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I had to stop using plus-addressing (me+brand@gmail.com) because of broken email address parsers/validators. If I was on the phone with a support agent, I would

by mholt 4y ago

I had to stop using plus-addressing (me+brand@gmail.com) because of broken email address parsers/validators. If I was on the phone with a support agent, I would give them my plus-address and their system would reject it and they'd ask for another one. Stubbornly, I'd refuse to budge and insist that is my email address that they need to use. It got to the point where I'd either have to forfeit my healthcare/tax/flight/<whatever> account or give up on the plus-address. And if they asked about it, I'd explain honestly that it's because I don't trust them. It did reveal some interesting data leaks sometimes including on npm [1], but the hassle wasn't worth it. I now rely solely on spam controls again. [1]: https://twitter.com/mholt6/status/1315743799335763968 https://twitter.com/mholt6/status/1315743799335763968

bityard 4y ago
GMail has supported the "+" alias since the service was announced, one would think there'd be no excuse to not support it everywhere at this point. My consipiracy-theory hypothesis is that many companies "know" that any address with a + in it is an alias and actively filter it out. Because they don't want an alias, they want your _real_ address. I run my own mail server and use a "." as the alias character. Haven't seen a system reject a single one of these.
- BenjiWiebe 4y ago
  Because gmail allows periods, and many people think the period is required since that's how they signed up for it. Therefore many people consider a period an important part of an email address.
- projektfu 4y ago
  Supported since forever by Cyrus IMAP for routing into subfolders. For some unknown reason at Pitt people were taught to finish write their email as username+@pitt.edu ca. 1995. While it supported that as the inbox, most people were unaware that you could put +foo and have it go to the folder foo if one existed. But the address without the plus also worked.

by mholt 4y ago

bityard 4y ago

GMail has supported the "+" alias since the service was announced, one would think there'd be no excuse to not support it everywhere at this point. My consipiracy-theory hypothesis is that many companies "know" that any address with a + in it is an alias and actively filter it out. Because they don't want an alias, they want your _real_ address. I run my own mail server and use a "." as the alias character. Haven't seen a system reject a single one of these.

BenjiWiebe 4y ago
Because gmail allows periods, and many people think the period is required since that's how they signed up for it. Therefore many people consider a period an important part of an email address.
projektfu 4y ago
Supported since forever by Cyrus IMAP for routing into subfolders. For some unknown reason at Pitt people were taught to finish write their email as username+@pitt.edu ca. 1995. While it supported that as the inbox, most people were unaware that you could put +foo and have it go to the folder foo if one existed. But the address without the plus also worked.