Tell me I'm missing something (as, in fact, I suspect).

I ask because I fail to see what good the shortened forms will be, within the context of your "short so they fit on a web page nicely."

If RENDERING the too-long address borks the appearance of the webpage, just don't render it.... (with apologies to a former US President's spouse). i_m_a_way_too_long_address@goblins_under_the_floor_and_in_the_attic.org> can be rendered without harm (that I see offhand) briefly... but the mailto: (if that's what you're working on) STILL needs to be

<a href="mailto:i_m_a_way_too_long_address@goblins_under_the_floor_and
+_in_the_attic.org>(renderedname)</a>
[download]

while the link that's displayed gets turned into "drop a line to goblins" or "joe's email" or "email1" or...

"Beating a dead horse" here: if you shorten the full email address to put in the mailto:, it's not gonna' work ...unless you create another process to retrieve the original (perhaps by searching a db created after adding yet more code to ensure that no "shortened" form matches a previously created but distinct address).

So, as I said to begin with, what am I missing, here?