If you're a founder, creator, or anyone who shares their email publicly, you know the problem: your inbox becomes a free-for-all target for bots, spammers, cold pitches, and increasingly, AI agents spamming at scale.
The Problem
When you put your email on your website, Twitter bio, or GitHub profile, you're essentially putting up a sign that says "anyone can reach me, anytime, for any reason." It's like running a nightclub with no bouncer and no cover charge.
The result? Your inbox fills with:
- Marketing automation emails
- Generic sales pitches
- Bot-scraped spam
- AI-generated "personalized" outreach (that's anything but personal)
- Requests that clearly didn't read your actual content
Meanwhile, the people you actually want to hear from—potential customers, collaborators, interesting opportunities—get buried in the noise.
A Simple Idea
What if your public email worked more like a good nightclub?
- Friends on the list? They get in free (your allowlist)
- Strangers? Pay a small cover charge to get your attention
- Bots and spammers? They bounce at the door
This isn't about making money from your inbox. It's about creating friction that stops automated spam but lets real humans through. A $5 or $10 filter means nothing to someone with a genuine reason to reach you, but it kills bot economics instantly.
How It Works
- Put a special forwarding email on your website instead of your real one
- People you know (or who verify through GitHub, LinkedIn, etc.) reach you for free
- Unknown senders get a simple pay-to-send option
- Bots and spammers bounce
The small payment creates a "proof of human + intent" signal. Real people pay it without thinking twice when they have something meaningful to say.
Give It a Try
If this resonates, we built sift.mx to do exactly this. It's free to set up, and you can configure your own rules for who gets through and who has to pay the cover charge.
Your inbox is valuable. Maybe it's time to treat it that way.
Top comments (0)