Block throwaway email signups without slowing signup
People can abuse by signing up again and again with short-lived disposable email addresses. Blocking those signups can reduce wasted database space and low-quality accounts, but a slow email check can also hurt real signups. If an tool takes more than 250 milliseconds, it may start lowering the number of people who finish signup.
MX record checks help confirm whether an email domain can receive mail, but doing those checks live during every signup request can add delay. A fast list of known disposable domains can catch many bad addresses almost instantly. The hard part is keeping that list fresh because many new throwaway domains appear every day.
One suggested setup is a small validation API for signup gates that handles MX checks, tracks , and updates its domain data every hour.
Key points
- Disposable emails can be used to repeat and create low-quality accounts.
- Slow email checks during signup can reduce real completed signups.
- MX record checks are useful but can be too slow if done live on every request.
- A fast disposable-domain list can catch many fake emails quickly.
- A validation API can handle MX checks, , and frequent list updates.