Gmail Mis.delivered?

An anonymous reader writes "Google doesn't make many mistakes but when it does, boy, are they doozies! The latest is that Gmail doesn't care about periods in usernames. So mail sent to [e-mail] is also delivered to [e-mail], even though these are two separate mail accounts. Google admits Gmail doesn't see periods, but no word on a fix yet." Update: As may users have pointed out Ars has since corrected the story, stating that the original submitter was mistaken and the email was just improperly addressed.

Google is Sexist!

I can't believe Google is disrespecting users with periods.

Since there is no word on a fix yet, it would be interesting if Microsoft rolls out a 3rd party patch which warns Gmail users when the recipient email address has periods in it.

Google is teh Sexist!

can't believe Google is disrespecting users with periods.

Women have been disrespected for thousands of years.

Just the other day, I was overjoyed that Google was fighting for my rights, now I'm dissapointed to learn that they're not fighting for women's rights too.

I can only imagine what Condoleezza Rice & Hillary Clinton will have to say about this.

Shame really

This couldv been a really neat feature.
I could signup a generic [e-mail] type account and then pass around multiple variations to different sites.
Depending upon the variation received I could determine which site leaked my mail.

I think the only way to rectify this is to start accounting for the period.
The cat is out of the bag so to speak.

Re:Shame really

Gmail already has this feature if you own [e-mail] you can also use [e-mail]

Sigh... This really is a FEATURE

Headline here should be corrected; this isn't a huge gmail flaw; seasoned users know it as a feature.

Secret gmail feature #1: you can add and remove periods from your username with no change in mail routing. There is no collision with other accounts since only one account (stripped of periods) is allowed to exist.

Scret gmail feature #2: you can append a plus and any string to your account name and it will still be routed to you. Try creating filters by giving out your address this way: eg [e-mail] will be delivered to username 'example'

Re:Shame really

The '.' character in an email address violates RFC, but no one seems to really care.

er, no. Only that if you want to begin or end the local part with a ".", then you have to quote the local part. i.e. [e-mail] is fine, but [e-mail] must be stated as ".somebody"@domain.example

RFC 2822, 3.4.1 "Addr-spec specification" (italics mine):

An addr-spec is a specific Internet identifier that contains a locally interpreted string followed by the at-sign character ("@", ASCII value 64) followed by an Internet domain. The locally interpreted string is either a quoted-string or a dot-atom. If the string can be represented as a dot-atom (that is, it contains no characters other than atext characters or "." surrounded by atext characters), then the dot-atom form SHOULD be used and the quoted-string form SHOULD NOT be used. Comments and folding white space SHOULD NOT be used around the "@" in the addr-spec.

Not two accounts

From what I understand, it's not two seperate accounts (i.e. [e-mail] and [e-mail] are only one account and you can't register both, and you get mail that comes to either).

In addition, you can use it as a feature to filter mail. (i.e. if I'm [e-mail] I can give out [e-mail] to friends and [e-mail] to random websites, then filter the incoming mail automatically).

Feature, not a bug, in my opinion.

Re:Not two accounts

That's the way it is now, but you used to be able to register both at the same time. I guess they fixed it now. I know that this is a problem, as I'm getting email for someone else who's got my email address without the dot in it.

I am a liar.

What I said above is a complete and total lie. Instead of going by what other slashdot posters had posted (lies as well, apparently - who would've guessed?), I actually tried it out and it didn't work. The grandparent was correct. I couldn't register [e-mail] when [e-mail] was already registered.

I guess I should actually put a little effort in research before spouting unsubstantiated bullshit. Or I can just take note from the editors of a certain tech-oriented website and continue on my merry, non-reaserching way :)

Actually, you're not a liar. Just behind the times

It used to be possible to register both a no-dot and a dot name as two separate accounts, and the mail did mingle. Now it is no longer possible to register both (but mail going to a dot name will go to the no-dot name).

Re:I am a liar.

I've had an address in the form [e-mail] for a long time. I picked it because I liked the separation. I don't even know if [e-mail] was taken before I registered. But I know that someone else (named Dave) has [e-mail], because i receive his messages, including ones with private information, like web site admin login/password combos, which would give me access to billing information.

Re:I am a liar.

It only works one way round tho, if you register 'richard.price' then 'richardprice' will forward mail to you as well if it isnt already registered, but if you register 'richardprice' you DONT get 'richard.price' to use. I tried this ages ago when this was first mentioned.

What date is it?

Bloopers like this make me check the calender, sounds like perfect April 1st Slashdot news.

Yep

I addressed this w/Gmail a long time ago. I have two first names (e.g. Mike Roger) and [e-mail] was taken. . . so I grabbed [e-mail]

It's a damn shame mikeroger doesn't have a racier life, it would be awesome.

Google's response, btw, was that I'd secured both [e-mail] and [e-mail] and could switch between the two as I wanted. Obviously, this is incorrect.

The bright side is I seem to have blown the original email user away w/volume; he used to receive about 1 email every 3 days as opposed to my 20-30 (not including spam).

The down-side is he subscribed to XM ENTERTAINMENT's porn newsletter.

Re:Yep

The down-side is he subscribed to XM ENTERTAINMENT's porn newsletter.

Don't worry, I just got him back big time! I subscribed you to about a dozen porn newsletters. He'll be completely inundated with porn spam in no time! No need to thank me, helping other people is its own reward.

Update?

There is an update at the top of the article:

Update: Ryan Coleman has since admitted he was mistaken, and that the e-mails he received addressed to [e-mail] were misaddressed.

Re:Update?

In other news, a gentleman by the name of Due Diligence was found dead on a downtown street, apparently trampled to death.

When asked about it Angry Mob (currently confined at digg.com) replied "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story".

Seriously, this was a pretty big fuckup regurgitating some random assholes blog entry without checking *anything*. I expect this at digg.com where inflamitory and baseless rule the day. Slashdot can claim to merely be a discussion of "news" and not necessarily journalism itself. Ars, I expected more.

Identity theft?

Since in its infinite wisdom most webservices allow password resets to happen via email. Wouldn't it just be a matter of time to find out soemone's email address and then have the "oops I lost my password" feature on a number of websites utilized?

I wonder how many slashdot accounts, internet domains, and amazon accounts are linked via an @gmail.com address.

This is most certainly not a "little" problem by any means...

Old news!

This has been known for a while in the user community. In fact, this tutorial [outer-court.com] is 18 months old, and demonstrates the "feature".

It's a feature, not a bug (No, really)

I don't see the problem with that, I thought it was common knowledge. The way I see it, how often is a period essential, or dangerous? I don't think there are many domains with say, [e-mail] and [e-mail] pointing to different people. I see the period as a way of reducing typing errors.

Also, you can do things like this:

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answe r=12096&topic=1564 [google.com]

I don't want to sound trollish, but this hardly sounds like story material to me.

njord

Crap... Wildcards are a problem, too...

I was wondering why I get so much spam. My email address is *.*@gmail.com.

:-P

Re:Crap... Wildcards are a problem, too...

You get mail? I've signed up for tons of stuff and nobody sends anything to my $sys$@gmail.com account.

For the life of me, I can't figure out why.

Re:Crap... Wildcards are a problem, too...

I hate to point this out to you, but you need a username before the "@" symbol. That could be why no one is sending anything. Hope this helps.

Google replies

Please stop posting my email address on Slashdot. Think of all the evil spammers!

What is this "Slashdot" you speak of? We only see a site called "Slash"

Old news

This has been the case since day 1. The only problem is if Google has been allowing people to register addresses that differ only because of the position of periods. Certainly they generally don't - I've tried to register several variations of my gmail address without success. It looks like the case discussed in this article is a isolated incident.

This is all wrong

The person made a mistake. He was getting someone elses mail for a different reason. You cannot make two account that are the same.

Here is his blog post saying he made the mistake.
http://fitrans.blogspot.com/2006/01/oops-formerly- found-in-my-inbox-odd.html [blogspot.com]

When Ryan Coleman makes a mistake, it's a doozy

Not much better place to embarrass yourself than on the front page of /. ... :)

Fixed?

Uhm... I just tried this. It doesn't work - you can't register username if user.name is taken, nor can you register user.name if username is taken.

aha!

they turned evil! It had to happen!

Wow.

This explains why I've been getting email from some guy telling me I'm his lab partner in some class and that I need to contact him to get info on the final assignment. I wrote to him, "Who do you think I am and what class are you talking about?". He says, "I'm Quincy. I set next to you in IST 326. We have an assignment due soon!" I say, "Uh. I don't think so, since I'm not in any IST program. Are you sure you have the right email?" The guy: "Yes, [e-mail], right?" Me: "No, not at all. [e-mail]." I thought all this time that the guy just didn't know how to use email. Boy, was I wrong.

This is not news and not rocket science

This is absolutely not mis-delivery or a mistake on Google's part!

See Gmail's Help page on this at:

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answe r=10313&query=dot&topic=0&type=f [google.com]

(You may need to be logged into Gmail account to see this.)

Simply put, the period only matters when logging in. Gmail considers [e-mail] and [e-mail] as the same when delivering email, but if the account was oopened as some.user, then you have to use some.user as the login--someuser will not work. Send an email to [e-mail], [e-mail], or [e-mail], and it'll get delivered to the same account, but you will only be able to login as [e-mail]

Google's intent was to cut down on addressing mistakes as well as spam.

From the user's perspective, actually a good thing because it means that you "lock in" similar addresses so some.user and someuser aren't two different accounts. It also means that the actual number of accounts is less because of this.

-Jim

http://gmailtips.com/ [gmailtips.com]

Now my t-shirt makes sense!

I read your Email [thinkgeek.com].

Well, that explains a lot.

Someone must have a version of my G-Mail account with a period in it. Apparently, they're very into penis enlargement...

It's not a period...

It is a G spot.

Mod Slashdot -1 Flame

Remove this story, as it's total b.s. BTW it was posted on digg 3 days ago, by which time it had been identified as b.s. Way to go slashdot!

Not a bug - you can't register the duplicates

I don't know what this story is talking about, but the dot-ignoring delivery has been publicly known from day 1, and I just conducted the experiment of attempting to register a whole bunch of stupidly dotted variations on my username, and Gmail wouldn't let me register them.

So apparently they're doing the smart thing, and not including the dots when they do a uniqueness test on new usernames.

Maybe once upon a time in the very beginning they didn't, but I don't think that's the case now.

Please explain

Google doesn't make many mistakes but when it does, boy, are they doozies

I'm not American and I'm not sure I understand. What is a "doozy" and should I be worried if I have one? I'm hoping it isn't the kind of thing I can catch just from using the internet.

This is a FEATURE...

Uh, as long as I've had Gmail (a few months since it came out), I have known about this, and it was said to be a FEATURE. You want to know how? Well, I created a filter that sends all email TO: [e-mail] to a spam label, and this way only people who email [e-mail] (notice the period) will go to my inbox. It's a feature, much like the [e-mail]. Some sites don't accept the +tag part though. So, in other words, sign up to websites that may spam you by using [e-mail] and it will be filtered to a spam label (if you set it up that way) but tell your friends your address is [e-mail]. You could also do it vice-versa. Accept email only as [e-mail] but if an address has [e-mail], it is then marked as spam. If they "fix" this, I will be quite upset. I've been using it extensively. -Ares

Why leave this article?

Why is this article being left on the front page? It has been seen to be completely invalid, and is giving people the wrong idea. Great, you put a correction up, but the correction negates everything the article contains. Get rid of it.

But there is ANOTHER dot problem...

Anything sent to my email address with dots added NEVER gets to me.

My wife too. We both have very early gmail accounts (within the first month or so). Back in the early days, were different people allowed to sign up for different dot-variation names? If so, the obvious fix would have been to remove the dot functionality on those combinations to avoid having email sent to the wrong accounts. Which may be what happened with our accounts. That would suck if true, as missing this functionality is a big loss.

Online Dating Service victim

I experienced this first-hand. I was surprised to see a registration confirmation in my inbox for Lavalife when I have never even been to the site and already have a girlfriend. Awkward, to say the least. It let me log on to his acccount information, and it turns out he's a married guy in Australia looking for a little "fun" on the side. If I were as sneaky as him, he'd be in the doghouse for a few months...

Re:What's wrong?

I have a friend from college that I met through a mistakenly delivered email. She was trying to send to someone with the email address like "[e-mail]", but she accidentally put a space between the "m" and the "9", so the system delived it to one of my class accounts with the username "rjm". We became good friends and still email each other now and then, a decade later.

So, it can be a great way to meet new people!

Re:It's beta?

Oh please, it's rare that Google ever move from a beta version to a gold version.

Granted, officially it's a public beta, sadly very few treat it that way and rely on it for their primary email contact.