Is there an alternative to email forwarding?

I don't know about Hotmail or any other service, but in Gmail you can do this:

Settings --> Accounts and Import --> Check Mail from Other Accounts --> Add a Mail Account

You could set Gmail up to POP the mail from the mailbox on your server, rather than having your server forward the email.

Most of the time Gmail is pretty good about forwarded server email, even in large volumes (such as when CSF is triggering and sending a ton of outbound mail). But, depending upon the volume forwarded from your server and the mail reputation of your server, it might be beneficial for you to retrieve the mail into your Gmail account via a POP3 setup using the option above.

I'm betting Hotmail and the other big ones all support such a thing as well, although I cannot verify that.

Mike

 

I believe hotmail offers this as well. Go to Options -> Mail -> Accounts -> Connected Accounts in your hotmail account.

Forwarding mail off of the server like this is generally a bad idea.

If someone sends a spam message to your user1@example.tld that forwards on to user1@outlook.tld, then Microsoft may read that spam message as coming from your hosting server (where example.tld is hosted) and decide to block or blacklist mail coming from that server (where example.tld is hosted).

Now, you can debate whether this is stupid on Microsoft's part or not. That's a totally separate discussion. But such is the plight of the ongoing battle with spam.

 

Excellent suggestions. The only problem is the delay. When Gmail retrieves emails, there is a bit of delay between the polls.

If that is not a concern, pickup is a much better option than delivery.

 

Woild be good to have an option to ban the creation of forwarders to Gmail, Yahoo & Hotmail (and its derivatives like ymail, outlook, etc.) in cPanel with an explanation of the reasons along with the remedies that can be put in place, like the ones being discussed here.

 

There's always a cost when it comes to security, performance, and spam blocking (which you can actually clump in with security and performance).

If all you are checking is your gmail account (or hotmail account) then I always recommend advertising that email address. Why hide it? Why do you have to have an @yourdomain.tld email address if you're just going to check your gmail account? Doesn't look as professional? Then use a regular email client to check the real email account on yourdomain.tld.

If you really want to eat the cake, you have to eat the cake and learn to live with an empty plate where said cake used to be.