Painting of a woman writing a letter while her maid waits by the window

Watercolour of a girl writing at a desk in a room full of plants

A handwritten letter from 1585, opened flat, with its address on the back

Catch-all domain

A catch-all domain accepts mail for any address, so a check cannot tell whether one mailbox really exists.

A catch-all domain is set up to accept mail sent to any address at it, real or not. That makes verification uncertain: the mail server says yes to every address, so asking it about one mailbox proves nothing. Mail to a wrong address at a catch-all domain may be dropped later or bounce, so these addresses are a risk to treat with care rather than an error.

In Scrisly, an address at a catch-all domain is scored risky. Risky drafts never go out on their own: they wait for you to decide.