I treat it as a back-end mailbox for my own smtp server. 100% of email that reaches my gmail
box without going to another address at my mail server first is spam.

I used a similar flow a few years ago that worked until I made the mistake of signing into some service using "Sign in with Google" and then it was all down-hill from there. Within a few months I found myself on customer lists that I hadn't signed up for, and my spam folder grew as well. YMMV, but that was my culprit. 
- Thomas Scott | mr.thomas.scott@gmail.com 


On Tue, Sep 15, 2020 at 8:15 AM J. Hellenthal via NANOG <nanog@nanog.org> wrote:
Hey google, siri, or Alexa phoning home and your information put into a local database as a new person in the area for which they have bought your address.... I could believe that.

--
 J. Hellenthal

The fact that there's a highway to Hell but only a stairway to Heaven says a lot about anticipated traffic volume.

> On Sep 14, 2020, at 13:33, William Herrin <bill@herrin.us> wrote:
>
> Howdy,
>
> I've noticed something odd. When I lived in Virginia, I started
> receiving email directly to my gmail box from my U.S. Representative.
> Unsolicited spam from Congressmen is nothing new but it was a little
> odd that they found my gmail box (which I don't give out) and not one
> of the hundreds of aliases at herrin.us or dirtside.com which I do
> give out. The gmail box exists only in mail headers; "From" is always
> a different address.
>
> I moved to Seattle. Today I found my grmail box subscribed to a
> congressman's list from a nearby Washington jurisdiction. Not some
> random congressman. And not any of the addresses I give out; my gmail
> box's address which I don't.
>
> Anyone else have a similar experience? Any idea how a hidden address
> is making it on to relevant congressmens' lists but not any others?
> That's weird right?
>
> Regards,
> Bill Herrin
>
> --
> William Herrin
> bill@herrin.us
> https://bill.herrin.us/