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Dots don't matter in Gmail addresses

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Re: Dots don't matter in Gmail addresses

#131

Post by djtriptych »

liquidgecka wrote: post #83
Santosh83 wrote: post #6

I have been getting financial emails from several people for many years at my GMail ID. They apparently have given my address but without the dot. But what mystifies me is how these people keep going for years without ever realising they aren't getting account transaction emails (from their banks), notifications of stock trades, even OTP emails etc. How is it possible for people to use these services for years withou…

Been there. I posted about this before but I own a 5 character common first and last name @gmail.com address. I get misdirected emails _constantly_. Usually I am polite about it and let people know, but sometimes I make a game of it. I was invited to participate in a drum circle with an offer to pay for my flight to which I replied that I would love to join, but they would also have to pay for drum lessons. I got a m…

almost positive 6 is the minimum character length for gmail addresses.

Re: Dots don't matter in Gmail addresses

#132

Post by linuxftw »

fortran77 wrote: post #66
Santosh83 wrote: post #6

I have been getting financial emails from several people for many years at my GMail ID. They apparently have given my address but without the dot. But what mystifies me is how these people keep going for years without ever realising they aren't getting account transaction emails (from their banks), notifications of stock trades, even OTP emails etc. How is it possible for people to use these services for years withou…

My gmail address is simply my lastname @ gmail.com So I get a lot of emails meant for other people whose email is firstname.mylastname@gmail.com where some sender drops the firstname and the dot for some reason. I received airline reservations (where I can click and change seat assignments!), cancer diagnoses(!), wedding invitations, bank statements, real estate documents to verisign, all sorts of things. I've been t…

Probably best you didn't. Unauthorized use of a computer system, even if you have the credentials, is considered hacking, at least in the US.

Re: Dots don't matter in Gmail addresses

#133

Post by wyldfire »

Santosh83 wrote: post #6

I have been getting financial emails from several people for many years at my GMail ID. They apparently have given my address but without the dot. But what mystifies me is how these people keep going for years without ever realising they aren't getting account transaction emails (from their banks), notifications of stock trades, even OTP emails etc. How is it possible for people to use these services for years withou…

> But what mystifies me is how these people keep going for years without ever realising they aren't getting account transaction emails

I put the blame squarely on those vendors. "well, we made them type it twice, what more do you want?" Please, please, just pretend it's a communications channel and close the loop!

Notes from BankCorp Ticket BUG-14333: "CIO saw some post on HN so we need to change the email validation. Make them type it three times."

Re: Dots don't matter in Gmail addresses

#134

Post by pwinnski »

liquidgecka wrote: post #83
Santosh83 wrote: post #6

I have been getting financial emails from several people for many years at my GMail ID. They apparently have given my address but without the dot. But what mystifies me is how these people keep going for years without ever realising they aren't getting account transaction emails (from their banks), notifications of stock trades, even OTP emails etc. How is it possible for people to use these services for years withou…

Been there. I posted about this before but I own a 5 character common first and last name @gmail.com address. I get misdirected emails _constantly_. Usually I am polite about it and let people know, but sometimes I make a game of it. I was invited to participate in a drum circle with an offer to pay for my flight to which I replied that I would love to join, but they would also have to pay for drum lessons. I got a m…

> I own a 5 character common first and last name @gmail.com address

Were you a Google employee? Or did you mean something other than how I read this, that your first and last name combined are 5 characters? Because I believe 5-character usernames are not permitted for gmail addresses.

I tried to confirm this and provide a link, but all of support.google.com appears to be non-responsive right now. When it stars working again, this may support my assertion: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/9211434?hl=en

Re: Dots don't matter in Gmail addresses

#135

Post by ahauxuueei »

djtriptych wrote: post #131
liquidgecka wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Been there. I posted about this before but I own a 5 character common first and last name @gmail.com address. I get misdirected emails _constantly_. Usually I am polite about it and let people know, but sometimes I make a game of it. I was invited to participate in a drum circle with an offer to pay for my flight to which I replied that I would love to join, but they would also have to pay for drum lessons. I got a m…

almost positive 6 is the minimum character length for gmail addresses.

almost positive 5 + 5 > 6

Re: Dots don't matter in Gmail addresses

#136

Post by zaksoup »

This is the source of a low-impact but still interesting scam: Scammer signs up for netflix free trial with "your" email (but it's really some new combination with different dots). Scammer runs out the free trial. YOU get an email saying "gotta pay for netflix." You're confused but chalk it up to some computer glitch somewhere and click the link to log in. Your password isn't taking but that's fine you just reset it. Finally, you're logged in, and you plug in your credit card and everything seems fine. You maybe don't even notice the two charges on your next credit card bill.

Yes, it's definitely convenient that you can have "multiple" email addresses that all point to the same inbox, but the issue is that identity providers don't treat them as all the same logical email address which creates opportunities for scams like these or worse.

Re: Dots don't matter in Gmail addresses

#137

Post by warkdarrior »

pricechild wrote: post #16
caseysoftware wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In theory, providers/servers should ignore everything from the + to the @ so that should work just about everywhere else. And since most forms don't filter that out, you can make numerous "unique" addresses connected to a single one. Now odds are, someone is going to respond with the one service where the + becomes significant..

> providers/servers should ignore everything from the + to the @ Why? I'm not sure it has ever been a standard and it's certainly not a default implementation for most providers?

There is a standard, RFC 5233 on subaddressing: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5233

Adoption is a mixed bag.

Re: Dots don't matter in Gmail addresses

#138

Post by liquidgecka »

pwinnski wrote: post #134
liquidgecka wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Been there. I posted about this before but I own a 5 character common first and last name @gmail.com address. I get misdirected emails _constantly_. Usually I am polite about it and let people know, but sometimes I make a game of it. I was invited to participate in a drum circle with an offer to pay for my flight to which I replied that I would love to join, but they would also have to pay for drum lessons. I got a m…

> I own a 5 character common first and last name @gmail.com address Were you a Google employee? Or did you mean something other than how I read this, that your first and last name combined are 5 characters? Because I believe 5-character usernames are not permitted for gmail addresses. I tried to confirm this and provide a link, but all of support.google.com appears to be non-responsive right now. When it stars workin…

I was an early Gmail SRE so I was able to circumvent the restrictions. It was a bad idea it turns out. For a project I also created "spam@gmail.com" and caused a production outage due to the volume of mail it got forwarded. =)

But yes your right, 6 characters is the minimum of "open" gmail accounts. I know of at least a dozen 2 character accounts created by insiders though.

Re: Dots don't matter in Gmail addresses

#139

Post by liquidgecka »

djtriptych wrote: post #131
liquidgecka wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Been there. I posted about this before but I own a 5 character common first and last name @gmail.com address. I get misdirected emails _constantly_. Usually I am polite about it and let people know, but sometimes I make a game of it. I was invited to participate in a drum circle with an offer to pay for my flight to which I replied that I would love to join, but they would also have to pay for drum lessons. I got a m…

almost positive 6 is the minimum character length for gmail addresses.

See my comment above.. It is, I was a Gmail SRE that could circumvent the restrictions on that. =)

Re: Dots don't matter in Gmail addresses

#140

Post by liquidgecka »

jaredwiener wrote: post #128
liquidgecka wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Been there. I posted about this before but I own a 5 character common first and last name @gmail.com address. I get misdirected emails _constantly_. Usually I am polite about it and let people know, but sometimes I make a game of it. I was invited to participate in a drum circle with an offer to pay for my flight to which I replied that I would love to join, but they would also have to pay for drum lessons. I got a m…

Likewise -- I fall firmly into this XKCD https://xkcd.com/1279/ My e-doppelgängers have priced cars across the state of Ohio, been active in the PTA, pursued higher education in Germany, and seems to always be interested in commercial real estate in the outer boroughs of NYC. Though once -- I received an email asking me to please just apologize to my sister already. I replied, "I think you have the wrong email addres…

Reminds me of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beb8zCGMsbI
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