I do not disclose email addresses anymore. Friends who want to reach me must use something else, like XMPP.
This arrangement works well enough but there is a snag. Tech-challenged folks often receive an email and they want to forward it to me. But email apps and XMPP apps are in separate bubbles.
In principle, the email app should have a “forward to xmpp” feature. But even if that were to exist (does it?), the low-tech demographic likely uses whatever web app Google pushes, which would not likely have such a feature.
So it seems a email→XMPP gateway is needed. I find this. That’s not a service. It’s kind of like: go build something. Is that where we are? Is that the state of the art?
This will not answer your immediate question but you say friends must use “something else” so I guess it doesn’t need to be xmpp.
Would Delta Chat be on the table? It uses existing email infrastructure so I’m sure bridging the email - messenger gap would be much easier.
I installed delta chat a couple years ago but never used it. Using the existing email infra for encrypted msgs is a decent middle step but put me off since it would not enable me to cleanly cut Google off (as the other person might have gmail).
But it could be a viable compromise in some situations. I’ll have to think about it. Thanks for the suggestion.