Interesting gmail delivery

[Jerry1]

My gmail address is firstname.lastname@gmail.com I recently had an appointment and they sent me a satisfaction survey. As I looked at the email, I realized that the email address was off. They used firstnamelastname@gmail.com. No dot between the first and last name. I don’t understand how this got to me. I can only surmise that the dot is not actually read by gmail or the servers in general. I asked DW to send me an email without using the dot and sure enough, I was delivered. No real point to me writing this other than file this under things I didn’t realized work that way.

 

[REWahoo]

Another example of how the world has changed. When I was a young man a missing period was a really big deal.

 

[Texas Proud]

I do not use gmail, but for a number of other sites the dot makes a difference... at work I always had a dot and my BIL would forget it and I never did get those emails...

 

[steelyman]

Another example of how the world has changed. When I was a young man a missing period was a really big deal.

Such a naughty boy.

 

[USGrant1962]

I think gmail is famous for ignoring dots and causing confusion.

 

[RunningBum]

Yes, gmail strips out all dots before the @. Here's a good explanation of why, and how you can use it to your advantage. For example, when you don't really want to give your email address, use f.irst.lastname and you can filter out emails that come to that version of the address.

https://www.businessinsider.com/why-google-says-period-in-gmail-address-doesnt-matter-2018-2

 

[steelyman]

Yes, gmail strips out all dots before the @. Here's a good explanation of why, and how you can use it to your advantage. For example, when you don't really want to give your email address, use f.irst.lastname and you can filter out emails that come to that version of the address.

Another “who knew?” Of The Day. Thanks!

 

[USGrant1962]

Yes, gmail strips out all dots before the @. Here's a good explanation of why, and how you can use it to your advantage. For example, when you don't really want to give your email address, use f.irst.lastname and you can filter out emails that come to that version of the address.

https://www.businessinsider.com/why-google-says-period-in-gmail-address-doesnt-matter-2018-2

Good article. Interesting that gmail is one of the few services that ignores dots. Most others don’t. Hence the confusion.

In my experience the vast majority of megacorp emails, for instance, respect the dot.

 

[aja8888]

Another example of how the world has changed. When I was a young man a missing period was a really big deal.

Two missing ones in a row were really worrisome.

 

[cathy63]

Another good gmail trick is that everything after a + sign in an address is ignored, so you will also receive email addressed to firstname.lastname+keyword@gmail.com.

This is helpful if you want to use rules to sort email from some senders into different folders.

 

[TwoByFour]

My gmail address is firstname.lastname@gmail.com I recently had an appointment and they sent me a satisfaction survey. As I looked at the email, I realized that the email address was off. They used firstnamelastname@gmail.com. No dot between the first and last name. I don’t understand how this got to me. I can only surmise that the dot is not actually read by gmail or the servers in general. I asked DW to send me an email without using the dot and sure enough, I was delivered. No real point to me writing this other than file this under things I didn’t realized work that way.

When I started gmail 18 years ago, I opened it with first.last@gmail.com. But I found that I would get email as fistlast@gmail.com, as you have pointed out. It turns out that Google strips the "." from whatever you signed-up as and that is how you are formally known to their email system. When an email comes into gmail and they need to put it in the correct account, they strip out all dots.

There is an Internet standard for confirming the exact email account name and some services use that to guard against fraud. When this is done with gmail, it comes back for me as "firstlast" not as "first.last". This has been a problem because I signed up for services and gave my email address the way I originally signed-up: "first.last", but for those companies that then go and verify with Google, it comes back as "firstlast" and they reject me. Apple is one such problem I have had.

Personally I think Google screwed up by doing this. There was no reason to since a "." is perfectly legal in the name of an email recipient. But at this point they are stuck with their mistake and have to stick with it.

 

[joeea]

Another good gmail trick is that everything after a + sign in an address is ignored, so you will also receive email addressed to firstname.lastname+keyword@gmail.com.

This is helpful if you want to use rules to sort email from some senders into different folders.

It's also useful if you want to track down where spam originated.

I often use firstname.lastname+sitename@gmail.com

It all ends up in the same gmail mailbox, but now I know which site chose to share my email address if I start getting spam.

 

[donheff]

When I started gmail 18 years ago, I opened it with first.last@gmail.com. But I found that I would get email as fistlast@gmail.com, as you have pointed out. It turns out that Google strips the "." from whatever you signed-up as and that is how you are formally known to their email system. When an email comes into gmail and they need to put it in the correct account, they strip out all dots.

There is an Internet standard for confirming the exact email account name and some services use that to guard against fraud. When this is done with gmail, it comes back for me as "firstlast" not as "first.last". This has been a problem because I signed up for services and gave my email address the way I originally signed-up: "first.last", but for those companies that then go and verify with Google, it comes back as "firstlast" and they reject me. Apple is one such problem I have had.

Personally I think Google screwed up by doing this. There was no reason to since a "." is perfectly legal in the name of an email recipient. But at this point they are stuck with their mistake and have to stick with it.

This is interesting. I was among the early Gmail users and thought at the time that they wanted first.last as the user ID. I always assumed that was the "official" ID and would never have guessed they stripped out the dot for authentication.

 

[ERD50]

Another example of how the world has changed. When I was a young man a missing period was a really big deal.

Back then, it could be a big deal to some rabbit, too!

And no, I never expected that OP to go in this direction! Well played, REWahoo!

-ERD50

 

[Lsbcal]

Another example of how the world has changed. When I was a young man a missing period was a really big deal.

LOL! Was that how you got the big family?

 

[Midpack]

I think gmail is famous for ignoring dots and causing confusion.

Yes, gmail strips out all dots before the @. Here's a good explanation of why, and how you can use it to your advantage. For example, when you don't really want to give your email address, use f.irst.lastname and you can filter out emails that come to that version of the address.

https://www.businessinsider.com/why-google-says-period-in-gmail-address-doesnt-matter-2018-2

I have been getting CapitalOne notices once or twice a month for years despite repeatedly begging C1 to remove me from their distribution. The actual owner makes minimum payments and gets threatening emails all the time.

I've concluded "he" has the same gmail address as mine, but his must have a period or two in it...

 

[RunningBum]

I have been getting CapitalOne notices once or twice a month for years despite repeatedly begging C1 to remove me from their distribution. The actual owner makes minimum payments and gets threatening emails all the time.

I've concluded "he" has the same gmail address as mine, but his must have a period or two in it...

I really don't think gmail would allow that. My guess is that it's something like your address is first.lastname and his is firstname.lastname, and he mistakenly put the wrong email address in with them. Or he intentionally used the wrong email address so he wouldn't be so easily tracked down and bugged.

 

[braumeister]

Could be just a spelling issue.

I get email all the time that should go to a guy in Canada with a similar address. One word is spelled the US way in mine, but the Canadian way in his.

 

[Midpack]

I really don't think gmail would allow that. My guess is that it's something like your address is first.lastname and his is firstname.lastname, and he mistakenly put the wrong email address in with them. Or he intentionally used the wrong email address so he wouldn't be so easily tracked down and bugged.

I don't know what else it could be. My address is xxxx1234@gmail.com and I assume his is xxx.x1234@gmail.com or the same with a period somewhere, someone told me about gmail stripping out periods quite a while ago. From the C1 emails I see, his first name is xxx, xxx was the name of a dog I once had.

And it would be hard to believe he's not seeing the same emails I am, as he pays some minimum amount (after they politely warn him) based on each email I see, so it's an active C1 account. I've talked at length with at least a dozen different C1 peeps, including supervisors who guaranteed they'd take me off the distribution, but the emails keep coming at least once a month...tiresome but nothing else I can do about it that I know of.

Needless to say, I'll never be a C1 customer...

 

[cathy63]

I don't know what else it could be. My address is xxxx1234@gmail.com and I assume his is xxx.x1234@gmail.com or the same with a period somewhere, someone told me about gmail stripping out periods quite a while ago.

Nope, that's not possible. GMail would not allow him to create an account like xxx.x1234@gmail.com because that is your address. x.x.x.x.1.2.3.4@gmail.com is also your address, as is every variation that contains any number of dots. You can test this by sending emails to these addresses and verifying that they all arrive in your inbox. The same email does not go to anyone else's inbox. The way your email address got on the C1 account is that the guy entered an incorrect email address and the one he typed just happened to be yours.

The reason this guy pays the minimum on his credit card after they warn him is probably because they also call him, text him, and send him paper mail. To get your email address off the account, you could try telling C1 that you made a typo when you setup the account and can't remember your password, so you need them to change the email address to xxxx12345@gmail.com.

Another alternative is to just setup a rule in GMail to send all mail from C1 straight into the trash. I have such a rule for all email that contains the words "Adnan" or "Khashoggi" because some guy with that name uses my very short and simple email address as the one he enters whenever he doesn't want to get email, and I got tired of unsubscribing to everything he signs up for.

 

[Midpack]

Nope, that's not possible. GMail would not allow him to create an account like xxx.x1234@gmail.com because that is your address. x.x.x.x.1.2.3.4@gmail.com is also your address, as is every variation that contains any number of dots. You can test this by sending emails to these addresses and verifying that they all arrive in your inbox. The same email does not go to anyone else's inbox. The way your email address got on the C1 account is that the guy entered an incorrect email address and the one he typed just happened to be yours.

The reason this guy pays the minimum on his credit card after they warn him is probably because they also call him, text him, and send him paper mail. To get your email address off the account, you could try telling C1 that you made a typo when you setup the account and can't remember your password, so you need them to change the email address to xxxx12345@gmail.com.

What you’re saying makes sense to me, but why do I still get his emails every month after a dozen people at C1 have told me they’ve taken my email off the other guys account? They’d have to be totally incompetent?

And his emails have gone to trash for a long time, still annoying.

I wouldn’t want to give C1 a made up email address, that could pass the problem on to another innocent.

 

[cathy63]

What you’re saying makes sense to me, but why do I still get his emails every month after a dozen people at C1 have told me they’ve taken my email off the other guys account? They’d have to be totally incompetent?

And his emails have gone to trash for a long time, still annoying.

Pretty sure you nailed the answer right there. Or else their system may not be able to completely delete a value from a required field. This is a safeguard in a lot of systems to prevent CSRs from accidentally erasing customer information when they are attempting to update some other piece of info. Putting in a new incorrect value is likely to work even when you can't get an incorrect value deleted.