Is the domain you are using still working?
Addresses here are built on domains, and domains change: people add new ones, registrations lapse, records get edited. So “which domains work” has no permanent answer — only a current one, and only for the domain you actually care about.
Check the one you are using
The domain debugger takes the part of your address after the @ and asks DNS, live, what that domain says about its mail. It takes a couple of seconds and tells you one of three things: it works, it is pointed somewhere else, or it is not live at all.
What each of those means, and what you can do about it — worked through here.
Why a domain stops
| Cause | How it looks from the sign-up form |
|---|---|
| Registration lapsed | the code simply never arrives |
| MX record removed or changed | the same — silence |
| The site refuses the domain | “invalid email”, immediately |
The first two are the domain's problem and the check above finds them. The third is not a fault at all — it is a policy decision on the other side, and no DNS check can see it. Telling them apart matters, because waiting helps in one case and is pointless in the other.
If you would rather not depend on someone else's domain
Every shared domain is maintained by whoever added it: they pay the renewal, they decide when to stop, and they owe nobody an announcement. A domain of your own removes that dependency entirely — and nobody has had a chance to put it on a list yet.
Attaching one is a single MX record, and the check above will confirm it took effect.
Thanks to everyone who has added a domain over the years — each one is another option for somebody else.