A few days ago I made a post here inquiring as to why startmail addresses couldn't be used on steam, and what people thought I should/could do.
In the end after some suggestions, I opened a support ticket with steam asking why startmail was not supported, and in the end managed to convince them to support it as a valid email address (unless it gets abused - more on that later). For the record, here is my entire back-and-forth with them:
Me on Feb 13 @ 10:35am
Dear Steam Support,
I recently changed my email provider to startmail.com, but when I try to update it in my steam account to this address I get an error that its not valid or unsupported.
Since startmail.com is a paid service based in Europe, I would like clarification on why it is not supported by steam, and hopefully have it added to the valid email providers for steam.
The fact that its a paid service means scammers/people trying to abuse it is unlikely (it costs around 60 euro a year), so I really think there should be no issue accepting it as an email address.
I would really appreciate having this issue resolved so that I can change my email address to my new one, and close my previous email account eventually.
Thank you in advance,
[My name]
Steam on Feb 14 @ 6:27pm
Hello,
Thank you for contacting Steam Support.
The email address you're trying to use on your Steam account is not currently valid for use with Steam. Typically this is because the email service has been identified as offering disposable emails, but it may also be because the email address domain or domain suffix has been marked as prohibited for use with Steam for one of a number of reasons.
At this time Steam does not offer an option to bypass this restriction. Please select a different address on a different domain/service to use with your Steam account.
Steam Support
[Steam Support Person A's Name]
Me on Feb 14 @ 6:44pm
You are correct that they offer disposable addresses, but they have the format @use.startmail.com
The main address looks like @startmail.com
Is there any possibility of having a team look into this, and blacklist the disposable format but allow the regular format (of which you can only have a single address, like your main email).
Besides, gmail (which is my current address) also allows for creating disposable addresses: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/techtips/how-to-create-a-disposable-email-address-with-gmail/
I think many people, myself included, would like to move away from big tech companies such as microsoft (hotmail) and google (gmail) and so would appreciate your consideration on the matter.
Many thanks,
[My name]
Steam on Feb 16 @ 5:44am
Sorry about the previous message. We misunderstood your issue.
Anyway, we're unable to do your request, but we can help you update the email address on the account.
Please provide your new email address. Once we have your alternate address, we will update the account.
Steam Support
[Steam Support Person B's Name]
Me on Feb 16 @ 7:56am
Hello, no worries.
I hope Im not misunderstanding your reply myself now, but as I understand it, you will manually change my account email to my new startmail address?
If that's the case, here it is:
my_email@startmail.com
Just in case I have not yet managed to convince you to whitelist the regular startmail addresses, here is an article discussing this from them: https://support.startmail.com/hc/en-us/articles/360007297457-Personal-Aliases
Note this paragraph:
"Personal alias allows you to send and receive email at an email address different from your main StartMail account address. These email aliases end in @use.startmail.com instead of @startmail.com." (if address has use in it, is an alias, otherwise its the regular type)
Many thanks for your help. If I misunderstood what you need from me, I apologise, please clarify it for me.
Best regards,
[My name]
Steam on Feb 17 @ 3:39am
Hello,
I'm sorry, it looks like our team provided some incorrect information that ended up being misleading.
Steam Support will occasionally manually allow single email addresses that use a personal domain, but large scale services like Startmail do not match what's intended for those cases. We're sorry the team provided false information above.
Your report will be passed on to Steam's developers, but please understand that Steam does not make decisions regarding email / domain viability lightly. When a domain is blocked, it's usually because that email service offers disposable or public email services which are by their very nature incompatible with Steam, or their requirements to sign up for a new email account are extremely permissive and thus allow wide scale misuse of emails on that service for hijacking, fraud, and even potentially illegal activity. Email services are only blocked from use with Steam after demonstrated, large scale misuse from users of that service.
Valve
[Steam Support Person C's Name]
Me on Feb 17 @ 7:16am
Very well, however please pass on the following information to your team as well, which can be easily verified from startmail's own page and may be helpful in making a decision:
"their requirements to sign up for a new email account are extremely permissive and thus allow wide scale misuse of emails on that service for hijacking, fraud, and even potentially illegal activity."
As mentioned, startmail is a paid service. It costs about 60 euro a year to create an account. Thats not exactly permissive, certainly not more so than gmail for example.
"Email services are only blocked from use with Steam after demonstrated, large scale misuse from users of that service."
Again, as mentioned in my previous replies and the information available on their own page, they have 2 email formats - not unlike gmail with their '+ email addresses'. The @startmail.com is the main one, of which you can ONLY have one, and the aliases which are probably what your team determined might lead to abuse, have the format @use.startmail.com. It would be a terrific resolution if steam could start allowing the single main addresses (@startmail.com) and blocking only the alias addresses (@use.startmail.com).
https://www.startmail.com/pricing/
(Payment details required on account creation, and the not exactly inexpensive prices of the service)
Again, thank you for taking time to speak with me about this, and for forwarding to your developers for conaideration.
Steam on Feb 19 @ 1:47am
It looks like Steam's developers have decided to open access to startmail. This has been done despite their disposable email service which is not compatible with how Steam expects its users maintain their email account with Steam. The service will be monitored and blocked again if further misuse is detected.
Valve
[Steam Support Person C's Name]
Me on Feb 19 @ 2:44am
Thats great to hear! I hate to repeat myself like a broken record, but in the interest of protecting every steam user, as well as the continued allowance of startmail, please only allow the @startmail.com addresses and BLOCK the @use.startmail.com addresses (alias format).
Once again, thank you for your patience, understanding, and consideration in this issue. I will now close my ticket if able to, otherwise please do feel free to close it for me.
[My name]
I haven't checked if they actually blocked the @use.startmail.com address format, but I successfully changed my steam email to my main @startmail.com address. Hopefully they go through with blocking the aliases, and keep the regular address format as valid.
