I give up.

I tried left and right to try to install an email server so I could degoogle my life.

But therechnical barrier is thick and Google keeps adding more to it. Forget it. I can’t even get thru the installation process much less trying to get my shit off Google.

I figure, I don’t actually have any need for my email addresses. Just like my phone number. I never call anyone. I’m going to discourage my kids from using email at all. I’ll remind everyone I know that I don’t use email at every opportunity I get just like I remind people to not call me and that my phone number is not available.

Between spammers and Google, I just don’t need this headache in my life. My mom is much less technically savvy than the average pet. So Google will just siphon her data and when the megabits are full then you just delete the old stuff.

You don’t need it. No one will spend their life reading your emails when you’re gone or watching your videos or listening to your recordings or viewing your photos. There’s no need to worry about just deleting the pile of shit you’ve accumulated. I’m this done.

  • Shimitar@downonthestreet.euEnglish
    301·
    18 hours ago

    What is the problem? I have been self hosting my mail for the last 20+ years and has always worked pretty well.

    I rent a VPS for that since you should not use a residential address for email servers.

    If you are careful enough to configure it properly I assure you that it works and it’s perfectly usable and stable

    All my family primary email addresses are managed in that way on my various domains and we never had a single issue

    Today it’s even easier because there are all in one docker based solutions. But going the hard way is perfectly doable as well.

    Here is my experience, on my wiki, if you are interested https://wiki.gardiol.org/doku.php?id=email%3Astart

    Be aware that there are no optional steps: everything must be properly installed and setup from DNS entries to dkim/dmarc and certificates. But I promise, maintenance it basically zero after a proper setup. And I think twice in 20 years something broke. And the nice part of that email will just be delayed and delivered after you fix it, nothing gets ever lost

    I love email, with all it downfalls, it’s still one of the most resilient and solid stuff on the internet.

    • bizdelnick@lemmy.mlEnglish
      2·
      9 hours ago

      I promise, maintenance it basically zero after a proper setup.

      Well, it was close to zero for me until the last year dovecot update (2.3→2.4) that has broken old configs. I’ve spent a lot of time fixing them.

    • Brummbaer@pawb.socialEnglish
      4·
      18 hours ago

      Same here, I have been doing that for around 20 years now too and I started out with postfix and a list of vmails in a text file.

      I wonder where this myth comes from. People host way more out there stuff themselves, but somehow email is too scary …

      • Shimitar@downonthestreet.euEnglish
        4·
        15 hours ago

        Because 99% of helfhosters pull containers, with zero understanding of what they do. They they try email, because heck why not also email, and hit the wall of actually must understand what you are doing or else…

        Yes probably selfhosting email is for advanced users, people who at least know how to manage a DNS record and how nwtworking works. Maybe it’s just that selfhosting bar has dropped significantly thanks to docker, and indeed email hosting is a bit more complex that just “docker compose pull” approach.

        Yet i think people should not be scaring others so easily on email self hosting, it’s perfectly doable and fun to do. Maybe don’t switch your primary account just imediately to mitigate risks…

      • eutampieri@feddit.itEnglish
        2·
        17 hours ago

        When you begin hosting you have to wait a bit before your email doesn’t go to spam, at least that was my experience in 2018.

        Edit: I just checked and I can now deliver to Hotmail/MS365 too!

    • lyralycan@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      11·
      12 hours ago

      I run it on residential, and since routing outgoing mail through smtp2go I don’t even get issues with my ISP putting my IP on the PBL. Once my contract is over I’m getting a static IP with a better supplier. Been solid for over two years

      Bonus of running my own inbox, I learned how to discard annoying emails that can’t be unsubscribed from

      • Dave.@aussie.zoneEnglish
        5·
        16 hours ago

        There was a good guide by Linuxbabe on building an email server from scratch with all the bits and pieces and antispam/email verification stuff you need to send mail to the big players, I used it a few years ago to do my server.

        Here’s the collection of various guides for various ways to do it:

        https://www.linuxbabe.com/category/mail-server

        Yeah you also need a vps. Home addresses are pretty much all marked as spam generators these days, and most ISPs proactively block all the common inbound ports for mail servers.

      • Shimitar@downonthestreet.euEnglish
        4·
        18 hours ago

        That is a mandatory requirement for proper email delivery.

        Not an issue with email itself, more due to spam prevention and such.

        I flagree that hosting email servers on residential IPs is a recipe for being filtered and blocked

        • IsoKiero@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          2·
          17 hours ago

          I flagree that hosting email servers on residential IPs is a recipe for being filtered and blocked

          Unless your ISP gives you a static address and agrees to change PTR record to your server address. Then it’s no different than any other server on the internet. Obviously odds are that you’re not getting one or if it’s an option they’ll likely charge more than VPS is going to cost you, but it’s not unheard of.

          But for the actual topic, I don’t get the myth either. I’ve got a good old postfix+dovecot setup running and the only problem I have is that spam filtering isn’t quite as good as with commercial providers, but the handful of trash coming trough is easy enough to take care of manually.

          • Shimitar@downonthestreet.euEnglish
            2·
            15 hours ago

            I fully agree with you.

            but i guess, from other replyies, people are just afraid somehow and have deep rooted fears about email and self hosting it. The people like you and me who have actually done it, understand that’s not that impossible.

            And like with anything you learn only doing it, not fearing it. Maybe don’t switch your main account just from day 0 and see how it goes… :)

            • IsoKiero@sopuli.xyzEnglish
              1·
              9 hours ago

              Obviously there’s a ton in successful email hosting since it’s not just configuring few services. Proper DNS-records and privilege controls are mandatory, you need to occasionally clear up your domain/IP from spamlists (specially at the start) and single mistake can ruin your DNS reputation quite quickly which then takes time to build back.

              But it’s still perfectly doable and, when you have proper knowledge on how the whole circus actually runs, not too difficult either. Only problem is that there’s no longer money on just email hosting since cloud hosting offers much more than just emails for the price a small gamer can’t just compete with. At least around here.