The joys of owning an ‘OG’ email account • Hacker News Board

Re: The joys of owning an ‘OG’ email account

#251

Post by diabeetusman » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 3:22 PM UTC

jen729w wrote: post #134

cik wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, I feel your pain. One of my emails is @ .com. This fails verification on so many websites it's just comical. I then figured on making a @ .com. Turns out folks mostly validate .com in my experience, which I assume is because of good old mail.com. It's frustrating.

I gave up using mail@ .network because of the significant percentage of sites that refuse the .network TLD. One large financial services provider even told me that their "policy" was to allow 3, 4, or 5 characters as the last part of the domain. So .ninja is A-OK. I pointed out how ludicrous this was, and they told me it was their "policy" again, and that's why Australian Super doesn't have any of my money.

I've had problems with sites accepting my .is email address too, probably due to similar logic.

Re: The joys of owning an ‘OG’ email account

#252

Post by ninkendo » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 3:24 PM UTC

g4rret wrote: post #239

ninkendo wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This guide advocates for some pretty silly best practices. It’s very hung up on making sure the user types the right email address on account registration, having them type it twice, making them provide some sort of security question ( before their account is created , mind you!), making sure the question is answered correctly by the person clicking the link, etc etc. None of that is necessary. Your signup form can l…

> It’s very hung up on making sure the user types the right email address on account registration, having them type it twice, making them provide some sort of security question (before their account is created, mind you!), making sure the question is answered correctly by the person clicking the link, etc etc. No, it's saying you can do this, this, _or_ this. It's giving you options, not telling you to do everything…

> Me: "I will NEVER..."

> You: "I will NEVER..."

>

> Me: "...send the user a simple clickable link in an email and assume that the clicking of the link establishes validity."

> You: "...send the user a simple clickable link in an email and assume that the clicking of the link establishes validity."

It doesn’t seem like it’s giving an option here at all.

I certainly want to send the user a simple clickable link in an email and assume that the clicking of the link establishes validity. It’s how I know they actually own the email address they typed! (And that they are capable of receiving email I send them.)

I just wouldn’t use that validity to assume anything other than: “The person who clicked this link is allowed to create an account with the email address I sent the link to”. In other words, it must happen prior to account creation, not after. But the section of the guide is entitled “validating email addresses during new account creation”, so it’s pretty obvious that is this before the new account is created.

Re: The joys of owning an ‘OG’ email account

#253

Post by tenryuu » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 3:30 PM UTC

I also have a short common word for my email address. I don't often get signups for it, but there's always one service with the same name that I get registration emails for.

On one occasion though, a user from Tumblr had set their account name to my email. I think I forgot about it for a year, until the system emailed me about account inactivity. Upon talking to their support team about the issue, they told me just to reset the password and deactivate the account. Feels weird closing an account that I don't own and the owner has no access to.

Re: The joys of owning an ‘OG’ email account

#254

Post by Washuu » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 3:55 PM UTC

Normille wrote: post #164

wyclif wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My main email address is @gmail.com. My surname is not a very common one, yet I still experience many of the side effects described here. I've had this account since the first day Gmail was available to the public, April 1st 2004—I was invited by a friend who worked for Google at the time. Back then, I never considered this address an "OG" address, but then around 2012 I noticed something funny. I volunteered to do s…

I feel left out! One of my Gmail addresses is @gmail.com and I never get interesting titbits intended for other people. Mind you, it probably helps that my first name and surname are pretty unusual. I've also got @yandex.com , @yandex.com , plus the .net and .net domain names. So I've pretty much cornered the market in being uniquely identifiable online, for anyone who knows me. Hmmm... maybe I should se if @gmail.co…

I have {Hacker News Username} back when Gmail started. Consequently I get a lot of emails in Japanese and airline travel itineraries. I had to add an extra U on the end to meet the six character minimum.(Technically it's Washū in Hepburn, but uu is accepted.) I also get a bunch of Washington State University junk.

Re: The joys of owning an ‘OG’ email account

#255

Post by markkat » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 3:56 PM UTC

I won a bid on a lawnmower in the UK with my OG gmail.

I get a bit of that stuff.

Occasionally, I also get a bit of skepticism when people ask for my email.

Re: The joys of owning an ‘OG’ email account

#256

Post by robaato » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 3:58 PM UTC

I set up a domain for family and created an email for my aunt @.

She was in a retirement community and in her 80s was Chair of the Computer Club and used to do orientation for new people. She quickly realised that she needed a yahoo account as when she showed them her one they all asked - "how do I get one of those!"

Re: The joys of owning an ‘OG’ email account

#257

Post by letier » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 3:59 PM UTC

I have one like this. It’s horrible. I constantly get invitations to some other people’s kids birthday parties. Invitations to random peoples weddings. Drafts for real estate sale contracts. Even Microsoft’s HR sent me onboarding details by accident. I also get some official looking emails by some US administrative institutions. The list could be continued...

The worst thing is that people continue to accidentally sending these mails for me, even if i ask them to stop.

Re: The joys of owning an ‘OG’ email account

#258

Post by pugworthy » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 4:08 PM UTC

gregd wrote: post #210

My wife owns an email address in Gmail and you wouldn't think it was a very popular email address. Until of course someone's account information at numerous shopping sites began showing up. My wife contacted this person by phone and it turned out to be an elderly woman. The elderly woman was not having it and began arguing with my wife about whose email address it was. The elderly woman ranted on and on about HOW DAR…

In the few cases I've had for this, social engineering seems the best route to fixing it.

Re: The joys of owning an ‘OG’ email account

#259

Post by sacks2k » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 4:12 PM UTC

I used to have an OG hotmail account. I created it when hotmail was a really small operation.

I used to receive 1000s of email per day for the wrong person, including chat requests from MSN messenger.

I eventually traded for 10 invites in a forum when gmail.com was invite only.

Best trade ever.

Re: The joys of owning an ‘OG’ email account

#260

Post by rekoros » Thu, Sep 03, 2020, 4:17 PM UTC

I own a @gmail.com account - I don't get that much random mail there - maybe one per month or so - but what I do get is amazing. All sorts of PDFs with plans, proposals, bids, and requests to reconsider.