It’s actually pretty easy.  Since I own my own domain, in this case MakerBlock.com, all I have to do is tell my server that I want all mail that would normally bounce to be redirected to a default address.

The upshot is that I can make up ANY e-mail address I want, and be assured the resulting e-mail will come back to me.

How does this help me avoid e-mail spam?  Easy!  When I give my e-mail address to a website, in this case Ponoko, I make sure the e-mail address is sufficiently descriptive so that I’ll know who gave out my e-mail address.  Suffice it to say, I’m receiving a fair amount of pharma/romance related spam to an address I gave Ponoko.  Giving them the benefit of the doubt, they didn’t sell my e-mail address – but either their server, database, or someone’s address book was compromised.  This is only a mild consolation.

However, this just tells me who is sending me spam.  To shut it off, all I have to do is set up a filter for that address or shut it off at the server.   Turning it off at the server is a little more work, so I usually just create a mail filter that tosses everything to that address into my junk/spam folder.