I said how they can opt-out here:
if you disagree with that, there is an option on your profile to turn this off, and if I remember correctly, will turn off the emails from that feature I pointed as well, simple like that, actually I think you can even turn Itch emails on and updates from games off...
We can even rely on the "follow" feature for that. If "follow" is on, we can send emails to them, otherwise no
Regarding your 1st concern, as I said, please read the thread. We would be using itch.io's built-in email tool, in which limits the amount and quality of the emails.
In fact, further on you suggest that if I don't provide my email then I shouldn't get to play your "free" game.
Where did I said that? In fact I very clearly and explicitly said the total opposite of that:
As I said, I am not asking to force people to provide their emails otherwise they won't download the game, if this was the case I could just put the games paid and make a 100% permanent sale or make an unlimited Reward that costs $0 and turn on "New purchases & downloads require a reward", this would do the trick, but that's not what I want.
Regarding
Yes it does. Email addresses can be faked for the most part. It's been a common thing for a long time. For example the place where I work uses SendGrid. Do you know what you can do with SendGrid? You can specify a custom "from" address for testing. I can send you an email from cia@us.gov or from yourbestfriendsemailaddress@gmail.com . It's only when you look further into the email sender that it shows as a "fake" email address and a lot of people are unaware of how to check it.
All in all, itch.io confirms emails in any case, these are the emails they use for that built-in emailing tool