Retiring an email address

To mark this beginning with an ending, I’m retiring an email address that’s about as old as YouTube. It’s because more and more people are deciding imapotato should be their internet persona. The list includes:

• Thomas Cowell, a Masonic Lodge member in New England.
• Michael Marquez, who applied for a Tech Support job.
• Melissa Chung, who did not appreciate the sexually charged trailer for Breaking Dawn.
• David Keller, a retiree in his 70s that ordered a replacement part for a vaporizer.

Note: names were anonymized.

Not to buzz market, but these are some of the places I’ve gotten invites and sign-ups for:

• Newsletter for pacificgolf.co.jp
• Newsletter for York Maze
• Howrse (3 times)
• Instabang
• NFL Fantasy Football

After the voyeuristic rush of peeking into the life of a complete stranger wore off, I realized that there’s not much that can be done. Most of the messages are legitimate email for their intended recipients, so they won’t get marked as spam. I obviously can’t email any of these people, and trying to contact them indirectly through their accounts has been an uphill battle.

So after 5 years of getting other peoples’ email, I’ve changed or abandoned all the accounts that used the old email address and will have to accept the fact that I’m not the potato.