A checklist before you send a test message

Run through this list before you send a test message to a public inbox on @themailinator.com. It is short on purpose. The point is to catch the mistakes that are expensive to undo.

The address

• The name matches the inbox you opened.
• The domain is themailinator.com, spelled in full.
• The name does not contain a customer's real identifier.
• You are willing for that name to be public.

The contents

• There is no password, no reset link for a real account, no payment number, and no identity document.
• The plain-text part includes the code or link you hope to read.
• The subject would still make sense to a stranger, because a stranger may see it.

The product under test

• You are using a test tenant where a leaked link does no harm.
• You know which sender address should appear.
• You know how you will decide the test failed: no message, the wrong subject, the wrong host, or a code you cannot read.

After the message arrives

Read it here and, if layout matters, in one normal mail client too. This site blocks remote images and does not run the message's scripts, so it is a poor place to approve a visual design on its own. Then take the address out of any script that runs against production.

If the wrong content arrived, do not forward it to another public name. Remove what you can from the sending system, and use the privacy page if you need to ask for a stored copy to be deleted. The rules for that request are also in the terms. Naming tips live in choosing a mailbox name.