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*@gmail.com

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Re: *@gmail.com

#11
post #3

This is a great reminder that Gmail ignores dots on the left side of the @ symbol, which means I am constantly getting e-mail for other people. The “+” tagging was a great idea, but the fact that incorrect address matching has become a “feature” (and not fixed over decades) plus constant spates of spam has made me believe there’s nobody left at the helm who actually understands e-mail. I’ve kept my Gmail addresses fo…

Can you clarify how ignoring the dots is a problem?

I have a big problem because this, my account is créate in closed beta period, in this stage this feature does exist.

My email: name.alias@gmail, because already exists namealias@gmail. Ok the email Work fine for 4y before this feature exists, after if email send exacly works but the problem i am started reciving email for the other user and this is e-mail is not cool.

After 10y i give up of gmail and moved to my domain

Re: *@gmail.com

#12
post #5

Address not found Your message wasn't delivered to \*@gmail.com because the address couldn't be found, or is unable to receive mail. LEARN MORE The response was: 550 5.1.1 The email account that you tried to reach does not exist. Please try double-checking the recipient's email address for typos or unnecessary spaces. Learn more at https://support.google.com/mail/?p=NoSuchUser f15-20020a05651201cf00b00500994b137asor3…

[flagged]

Re: *@gmail.com

#13
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is a great reminder that Gmail ignores dots on the left side of the @ symbol But sometimes handy to fool sign ups and use it twice (or more depending on length). I wonder if you can use multiple dots?

I'm not sure if you can use f..oo@gmail.com but if your email address is longer than a few characters then there are definitely a large number of combinations you can use if you want to register multiple accounts at one service, foo@, f.oo@, fo.o@, f.o.o@ etc. You can also use foo+extra@gmail.com and the +extra will be ignored, so you can give each service a separate email address like foo+hn@gmail.com. Beware, as I…

> But if you used +foo stuff then you might not be able to remember what email address you used.

I’ve sometimes resorted to finding a piece of email from them and looking at the “To” header.

Re: *@gmail.com

#14
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is a great reminder that Gmail ignores dots on the left side of the @ symbol But sometimes handy to fool sign ups and use it twice (or more depending on length). I wonder if you can use multiple dots?

I'm not sure if you can use f..oo@gmail.com but if your email address is longer than a few characters then there are definitely a large number of combinations you can use if you want to register multiple accounts at one service, foo@, f.oo@, fo.o@, f.o.o@ etc. You can also use foo+extra@gmail.com and the +extra will be ignored, so you can give each service a separate email address like foo+hn@gmail.com. Beware, as I…

> But if you used +foo stuff then you might not be able to remember what email address you used.

That's exactly what password managers are for.

Re: *@gmail.com

#15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you clarify how ignoring the dots is a problem?

To borrow an example from Internet domain names, consider: experts.exchang@gmail.com expert.sexchange@gmail.com Those addresses would be identical by Gmail's parsing conventions.

And how is that a problem?

Re: *@gmail.com

#17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you clarify how ignoring the dots is a problem?

One problem I've encountered is that usually sites won't allow you to register an account if the email address is already registered at that site. So if I register foo@gmail.com then someone else can't accidentally register foo@gmail.com. But they can register f.o.o@gmail.com just fine. So I mean at my Gmail I have all manner of different Facebook accounts with various misspelling of my email address notifying me of…

Doesn't Facebook require users to verify the email address with a confirmation email? If so, the only Facebook spam you should be able to get would be such confirmation emails. Or what am I missing?

Re: *@gmail.com

#18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One problem I've encountered is that usually sites won't allow you to register an account if the email address is already registered at that site. So if I register foo@gmail.com then someone else can't accidentally register foo@gmail.com. But they can register f.o.o@gmail.com just fine. So I mean at my Gmail I have all manner of different Facebook accounts with various misspelling of my email address notifying me of…

I think you just chose an insufficiently unique email address. I never get any of these problems.

Mr Foo and I thought having an email address for our name was a great idea, but it does tend to attract mistaken addresses.

Re: *@gmail.com

#19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you clarify how ignoring the dots is a problem?

One problem I've encountered is that usually sites won't allow you to register an account if the email address is already registered at that site. So if I register foo@gmail.com then someone else can't accidentally register foo@gmail.com. But they can register f.o.o@gmail.com just fine. So I mean at my Gmail I have all manner of different Facebook accounts with various misspelling of my email address notifying me of…

LOL this reminds me of a hilarious bug (but only in hindsight!) I had with Discord just three days ago!

I tried to login to Discord. It detected a novel browser or location. Sure, this stuff can happen. It wanted to confirm that I was still me and asked me for my e-mail address. I gave it and it said "This e-mail address is already registered". What. Of course it is. It's me. Mine. The one I have registered with you.

Since I have a few useful things tied to Discord, I felt my pulse go up. I googled for answers, found a Reddit thread with this specific problem. They said "Hey, if you use Gmail you can use the dots-are-ignored-feature to give Discord a "new" mail that will still go to you, allowing you to verify it!" (https://www.reddit.com/r/discordapp/comments/12makhd/verify_...)

Sounded clever so I gave it a fore.name.sur.name@gmail.com variant.

Sure enough, I got the mail.

I logged in. I gasped as I realized Discord had now created a new, empty user for me! It somehow thought I was a brand new user despite this was only a user account _verification_ due to changed IP or whatever to begin with.

I tried logging in to my original account once more and now I somehow got in! The verification on my new account had somehow triggered (cookie? I have no idea) that I was trustworthy again. Phew! I promptly deleted the new-account-going-to-same-mail and breathed normally again...

Re: *@gmail.com

#20
post #3

This is a great reminder that Gmail ignores dots on the left side of the @ symbol, which means I am constantly getting e-mail for other people. The “+” tagging was a great idea, but the fact that incorrect address matching has become a “feature” (and not fixed over decades) plus constant spates of spam has made me believe there’s nobody left at the helm who actually understands e-mail. I’ve kept my Gmail addresses fo…

What do you mean 'not fixed'?

"Fixing" that would break a documented feature millions of people depend on.

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