[elric]

This attitude is so self-defeating. If no one hosts their own email anymore, no one will be able to host their own email anymore in the future.

Having said that, I host some of my mail with Hetzner, and even at their scale they sometimes have deliverability issues.

[adrian_b]

Yes, I do not agree with this kind of advice.

A warning that hosting e-mail yourself can be difficult, is very useful, but the suggestion that you should not do such a thing is not.

I have been hosting my own e-mail since 2004, for more than 2 decades and I do not intend to ever give up on this.

The cost of hosting my e-mail has been absolutely negligible and for most of these 22 years, the time spent managing my (FreeBSD) e-mail server has also been completely negligible (perhaps an hour or two per year, on average).

A good mini-PC, e.g. an ASUS NUC, with a negligible power consumption when it is operated 24/7, is completely sufficient for hosting everything that might be needed for Internet access, e.g. router, firewall, NAT, NTP server, dual DNS servers, DNS proxy and cache, SMTP server, POP3/IMAP server, HTTPS server, Web proxy and cache, DHCP server for the internal network, etc. On a mini-PC that does not come with enough Ethernet ports for your needs it is easy to add many more ports on USB.

It is true that a few years ago I have encountered enough problems with stupid e-mail servers configured to automatically reject as spam anything that does not come from a huge company like Google or Microsoft, but thankfully during the last couple of years such cases have become more rare, not more frequent.

[lanstin]

Email itself cannot be regarded as a reliable delivery method. That said, I host my own email service, have for decades, and often have problems sending to people. I am not running a product on it, and so my recipients usually will check in spam since they want my email. My family knows to txt if there is an email I need to read (that isn’t a mail hosting problem but I don’t really read email consistently). I also have a small web site where I can put family recipes and my resume and the odd file that is too large for email. And a mastodon instance, sync thing, dns, and an old fingerd I wrote in Lisp in 2008 when I was done being a stay at home dad and needed an industry job.

It is a great hobby, and a good way to keep aware of current trends in internet infrastructure. And, like riding a bicycle to commute, maximally free of red tape or external regulation.

[bgro]

Yes, the world will be a better place with a real email alternative. The current system does not work.

I should be able to refuse emails and not get spammed with life ending phishing and malicious links around every corner.

Email providers shouldn’t be able to whoopsie and delete emails on my behalf, or gatekeep information that’s needed in court.

Self hosting doesn’t fix the core problems with email even if you don’t screw it up, which you will.

[theamk]

"refuse emails" already exists, that's the "hard bounce" thing that the OP is talking about.

Phishing and malicious links exists on every kind of messaging - email, forums, whatsapp, telegram, SMS... you name it, it has spam/phishing. You'd think that at least "real name" or "pay a bit per message" might discourage this, but example of SMS (text) shows otherwise.

With any system the server operator will be able to delete messages, and/or gatekeep information - unless you have some sort of "big brother" setup where every message goes through government-operated monitoring server, and I cannot believe anyone intentionally choosing such a system.

[cassepipe]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30810747 was a proposed solution but it didn't catch on

Basically you had to play a (very small) amount to charity to cold-email someone (and with an escape hatch if you state you know the person)

That system would basically gate all spam without changing much

[tptacek]

That depends on what your goal is. If it's to change the world, it's self-defeating. If it's to build a product, it's common sense.

[willy__]

You hit the nail on the head.

[scottLobster]

Yes and no. Email was designed before the internet had a constant background radiation of SPAM and bullshit, and the network has evolved accordingly.

If you want to deal with the background radiation firsthand that's your prerogative, but it's like growing your own food. Unless you're committed, there's no reason to not just use the grocery store.

[kgwxd]

Not when the attitude comes from being defeated by reality. Email is a terrible protocol for highly important communication between 2 consenting parties. Might as well talk over walkie-talkies shared with the entire world, including everyone in the insane asylums.