I have been using Gmail for just under 6 years now, and somehow I still get surprised when I find out there is something new I'm able to do with the service. Unfortunately, now that I know this handy little trick, I want to update my email address on every site I have an account with!
"Gmail doesn't offer traditional aliases, but you can receive messages sent to your.username+any.alias@gmail.com. For example, messages sent to jane.doe+notes@gmail.com are delivered to jane.doe@gmail.com.You can set up filters to automatically direct these messages to Trash, apply a label or star, skip the inbox, or forward to another email account."
This is particularly fascinating to me simply for the flexibility it brings. I've lost count of the number of websites, apps, and programs I have backed out of getting because it wanted my email address, and I just didn't want to get email from them. With something as simple as a plus sign, I will be able to sign up for whatever and not have to worry about my inbox getting flooded. All that needs to be done is when signing up, use clay+trash@willwork4tech.com, and then create a filter within Gmail that states anything coming from an email address containing "+trash" will skip the inbox and go straight into the trash folder. I love it!
Adding an alias can also be extremely helpful if you are having an issue with too much spam, or if you think someone has sold your email address. From now on, if and when you sign up for an account on a website... why not add the name of the site in your email address? Something like clay+my.bank@willwork4tech.com, or clay+foursquare@willwork4tech.com. You'll still get the email (unless you've set up a filter to block it, of course) and when the spam starts rolling in, you can check which email it was sent to and find out which site is making money from selling your email address. Not to mention this will make searching for that 6 month old email from Amazon much, much easier.
Just keep in mind, if you create an account using an alias email address, then your username (if it adopts your email) will be the alias address. But this issue can be helpful to some that wish to have multiple accounts with a single email account. For instance, Twitter is notorious for only allowing one Twitter handle per email address. That limitation can easily be sidestepped with this method. Now you can have as many Twitter accounts as you'd like without having to create a new email account.
Pretty neat stuff!
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