Ask HN: How many email addresses do you actively use?
Hundreds.  Having my own domains with all email coming to me lets me give arbitrary (i.e., numbered) addresses when requested, so I can track them when I want, and for example see which ones later to auto-delete, etc.  Or for whatever need arises.<p>Edit: my recollection from some time ago is that pobox.com was useful for the same thing, if one doesn&#x27;t have one&#x27;s own domain.  I used them before I got mine.  There are probably similar services.  I liked their attitude and approach, at the time.  (no other affiliation.)<p>Edit again: the above plus some rules in mutt (or thunderbird maybe...), have been really helpful for me.  The rules &amp; macros could get rather complex if one wanted I suppose.<p>(Edit: I&#x27;ve liked pair.com for domain&#x2F;hosting for a long time: have had good prices&#x2F;service, helpfulness, no silliness for many years; also no other affiliation but customer.)<p>(Edit: that email system at my hosting provider also works well for, say, groups like various extended family subsets, so it works something like a mailing list to everyone.)<p>Edit (sorry, I didn&#x27;t answer the OPs 2nd question): For most, I use mutt (or thunderbird) to POP (download) them from my hosting provider to my own pc (so, not a business...sorry if not helping), and then do good backups.   For some, as mentioned in my previous paragraph, they are auto-forwarded by the hosting provider to whomever, per rules I put in their web UI for my account.  It is also possible to create many extra mailboxes (which I used to do ) so other individuals can POP (or view with IMAP) their own email to their own pc.  For a business...would have to think whether we need a centralized Exchange-equivalent or if storage on multiple PCs, or IMAP (leave it on the hosting provider&#x27;s server, but manage from a PC, etc) is OK in a limited situation, given the backups, storage, and specific business needs.  I would probably not prefer gmail since Google already has enough centralized power (as discussed in other HN postings about Chrome vs. firefox etc).