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Yea.. try having a short (5 character) @ gmail.com address.. For _years_ I have dealt with this issue. Every time I seem to finally get things to not automatica

Yea.. try having a short (5 character) @ gmail.com address.. For _years_ I have dealt with this issue. Every time I seem to finally get things to not automatically get added I get hit with another round of lazy google engineers that don't add a UI option to disable this silliness. Though, due to the short address I also get hundreds of legit calendar invites that were just sent to the wrong people. I swear I know the whereabouts of half the people in the country with names either starting with, or ending with that combination. =/

aroundtown 9y ago
I have the same problem. I've thought about sending out Christmas Cards to all the random people that have revealed to me a little too much information by not minding their email address.
- liquidgecka 9y ago
  Somebody misprinted a flier for a local town meeting.. the email was SUPPOSED to be congresman.<myname>@gmail.com but instead it got cut off to just <myname>@gmail.com. I started getting a wave of hate mail asking how I could hate firemen so much! At first I couldn't figure out what was happening but eventually I devised that the town had gone broke (this was 2009) and needed to lay off a bunch of workers, including firemen. A coworker convinced me to try and see what the most outlandish thing I could say and still be believed was. Some of the toppers: 1) I don't know why we need firemen. My has has never even caught fire! 2) My wife cheated on me once with a fireman and now I am getting my revenge! 3) I believe in privatizing fire service, when the need arises the market will find a solution!
  - Casseres 9y ago
    #1 could sound like a challenge to the wrong people. Please be careful. I toohave received emails intended for others. One time I was included ina group email which kept going back and forth and they would not stop emailing me after asking several times. I just started replying with ridiculous answers to the questions and they finally stopped. So I don't blame you, just be careful.
mikestew 9y ago
Same issue here; yoga memberships, rugby clubs, password resets for their real email address. I haven’t had a bank password reset come through yet, but it is a matter of time. Some of my namesakes, meh, they’re not so smart. Thankfully I don’t use Google calendar, or I could see it being a real mess because many of those emails are invites from other people who either got it wrong, or the namesake is handing out the address he wishes he had.
- jjeaff 9y ago
  I have a very short email, just 3 letters @outlook and I get stuff all the time from people signing up to things. I found that the only way to stop the constant stream of update and emails or whatever is the moment I get an email about "your new account" I go to the site, reset the password to something random and then unsubscribe from all messages.
  - twothamendment 9y ago
    That is so mean, and so well deserved.
- crottypeter 9y ago
  Obligatory https://xkcd.com/1279/ https://xkcd.com/1279/
Nullabillity 9y ago
Odd. I have a 6 letter gmail, keep it fairly public, and have never got a gcal invite at all (legitimate or not).
- nugi 9y ago
  Likely not a common combination of characters. Most people reporting issues seem to have commonname@gmail
donalhunt 9y ago
Really? You must know someone from the original gmail team because really short addresses (< 6 chars i believe) were not supported specifically for that reason (anyone who got an exception instantly regretted it). Maybe they relaxed it later on...
- liquidgecka 9y ago
  yea.. me. =) I also made spam@gmail.com and basically broke gmail (too many emails to a single destination for the system to handle in those days).. but I got an AWESOME trove of spam reports to use as testing data! =)
  - tdewitt 9y ago
    Mine's that length and of similar context. They should used my address to train filters. Over the years, the spam detection has gotten much better. I probably get a dozen a day that make it into my inbox now. It used to be tens or more. I think the smart labels really helped. On the plus side, I have an account on everything.
- samastur 9y ago
  So 6 chars was a cut-off? Not sure if I should count myself lucky as mine is 6 chars and I get unbelievable amounts of crap because of it.

aroundtown 9y ago

I have the same problem. I've thought about sending out Christmas Cards to all the random people that have revealed to me a little too much information by not minding their email address.

liquidgecka 9y ago
Somebody misprinted a flier for a local town meeting.. the email was SUPPOSED to be congresman.<myname>@gmail.com but instead it got cut off to just <myname>@gmail.com. I started getting a wave of hate mail asking how I could hate firemen so much! At first I couldn't figure out what was happening but eventually I devised that the town had gone broke (this was 2009) and needed to lay off a bunch of workers, including firemen. A coworker convinced me to try and see what the most outlandish thing I could say and still be believed was. Some of the toppers: 1) I don't know why we need firemen. My has has never even caught fire! 2) My wife cheated on me once with a fireman and now I am getting my revenge! 3) I believe in privatizing fire service, when the need arises the market will find a solution!
- Casseres 9y ago
  #1 could sound like a challenge to the wrong people. Please be careful. I toohave received emails intended for others. One time I was included ina group email which kept going back and forth and they would not stop emailing me after asking several times. I just started replying with ridiculous answers to the questions and they finally stopped. So I don't blame you, just be careful.

mikestew 9y ago

Same issue here; yoga memberships, rugby clubs, password resets for their real email address. I haven’t had a bank password reset come through yet, but it is a matter of time. Some of my namesakes, meh, they’re not so smart. Thankfully I don’t use Google calendar, or I could see it being a real mess because many of those emails are invites from other people who either got it wrong, or the namesake is handing out the address he wishes he had.

jjeaff 9y ago
I have a very short email, just 3 letters @outlook and I get stuff all the time from people signing up to things. I found that the only way to stop the constant stream of update and emails or whatever is the moment I get an email about "your new account" I go to the site, reset the password to something random and then unsubscribe from all messages.
- twothamendment 9y ago
  That is so mean, and so well deserved.
crottypeter 9y ago
Obligatory https://xkcd.com/1279/ https://xkcd.com/1279/

Nullabillity 9y ago

Odd. I have a 6 letter gmail, keep it fairly public, and have never got a gcal invite at all (legitimate or not).

nugi 9y ago
Likely not a common combination of characters. Most people reporting issues seem to have commonname@gmail

donalhunt 9y ago

Really? You must know someone from the original gmail team because really short addresses (< 6 chars i believe) were not supported specifically for that reason (anyone who got an exception instantly regretted it). Maybe they relaxed it later on...

liquidgecka 9y ago
yea.. me. =) I also made spam@gmail.com and basically broke gmail (too many emails to a single destination for the system to handle in those days).. but I got an AWESOME trove of spam reports to use as testing data! =)
- tdewitt 9y ago
  Mine's that length and of similar context. They should used my address to train filters. Over the years, the spam detection has gotten much better. I probably get a dozen a day that make it into my inbox now. It used to be tens or more. I think the smart labels really helped. On the plus side, I have an account on everything.
samastur 9y ago
So 6 chars was a cut-off? Not sure if I should count myself lucky as mine is 6 chars and I get unbelievable amounts of crap because of it.