> The best you can hope for really is that they put a link in the email to disavow the account with one click. I've only seen a few companies do that but I really appreciate it!

That's a great middle-ground, and I think I've only seen that once.

[HappMacDonald]

Such links might disavow in practice, or might alternately be used as "hey, this email address has a living person at the other end, update the alive status on your spam lists and sell the data point!"

[RandomBacon]

I would only use that wth legitimate companies. Your scenario is no different than spammers who already have "unsubscribe" links.

[gmerc]

That’s not a middle ground at all that offloads the cost of your growth to unrelated parties who are potentially being defrauded. Typical tech ploy.

[toast0]

Look, when option A is actually make sure your user gives you contact info that works, option B is include a link that stops sending garbage for a user that doesn't know their email address, and option C is signing up with an email address results in an unending stream of garbage...

I would prefer option A, but I'll accept option B, because it's better than option C.

[AbstractH24]

Problem with email in general is that very people people are incentivized to think of the long-term impact of spam.