Is this feasible? Would it reduce SPAM?

With the anything@username format, the following scheme suggests itself.

The user would make up a limited number of addresses for the

Hi,

You can kind of do that now with the alias tool within Manage My Mail. Turn the catch all address off and then create an alias for address that you use.

So as you say for the inland revenue you could create an alias called tax2fp56f4j@username or for ebay you might have ebay329agh@username. With the catch all switched off any mail sent to an alias that doesn't exist will just hit the blackhole, so if your ebay mails are ebay329agh@username but if someone tries ebay@username it's blackholed so you don't see it.

If an address starts getting spam then it can be replaced with a new alias and if you are concerned it may get legit mail then you can always set it up as a seperate mailbox to filter out the spam until you're sure no more legit mail will come through.

The time consuming part is probably the initial setting up of the addresses, not sure of an easier way, maybe a CVS upload of some kind as well as via the web interface.

As Dave says things like this are already possible (although a bit cumbersome) with the PlusNet system. In fact they are possible with most ISP's and e-mail providers. There are also already services out there for creating temporary or 'throw-away' email addresses.

The problem with the system outlined, is that putting it in place now doesn't help anyone regain control of their e-mail addresses. And if it had been in place before, it's quite possible that all the addresses would now be being spammed, increasing the load on PlusNet's mail-servers and the amount of spam received by users.

An interesting idea though. But sadly I don't think the real need here is new methods for fighting spam. Plenty of people who used these and other methods to keep their addresses clean are still suffering.

perhaps on the alias page a pair of radio buttons "always accept" "always blackhole" next to each alias, then people can easily blackhole specific address