I have an original gmail address, going back to August of 2004 (gmail launched in beta in April, 2004). The username is a word in a non-English language that at

I have an original gmail address, going back to August of 2004 (gmail launched in beta in April, 2004). The username is a word in a non-English language that at the time had zero hits on Google. Even today, a search for that username nets < 175k results. I never signed up for anything with it and have only ever used it for email to a few close friends. Until about 3-4 years ago, I basically didn't get any spam or these kinds of accidental "put the wrong email in the signup box". Then one-by-one, I started getting them. Facebook account request, bank signups, tinder account verification emails, twitch, the works. Sometimes I'll get half a dozen emails clearly initiated by somebody trying to get access to some account somewhere and my email address was provided as a backup. Occasionally, I'll get notifications that somebody is trying to rest my password. I wonder sometimes, with email and the internet being so ubiquitous and for so long, how is it that people don't honestly know their own addresses? And then I'll get peaks into the lives of these people every once in a while. Pictures from their facebook account, emails from real estate brokers, from "hookups" and so on. Every once in a while, if there's an obvious way to contact somebody, and the emails seem like they're from legitimate people, I'll respond and say something like "wrong email address." or something. About 1 out of 20 times the person on the other end will fight back informing me that I, in fact, "am wrong about my email address and yes I can't avoid making my childcare payment this lamely." It's gotten frustrating, the Eternal September has now impacted one of the oldest continuous ways I've used the internet, a way I've jealously guarded and preserved from spammers, scammers, and all other form of miscreant, only for that judicious and careful defense to be washed effortlessly away by people who aren't even aware what their own on-line identity is.