Mailinator has a new design
mailinator.com
mailinator.com
I had a bookmarklet that would generate an email, insert it into the current form and then open a window to mailinator so I can retrieve the confirmation email.
I also had other bookmarkets and links that I used for other things (I am much better at writing software for my own tasks than I am at publishing it)
If you used it in the same way I did, the old URL:
/maildir.jsp?email={{ email }}
/inbox.jsp?to={{ email }}
Edit: I can confirm what Amadou says in reply, you can't directly access the mail page anymore. Even after updating URL's it still won't load, it is relying on a token. The way I used the app is now useless.
I don't think the answer to controlling abuse is killing your app for a lot of users
http://mailinator.blogspot.pt/2013/05/mailinator-is-for-huma...
edit: but thanks for that post, I had missed it. It dramatically changes what Mailinator does and what it means. It is a complete shift in its mission. The in-memory and no logs email service is what originally attracted most users. Dealing with abuse is just part of what happens when you have such a service, ditto with running a Tor exit node.
Yes! Yet another uninspiring Bootstrap-ed site.
With sites like Mailinator, I'm looking to get a task done and doing it quickly. If it lets me achieve my goal efficiently, I don't care if the aesthetics weren't designed from scratch with 100% hand written CSS or if someone is using stock glyphicons instead of hand drawn artwork by Mr.Ultra-Famous Designer.
Quite the contrary. Not Bootstrap is "uninspired" but its users. The old Mailinator had a characteristic, easily identifiable look and feel. Sites like the new Mailinator are a dime a dozen. A typical case of "disimprovement".
This is a real kick in the gut for me, I've been a happy user for longer than I can remember and now I can't be a user.
When I read the blog entry about an update a month or two ago I figured the guy was smart enough not to fall into this trap of form over function. I've been reading his blog for years and he always struck me as imminently practical. But it looks like my faith was misplaced, he's gone and web2.0ified it when it really did not need it. I think this is the beginning of the end for mailinator.
Edit: oh wow, I totally take that back. I have been banned for abuse for a whole day! I didn't do anything special but access that inbox from my bookmark a couple of times. Here is everything I can see on Mailinator now:
---
Rate Limiter Engaged ! Hi Friendly User!
Unfortunately, your request cannot be processed. Mailinator is committed to providing a valuable service to its users and at the same time, limit abuse of the system.
An automated rate-detection system triggered based on your usage. Please note - programmatic access to Mailinator is prohibited by our Terms of Service (for users that require high-speed programmatic access, please check-out Mailinator Pro which provides proper APIs for such access).
This is a temporary ban and should clear by tomorrow. Continued access attempts today could result in a more permanent ban (please don't do that).
---
http://mailinator.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/how-mailinator-com...
http://mailinator.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/notes-from-program...
http://mailinator.blogspot.com.au/2010/02/how-i-sped-up-my-s...
http://mailinator.blogspot.com.au/2007/01/architecture-of-ma...
I think most have hit the front page of HN before but its worth including here for those who have not read them.
Personally, I just have to thank the creator for a great service that I used all the time (until I got my own domain). And for his technical blog posts: http://mailinator.blogspot.pt/2007/01/architecture-of-mailin...
If anyone has any experience with any of these and could comment on how they compare to mailinator, that would be very useful.
[1] - http://10minutemail.com/10MinuteMail/index.html
[2] - https://anonbox.net/
[3] - http://anonymouse.org/anonemail.html
[4] - http://trash-mail.com/
Heck, (just about) all AJAX annoys me. And what's wrong with black text? we all gotta be gray now?
The new site is all "look how clever we are - stuff moves and bounces!" The old site didn't call attention to itself.
It's almost as if there's an unspoken agreement among the cognoscenti that if you're smart enough to use Mailinator, you get a free pass -- we won't force you to hand over a valid email address.
Treat others how you want to be treated: If I wanted to use mailinator to sign up for a service I'd be miffed if they actively blocked it.
Which is completely useless since there are numerous aliases, and you can also point your own domain/subdomain to it and have your own mailinator inbox running on you@spam.mydomain.com
Burp, nuff said: "220 mail.mailinator.com ESMTP Postfix"
Also see: https://ssl.trashmail.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5421#p78...
Of course you can add alias to your own mailserver and domain(s) alias to your own mailbox or set forwarding to mailinator. Then it's quite hard to find out if messages are really sent to mailinator or your own real mailbox.
I would suspect that a lot of companies are willing to add a JS regex to their form validator, but are not willing to add SMTP headers sniffing to their validator. That barrier means that much of the time a simple domain name change will work.
The GPs comment is not unhelpful, and certainly not "Disinformation". It just isn’t completely reliable. Sometimes it will work, sometimes it won’t depending on how motivated the author of the validation is.
Now, someone who would prefer to give you a Mailinator email address probably isn't likely to buy whatever you're spamming them with, so the benefit is probably pretty small. But it might be nonzero. (And if you're selling your mailing list to advertisers, of course they won't know how many of the addresses are for people who will ignore their spam.)
2. Requiring a real email address (that takes some effort to acquire) makes the cost of abuse slightly higher. So if you're offering a service people might want to abuse, you may reduce the frequency of abuse a bit by forbidding throwaway email addresses.
Point 2 regarding abuse in the other direction is more interesting, and a fair point, thanks.
Looks like it's based on Angular. Notice how the template code ({{email.from}} and {{email.subject}})flashes before the data models load on the inbox page.
Sourcecode for the inbox: https://gist.github.com/VictorBjelkholm/6191838
* Design:
Unfortunately, it reeks of hip design gone too far - green text on a green background, grey text on a grey background, and amateurish construction. Removing the text-shadow alone from the alert boxes makes a big difference in readability.
* Structure:
The angularJS parts have already been addressed in another comment, but the most bizarre part is that there is minimal minification (.min.js versions of jquery & bootstrap, that's it - comments are still intact), no concatenation, and no gzip compression whatsoever.
I think it's easy to forget that jQuery alone is 90KB, bootstrap JS is 30KB, and bootstrap's CSS is ~125KB alone. The site is pretty simple; it could easily be trimmed down into something much faster. The use of jQuery is questionable, the use of bootstrap even more so considering how simple the layout is.
The pubsub module that pushes new inbox data is pretty great though.
* Content:
The content pages look great. The little transitions are nice. I like the new copy as well; it helps cement the point that this is not a serious security product and it should not be considered as such.
Overall, while it's a nice change, it may be a bit more flash than users are actually looking for. The massive assets package makes the actual email page huge - jQuery, Bootstrap, and Angular, just for such a simple page? Combined with web fonts, the total payload is well north of a half meg. Intro transition animations serve to make the perceived time to displayed content even longer.
A second pass with a proficient JS developer and a keen eye for readability would do a lot for this site.
Oh god that is soooo cooool! It's nothing like blink. If anything it's like a powerpoint slide transition, only much much subtler. I really like it.
> Mailinator's Privacy Policy: THERE IS NO PRIVACY
Especially the type of users a service like Mailinator attracts.
> Q: So if the government issued a subpeona to Mailinator to divulge emails or logs, you'd rat me out?
> A: Holy crap, yes. I'm not going to jail for you, I have a boyish face and very (very) supple skin.
> At this point, Mailinator cooperates with law enforcement when reasonable to do so and at this point has received friendly subpeonas, emails, or calls from the FBI, IRS, Justice department, LAPD, and Scotland Yard.
Mailinator is just like a thousand other temp email services now. Not as interesting.
Killing a good service for everybody is a lame way of shutting down abuse.