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- Omicron, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5according to the gmail help section (which this guy quoted no less), it's NOT someone else's email. They say themselves that Gmail ignores periods, therefore, any variation of your address that includes periods, is in fact, still YOUR address.
buried. - xero9, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I tested this out.. I created a new account, ughreiughhhhh@gmail.com and checked both ughreiughhhhh and ughre.iughhhhh for availability, and both were available, so after I signed up I tried to create ughre.iughhhhh@gmail.com, and it was unavailable
- rycoleman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Actually - I indicate in the article that I tested the issue and they have in fact resolved it with regards to registering different accounts based on variants john.doe vs. johndoe ... But it clearly was allowed at some point because there is a very real guy with the other account, whom I've interacted with.
- rycoleman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Oops - changed title and blogger broke the link. Updated article:
http://fitrans.blogspot.com/2006/01/oops-formerly-found-in-my-inbox-odd.html - electroktan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Oh, don't forget about the wave of spammers trying to make use of the initial onslaught of gmail invites. They must've gone through the phone book and concatenated every first and last name (probably without the periods at first). Then, addressed the e-mails by the first name to make it look like it was addressed to you. Luckily, my name is pretty unique.
The only question I have is if Google allowed e-mails from firstname@ to reach first.name@ later on. Because I had junk addresses like first.second@ that didn't get any spam while thirdfourth@ got tons even though both were generic accounts. - rycoleman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Well I can thank my lucky stars that I at least got an interesting alter ego to share my inbox with.
Brings up some interesting questions though - what if I signed up for a porn mailing list and he got fired for it because his boss walked by at the wrong moment? This is a nasty little bug that I'm surprised they never tried to proactively sort out with the existing user base - it could cause a lot of damage. Not like it wouldn't be hard to filter out who has paired addresses and try and solve the problem. - JohnTheLutheran, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I suspect the blog author has mis-/over-interpreted this. Someone was probably sending an email to ryancolman@gmail.com or ryancoleman@hotmail.com, but misspelt the address as ryancoleman@gmail.com. So it came through to ryan.colemen@, so our Ryan thought he'd happened on A Major Gmail Security Hole.
- cheesmo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1My gmail address is @gmail.com and I actually did recieve emails meant for .@gmail.com. At first I figured that the sender had just type in the wrong address, but I could tell that the email he sent me was actually being replied to, so it must have been going to both of us.
- AttackingHobo, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I get email that is sent to myname@gmail.com, when I only own my.name@gmail.com. The emails are definitively not meant for me.
- WackyT, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yup. That works. I've got a "." Gmail e-mail address, and just sent a test e-mail to my address minus the "." and received it just fine. I tried to get my address minus the "." and it says it's taken. I've never received any non-"." e-mails before though, if someone does have it registered. What a nice "feature", Google!
- AsherW, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Has anyone actually read the webpage lately?
http://fitrans.blogspot.com/
"I guess I "dug" myself a deep hole now. From what I can gather the only way to fill it in is to report the link as bad/lame - if visiting dig's could also do that it would be great - no point in pushing this any further than it has already gone.
Original post below - I'll admit I'm wrong, not hide it. I'll leave the comments open for a bit." - Otto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Okay, first, he assumes that somebody actually registered his email address, but without the dot. That's a pretty big assumption to make, really.
I've used this feature in the past, and yes it works, but you also can't register a variation of somebody's email address with different dot positions. I don't know if they added that at some point or if it was always there, but he has no actual evidence that somebody really has an account with a variation on his name. They could just be misaddressed. - bnoble, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Happened to me. I'm not your mom.
- sasquatchtree, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This has happened to me and I have been receiving very very private emails from a certain member of Georgetown University's Admission's group. I don't care about Google getting sued as much as I care about other people getting all of my emails! Talk about privacy infringement.
- electroktan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I believe google must've corrected this extremely early on if there was ever a security hole (I don't believe there was ever a problem though). I got into Gmail when invites were on the 2 or 3rd round (when invites were still around $50-100 although I got mine from a friend).
Yeah, I tried registering and forgot the period at first (e.g. firstlast@gmail). However, it didn't let me register with the period (e.g. first.last@gmail). This protection occurred at the 4th round (since I could now invite myself). I thought someone else got the e-mail with the period so I used the password reminder tool and it was my own unique question so I knew it wasn't someone else.
So overall, unlike the author of this article, I find the ability to add/remove periods a nice feature like Google mentioned. Even more you can do things like first.last+blogger+comment+blah@gmail.com
and it will still get to you. Pretty neat stuff, - Philipp_Lenssen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1There is not proof that the blog report's conclusion is accurate unless Ryan 1 indeed contacts Ryan 2 (e.g. by phone) to verify that Ryan 2 registered ryancoleman@gmail.com and received emails under that address. Without that proof this is just a combination of an old Gmail feature (you can omit dots when sending to a Gmail user name) that Ryan 1 might have misunderstood and Ryan 2's friends who got the wrong email address (who knows why).
- WolfMunroe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I think I learn more reading the comments than I learn reading the links.
- cheesmo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Sorry, forgot to escape some characters on the first post
My gmail address is firstlast@gmail.com and I actually did receive emails meant for first.last@gmail.com. At first I figured that the sender had just type in the wrong address, but I could tell that the email he sent me was actually being replied to, so it must have been going to both of us. - NJank, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1wow.... people here can't seem to follow a discussion at all.
it's a feature if you're a "newer" user. email address with or without periods go to the same place, and only one can be registered (they're essentially all the same).
if you're an "older" user who registered before that policy was implemented, apparently (as supported by the blogger and some commenters here) it WAS possible to register both an email and a period-variant of the email. Google treated them as distinct accounts, but apparently erroneously applies the same forwarding rules as it does for the newer accounts. Thus, it may be possible for a similar account to get another account's email, but it won't happen for most of us, and needs to be corrected by Google for those it does affect. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0njank pretty much has it.
Sadly, I have an older account. its josh{lastname}@gmail.com. I kept getting these emails to josh.{lastname}@gmail.com that are obviously to a very different person ;) So, I've seen a lot of baby pictures of babys that I don't know ;)
Josh - SilentBobSC, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0lol, guess who didn't practice what he preaches and read all the comments before putting his own $0.02 in.... lmao...
- thatha, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0http://fitrans.blogspot.com/
- SilentBobSC, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@artman - "I have one email address and an ISP who has its own web mail service."
Pure genuis until you have to switch ISPs.... a$$hat... - rycoleman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Thanks Asher. I posted a comment in here about that too but it seemed to get missed.
Feature Request: Let authors/submitters click a link to stop the article from being diggable - I've watched this thing get dug 150 more times since I posted it's wrong.
Could everyone please report it as a bad link? - wolfger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0No, really... that's not spam, it's just legitimate e-mail meant for somebody else!
- Barnstormer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Those people with dotted or dotless variants of your email address are living in a parallel universe. Don't complain about it: maybe you'll find out that in their universe John Lennon just released his seventeenth solo album and Paul has a memorial in Central Park.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0.....This can be used both ways....meaning that someone can go create an email account with a (.) in the name between mine and it'll send my email to them? Oh boy... *thanks the heavens that his friends don't do digg.*
- ajiva, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Hmmm too bad they fixed it :)
- Chongo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I get this group of young kids emails all the time.........yay! Jason won the basketball tournament!
- stdupont, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I've got an early gmail account and can confirm getting messages for a "." variant that actually exists...
- synystar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"but i checked to see if myname was available. it's not. i wonder if that's a gmail "security feature" or if it's another account in use."
It's not available because it is in use. By you.
That's true imtigger. I was scanning too fast. It does look like he was just being sarcastic, especially now that I notice the =o) at the end of the sentence. =) - ebundance, on 08/10/2008, -0/+0Here is what Gmail is doing today to handle the multiple periods. I sent 6 emails to various versions of my address. I clicked on "Yes, this is you" and I posted their help file message below.
from Nathon Hay to nathonhay@gmail.com (Yes, this is you.) Learn more,
n.athonhay@gmail.com (Yes, this is you.) Learn more,
na.thonhay@gmail.com (Yes, this is you.) Learn more,
nathonhay.@gmail.com (Yes, this is you.) Learn more,
.nathonhay@gmail.com (Yes, this is you.) Learn more,
nathon...hay@gmail.com (Yes, this is you.) Learn more
date Sun, Aug 10, 2008 at 1:00 PMsubject 6 emailsmailed-by gmail.com
Receiving someone else's mail
There are three common reasons why Gmail users think they're receiving someone else's mail. Please select the description that matches your situation below.
Your address is similar but has more or fewer dots (.) or different capitalization.
Sometimes you may receive a message intended for someone whose address resembles yours but has a different number or placement of dots. For example, your address might be homerjsimpson@gmail.com, but the message was sent to a Homer.J.Simpson@gmail.com. What's going on?
Gmail allows only one registration for any given username. Once you sign up for a particular username, any dot or capitalization variations are made permanently unavailable for new registration. If you created yourusername@gmail.com, no one can ever register your.username@gmail.com, or Your.user.name@gmail.com. Furthermore, because Gmail doesn't recognize dots as characters within usernames, adding or removing dots from a Gmail address won't change the actual destination address. Messages sent to yourusername@gmail.com, your.username@gmail.com, and y.o.u.r.u.s.e.r.n.a.m.e@gmail.com are all delivered to your inbox, and only yours.
If you're homerjsimpson@gmail.com, no one owns Homer.J.Simpson@gmail.com, except for you. Sending mail to Homer.J.Simpson@gmail.com is the same as sending mail to homerjsimpson@gmail.com, or even HOMERJSIMPSON@GMAIL.COM. If you're getting mail addressed to Homer.J.Simpson@gmail.com, most likely someone was trying to send a message to Homer.J.Sampson@gmail.com, or Homer.J.Simpson1@gmail.com, and made a mistake. You might even get messages from mailing lists or website registrations because the intended recipient accidentally provided the wrong email address. In these cases, we suggest contacting the original sender or website when possible to alert them to the mistake.
For security reasons, when you log in to Gmail, you must enter any dots that were originally defined as part of your username.
Note: Google Apps recognizes dots. If you'd like to receive mail with a dot in your username, please ask your domain administrator to add the desired username as a nickname. - imtigger2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0synystar... it's obvious to just about everyone else, that he was just kidding. I'm sure he KNOWS it's automatic.
- cawpin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@ artman - Good luck with that strategy if you have to move of otherwise switch ISP.
- foetal, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0When this starting happening to me, I wrote it off as the sender mistyping the email address. Months later I still receive email intended for someone else and from various people and companies. The other guy is either giving out my email address (cause his family pictures are so cute) or google has some major configuration issue.
- kinney7a, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i have the same situation. Ive used his XM information to listen online. I might have taken his concert tickets if he didn't live in Texas. Sounds like googlers are wasting too much of there time playing with silly putty.
- artman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I have never, ever joined Gmail, Hot mail, Yahoo mail or anyotherasshatmembership mail in my life. It's like having the mailman handing your mail to your neighbor, who then hands it over to you. Why the middle man? I have one email address and an ISP who has its own web mail service.
- JackDoyle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I am doyle.jack. I just sent an email to doylejack and it came directly to me. Seems to work like it's supposed to as far as I can tell.
- StealthTomato, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Old news. Happened to my mom.
- op12, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Another variation that you can use: instead of using @gmail.com, use @googlemail.com
This was all over the internet a while ago as someone had some kind of claim over gmail.com and google started registering new accounts with @googlemail.com - I think it was in Europe somewhere. As a consequence, you should be able to use either one. - tommertron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I think that early on they let people sign up with variants of email addresses based on 'dots', but they don't anymore. I tried several variants of my email that couldn't have been taken (to.m.mertron a gmail.com) and it wouldn't let me register. HOWEVER... I sent an email to someone with firstlast@gmail.com address who signed up two years ago, and it went to a completely different person with a first.last@gmail.com address. I think they should disable this 'feature' as they already have too many users whose usernames differ by dots only.
- WackyT, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Another variation that you can use: instead of using @gmail.com, use @googlemail.com"
That just means Google registered multiple MX DNS records going to the same servers. What comes before the @ is processed on the servers themselves. - ibrod, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Just created a new email account with first.last and sent the email to the addy w/o the "." and received it just fine!
- mikeod, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I've been getting another guy's email for over a year. I've held conversations with his family members. It's pretty entertaining.
- rycoleman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0See posts above for a working URL to correction post Kalibr
- usayd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0heh just an easy mistake I guess
- rycoleman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Updated post at the link.
Please "report" the link as "lame" or "bad"rn - Exi7wound, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Duh... I've been getting john.todd's mail since day one.
I've been responding to it too. :) - altcountryman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Hmm. Whomever has myfirst.mylast@gmail.com must be shopping for a new mortgage lender, doing a little offshore investing, and getting a lot of great deals on prescription drugs without a prescription.
- Kalibr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Error 404
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