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She Gets Calls and Texts Meant for Elon Musk. Some Are Pretty Weird

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Re: She Gets Calls and Texts Meant for Elon Musk. Some Are Pretty Weird

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This can be nasty. A friend of me once got a ton of phone calls for a specific realtor. Turns out the realtor made a misprint on their business card. The realtor didn't want to do the expense to print new business cards, so they were just going to give this card to everybody. Could he just forward everybody to them, and maybe fill in their customers on some basic information like opening hours and holidays etc. This…

I recall reading about a local business that lost their phone number of decades to a new hospital that printed a bunch of marketing materials with the wrong number and successfully persuaded the phone company to commandeer the number. Update: I remember now, the phone company gave them the wrong number to begin with. Just a bizarre story all around, and quite cruel to the original business.

Heh, I remember a case of a telecom thinking they owned a phone number and assigned it.

It worked as expected on their PSTN and cellular network, but not from any other network.

Re: She Gets Calls and Texts Meant for Elon Musk. Some Are Pretty Weird

#94
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no other metadata for text message recipient other than the phone number. You can't see that the sender fucked up before you actually read the text message.

Yes and my point wasn't about reading the message but about sharing it with others. If you think you're the intended recipient because the only information you have is the recipient's number, then that's one thing. If it's talking to Elon Musk in the message then it's clearly not addressed to you, so you don't have the same grounds for sharing it.

Well, legally speaking there's really no difference.

Re: She Gets Calls and Texts Meant for Elon Musk. Some Are Pretty Weird

#95
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and my point wasn't about reading the message but about sharing it with others. If you think you're the intended recipient because the only information you have is the recipient's number, then that's one thing. If it's talking to Elon Musk in the message then it's clearly not addressed to you, so you don't have the same grounds for sharing it.

Well, legally speaking there's really no difference.

Yeah, we're not legally speaking.

Re: She Gets Calls and Texts Meant for Elon Musk. Some Are Pretty Weird

#96

I get emails for a celebrity. So far I've received: receipts for things like a boat, invitations to perform at large events, 'just catching up' notes from old friends, and confirmations of event planning among others. Recently I got an order confirmation for a large purchase, along with a shipping address and mobile number. I used the mobile number to text the celebrity, explain the situation, and offer my apologies…

It is an honest shame that (so far) all you received in return was a 'thanks'. I truly wished your story ended with '.. and they sent me a gift/collectable in appreciation'. Either way - thanks for being a 'good guy' who made the effort :)

Re: She Gets Calls and Texts Meant for Elon Musk. Some Are Pretty Weird

#97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The messages were sent to her number. I don't think there is any privacy violation if you drop mail addressed to 'person residing at this address' at the wrong house.

In the UK it's illegal to open someone else's mail even if it was delivered to you.

[deleted]

Re: She Gets Calls and Texts Meant for Elon Musk. Some Are Pretty Weird

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This can be nasty. A friend of me once got a ton of phone calls for a specific realtor. Turns out the realtor made a misprint on their business card. The realtor didn't want to do the expense to print new business cards, so they were just going to give this card to everybody. Could he just forward everybody to them, and maybe fill in their customers on some basic information like opening hours and holidays etc. This…

I read/heard a similar story of a hotel getting a number that was a digit off from some old woman who'd had it for years. After they refused to change it, she started taking reservations, and booking wedding parties and the like, if the person on the other end didn't believe her when she said they got a wrong number. The hotel did eventually capitulate.

> if the person on the other end didn't believe her when she said they got a wrong number

I will never ever understand this behavior (I've seen it in other contexts) of people who refuse to believe an inconvenient truth even when there is strong disincentive for the bearer to be lying, and immediate negative consequences for not recognizing the truth. Like, do they think the receptionist is just pulling a prank??

Re: She Gets Calls and Texts Meant for Elon Musk. Some Are Pretty Weird

#99
I've gotten the occasional email for someone, possibly multiple someones, with the same name as me.

Nothing terribly exciting though - an order confirmation for a Casper mattress, a hotel receipt from a Las Vegas hotel, and a bunch of stuff related to a high school reunion.

I was able to contact the organizer of the high school reunion, hopefully she got in touch with the right person. I didn't have enough to go on with the other emails though, so I just deleted them.

Re: She Gets Calls and Texts Meant for Elon Musk. Some Are Pretty Weird

#100
post #25

completely off topic: why do so many folks on HN refer to Elon Musk as "Elon"? Rarely are peopling talking about Bill or Steve; you always add the surname or use just the surname.

Something to do with his image? Here in the UK people complain about exactly the same thing when people reference "Boris".

I guess I'm showing my age, but "Boris" without any qualifiers defaults to Badenov.
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