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*@gmail.com

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Re: *@gmail.com

#21

Post by Taniwha »

juergbi wrote: post #17
adrianmsmith wrote: post #7

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…

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?

Oh I wish that were true, I've been receiving email for years for someone who signed up to facebook with my email address. It's a horrible pain, you can't contact facebook without a facebook account, and I can't create one because someone already has one with my email address.

Re: *@gmail.com

#22

Post by prmoustache »

juergbi wrote: post #17
adrianmsmith wrote: post #7

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…

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?

I can't speak about facebook but I am in the case of having a gmail address[1] with my first name initial followed by my last name and I am in the case of having people with same last name and first name initial using my email address to register. That box is polluted by regular confirmation emails followed by spams from the same many websites. It turns out that more often than not the confirmation email is made to protect the companies running the websites (I guess to limit bots and password that can't be reinitialized), not promotionnal mail registration. You still receive all the promotionnal and automated email regardless if the user is active. Different table in the database I guess. Also there websites/services that don't use confirmation emails as well as processes initiated through physical office/point of sale.

[1] now pretty much abandonned but I mostly keep it to avoid anyone obtaining it and impersonating me. I still need to do some housekeeping and make sure I am not registered anywhere with that address anymore.

Re: *@gmail.com

#23

Post by TonyTrapp »

rcarmo wrote: 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…

Just one anecdata, but in my case, all of the unwanted signups I get on my gmail address are not due to dots - they are flat out because people input my email address exactly the same way as I would - without dots. I think it's more a side-effect of gmail being "the" global email namespace for millions of people, not because of anything their service itself is doing.

Re: *@gmail.com

#25

Post by dredmorbius »

xigoi wrote: post #15
dredmorbius wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

The presumption would be that these are two different entities.

Re: *@gmail.com

#26

Post by richardw »

rcarmo wrote: 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…

Drives me insane. And so many people and systems auto adjust addresses, produce almost mine, and then gmail delivers the random output. I once set up a google group to forward mail to.

I’d pay to block the “full stop ignore” feature.

Re: *@gmail.com

#28

Post by Xelbair »

laurentlb wrote: post #4
rcarmo wrote: 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?

imagine that you have an address name.surname@gmail.com

imagine that someone else has an address namesurname@gmail.com

this is very similar case to my mom's one. she constantly gets emails meant for someone else - including PII - because she has no dot in email, but the other party has a dot.

I know for sure that her's account is quite old one.

Re: *@gmail.com

#29

Post by galactus »

adrianmsmith wrote: post #7
laurentlb wrote: post #4

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…

I have exactly the same problem, and it has made my gmail account almost unusable. I have at least 150 unwanted emails per day (80% of them get caught by the spam filter)
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