Black Listing

I'm not just saying this because modern society might say this is wrong -- I'm saying this because I think that there is a better way !

So I am currently the lead of this API . Recently we have had this influx of mailinator.com accounts signing up . The fact that 100% of these have occurred in the last 2 weeks (out of multiple years of operations) lends to the fact that these are all the same person .

Our API has daily limits ... and by signing up for multiple accounts, this (these? can't be too sure) developers are essentially bypasing those checks.

But I do not care about the limits ! They are entirely arbitrary ! I could just as soon multiply them by a factor as ten . They exist to differentiate the Developers from the Partners . If you are using our API in such a way that you require more requests per day than is the default, we would like to talk with you.

And most of the time this happens . We make it clear that we have limits, and that we are very willing to discuss with you the raising of those limits (do not read: razing) . We encourage this interaction, because it benefits both parties (hell, we often have paying partnership deals if we think it is in our best interest to incentivize you to drive traffic to our site) .

So why do people sign up for multiple accounts with throw-away email addresses ?

Well, from their perspective, they might just see this signup as just another spam well. A burden rather than a communication channel (does anyone else besides me have a ".trash" or ".spam" version of their email address ?) Or they believe we as an API team are detached from our product.

And that is our fault . If we made it apparent to the Developers that 1) we do not spam this address 2) we will only be using this address for important communications and 3) we are available ... then I do not think that we would have this issue of throw-away addresses .

So we could blacklist mailinator.com addresses. But then how hard is it to register for a new Yahoo! address? Where does it end?

No, the correct approach (in our situation) is better communication. A higher emphasis on the interaction between Developers and our API team.

This is how it works
You're young until you're not
You love until you don't
You try until you can't
You laugh until you cry
You cry until you laugh
And everyone must breathe
Until their dying breath
-- "On the Radio" by Regina Spektor