Why is keeping a stationary Reply-to address so important? (or why is it bad to change my email address too often?)

The simple reason is because people as they travel, end up with more and more email addresses to keep track of. These days it shouldn't come as a surprise to your regular correspondents that you are "sending" a message to them from multiple addresses. As long as their replies go to a Reply-to address that they are familiar with, there shouldn't be too much of a security concern.

If you switch your email address frequently, without maintaining a stationary Reply-to address, you can create a lot of problems for your correspondents! While changing your email address is your personal decision, your recipients have no way to know ahead of the time. Following your switch, unless notified prior, your correspondents have no way to know that it's really "you" who is sending them a message.

Please note that the existing Internet Email system doesn't have any built-in authentication mechanism, a fact that implies anyone can pose as you!.

But, assuming you keep your username and password of your Reply-to account confidential, such imposters can't get people's messages to you.

So, even if a prankster fakes a message that seems to be sent out by you from your Reply-to address, the "harm" is very limited at most. Otherwise, the imposter could mislead your correspondents into supplying him/her info that should be kept between you and your correspondent. Believe us, you will most likely be blamed by your correspondent for any bad consequences, at least initially.

Bottom line: keep a stationary Reply-to address. Don't make the life of your correspondents difficult.

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