I gave up on my domain registered back when an ISDN 64k channel was a viable internet connection, partly because the amount of inbound email spam was absurd. The spammers ruined email long before Gmail was a thing.
The moment I had a real email address end up in the AUTHORS file of nodejs, that address is now a spamhole. Domain is otherwise fine.
Another can be buying a new domain that (perhaps purely coincidentally) that has already made the rounds into spammers dbs.
So yeah, domain owner is a tough one but shouldn’t really receive legitimate inbound contacts as long as you have some other contact method on the/a associated website. Personally I just black hole that one.
Sometimes I miss being part of a larger network of email providers that share spam signatures, but not enough to start searching.
Jesus Lord. I don't receive that much email in a week, legitimate plus spam combined.
I get what you're saying about independence, but using your own domain and pointing MX to any decent email service gets you 90% there with way less pain IMHO.
It's probably good not to have html / load external media enabled. Makes the address seem inactive because tracking mechanisms won't work (e.g. tracking pixels [1].