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I have my HN name @gmail.com, but I've never used it, because the amount of junk/mistakes I get from people who don't understand what their email address is. I

I have my HN name @gmail.com, but I've never used it, because the amount of junk/mistakes I get from people who don't understand what their email address is. I wonder how bad that problem would be for me with the same name on Signal. I also wonder about personas. Are there privacy ramifications to which name you pick? Can you pick multiple so community X knows you as A and Y knows you as B? Sounds kinda silly, but for a private-by-default messenger, there are interesting UX problems.

jamies 3y ago
I have a similar address. I’m sure you can guess. It’s insane how much daily mail I get that isn’t for me. I get completed contracts, credit card statements, you name it. One thing I occasionally do after a beer or two is reset someone’s password using my email address — just revenge in my opinion.
- drewmol 3y ago
  >Reset someone's password using my email address How does that work?
  - bombcar 3y ago
    If someone signs up with your email, you can trigger a password reset and it sends an email - to you.
    - drewmol 3y ago
      Ahh I didn't grok that, Thx it makes sense now.
  - bogota 3y ago
    They setup the account with his email on accident because it’s likely close to a lot of other emails. Essentially it’s his account although legally I don’t know how that would go if say you emptied someones bank account
- switchbak 3y ago
  I have one guy - I know EVERYTHING about him. I keep telling his contacts to let him know he keeps giving out the wrong address. We're talking very sensitive contractual stuff. I figure it's on him by now. The best is when the lawyers get all official with me. Yeah, no - this is your mistake, don't get all uppity that you sent sensitive stuff to the wrong address. From time to time I think about responding with a Goatse, but that's too much even for me.
  - fbdab103 3y ago
    I know everything about my email doppelganger except her real email address. To be fair, seems like she does not know it either.
    - 1123581321 3y ago
      I've matched some of them by googling ('a'..'z').each {|l| puts "first#{l}last@gmail.com"} The one who handed out thousands of business cards, and who has the same MI as the start of our last name, has caused the most sensitive information to be sent to me, by far.
      - lhamil64 3y ago
        I'm having a hard time understanding what you are saying you Google.
        joombaga 3y ago
        The first name and last name with each middle initial e.g. if you know they're John Smith then search for johnasmith@gmail.com, johnbsmith@gmail.com, etc.
        1123581321 3y ago
        Thank you, and fun fact: johnsmith@gmail.com is a special address that returns a 'does not exist' error.
- wolverine876 3y ago
  > reset someone’s password using my email address Don't you risk a crime of breaking into someone's account? Regardless, that could cause someone real harm.
  - atoav 3y ago
    If somebody else creates an account tied to your email adress they implicitly agree to have anybody who controls that account use these features. If they don't like that they should use their own email address instead. If it was unintentional, it is their fault for not paying attention.
    - wolverine876 3y ago
      That may be how you feel about it, but the court may see it differently. If someone's paycheck is mistakenly mailed to you, even in cash, you can't deposit it.
      - averageRoyalty 3y ago
        Sounds like an American thing, as most of the world don't have "paychecks". The internet is global, and American laws aren't super relevant.
        pigeons 3y ago
        I agree that we should be mindful that there are many global legal traditions, but "unjust enrichment" is an English Common Law concept and much broader than American laws.
        averageRoyalty 3y ago
        Fair point, but the "paycheck" example was an analogy around an account being opened in your name, and a poor one.
      - atoav 3y ago
wolverine876 3y ago
> Sounds kinda silly Not at all. For example, you might do something on your own that you don't want confused with your day job, such as something political or culture war fodder. Look at the people being threatened that they'll be blacklisted for what they say about the Gaza war. Also, some privacy threats (e.g., corporate data collectors) work by creating a profile collected from many different places. You might want to isolate different things in life under different names.
hotnfresh 3y ago
Can confirm, first-initial-last-name gmail addresses are a curse. If I ever needed my personal email address for anything but recent transactional emails that I’m expecting, the address would be totally unusable.
pcchristie 3y ago
This isn't silly at all. I have this exact problem with Telegram. I'd like to use it as a "serious" messenger where people can contact me using my username, but there's plenty of communities I'd rather not post in using my real name (or something close to it), so I just cannot post in them without vacating my username.
omoikane 3y ago
> the amount of junk/mistakes I get from people who don't understand what their email address is Reverse identity theft: https://xkcd.com/1279/ https://xkcd.com/1279/
skinkestek 3y ago
> I also wonder about personas. Are there privacy ramifications to which name you pick? Can you pick multiple so community X knows you as A and Y knows you as B? I think this was one of the things Google+ nailed, not from the beginning but after a while. It was beautiful to be able to discuss adhd, photography, programming, and maybe local stuff and everything else without the risk of it spilling over. I had big hopes for MeWe, but for as long as I cared to check one could always go via the profile specific bio back to the main one. Different separate identities is important to me. Both that I have access to them and that others have. Without it I am sure a lot of people I have learned a lot from on HN couldn't have told the things they have done or at least I couldn't have asked or answered a lot if questions. (I mean there is a massive difference between talking about working in such a type of company and having this kind of problem and being on permanent record as the bloke from acme corp who admitted they actually had such and such problem.)

jamies 3y ago

I have a similar address. I’m sure you can guess. It’s insane how much daily mail I get that isn’t for me. I get completed contracts, credit card statements, you name it. One thing I occasionally do after a beer or two is reset someone’s password using my email address — just revenge in my opinion.

drewmol 3y ago
>Reset someone's password using my email address How does that work?
- bombcar 3y ago
  If someone signs up with your email, you can trigger a password reset and it sends an email - to you.
  - drewmol 3y ago
    Ahh I didn't grok that, Thx it makes sense now.
- bogota 3y ago
  They setup the account with his email on accident because it’s likely close to a lot of other emails. Essentially it’s his account although legally I don’t know how that would go if say you emptied someones bank account
switchbak 3y ago
I have one guy - I know EVERYTHING about him. I keep telling his contacts to let him know he keeps giving out the wrong address. We're talking very sensitive contractual stuff. I figure it's on him by now. The best is when the lawyers get all official with me. Yeah, no - this is your mistake, don't get all uppity that you sent sensitive stuff to the wrong address. From time to time I think about responding with a Goatse, but that's too much even for me.
- fbdab103 3y ago
  I know everything about my email doppelganger except her real email address. To be fair, seems like she does not know it either.
  - 1123581321 3y ago
    I've matched some of them by googling ('a'..'z').each {|l| puts "first#{l}last@gmail.com"} The one who handed out thousands of business cards, and who has the same MI as the start of our last name, has caused the most sensitive information to be sent to me, by far.
    - lhamil64 3y ago
      I'm having a hard time understanding what you are saying you Google.
      - joombaga 3y ago
        The first name and last name with each middle initial e.g. if you know they're John Smith then search for johnasmith@gmail.com, johnbsmith@gmail.com, etc.
        1123581321 3y ago
        Thank you, and fun fact: johnsmith@gmail.com is a special address that returns a 'does not exist' error.
wolverine876 3y ago
> reset someone’s password using my email address Don't you risk a crime of breaking into someone's account? Regardless, that could cause someone real harm.
- atoav 3y ago
  If somebody else creates an account tied to your email adress they implicitly agree to have anybody who controls that account use these features. If they don't like that they should use their own email address instead. If it was unintentional, it is their fault for not paying attention.
  - wolverine876 3y ago
    That may be how you feel about it, but the court may see it differently. If someone's paycheck is mistakenly mailed to you, even in cash, you can't deposit it.
    - averageRoyalty 3y ago
      Sounds like an American thing, as most of the world don't have "paychecks". The internet is global, and American laws aren't super relevant.
      - pigeons 3y ago
        I agree that we should be mindful that there are many global legal traditions, but "unjust enrichment" is an English Common Law concept and much broader than American laws.
        averageRoyalty 3y ago
        Fair point, but the "paycheck" example was an analogy around an account being opened in your name, and a poor one.
    - atoav 3y ago

wolverine876 3y ago

> Sounds kinda silly Not at all. For example, you might do something on your own that you don't want confused with your day job, such as something political or culture war fodder. Look at the people being threatened that they'll be blacklisted for what they say about the Gaza war. Also, some privacy threats (e.g., corporate data collectors) work by creating a profile collected from many different places. You might want to isolate different things in life under different names.

hotnfresh 3y ago

Can confirm, first-initial-last-name gmail addresses are a curse. If I ever needed my personal email address for anything but recent transactional emails that I’m expecting, the address would be totally unusable.

pcchristie 3y ago

This isn't silly at all. I have this exact problem with Telegram. I'd like to use it as a "serious" messenger where people can contact me using my username, but there's plenty of communities I'd rather not post in using my real name (or something close to it), so I just cannot post in them without vacating my username.

omoikane 3y ago

> the amount of junk/mistakes I get from people who don't understand what their email address is Reverse identity theft: https://xkcd.com/1279/ https://xkcd.com/1279/

skinkestek 3y ago

> I also wonder about personas. Are there privacy ramifications to which name you pick? Can you pick multiple so community X knows you as A and Y knows you as B? I think this was one of the things Google+ nailed, not from the beginning but after a while. It was beautiful to be able to discuss adhd, photography, programming, and maybe local stuff and everything else without the risk of it spilling over. I had big hopes for MeWe, but for as long as I cared to check one could always go via the profile specific bio back to the main one. Different separate identities is important to me. Both that I have access to them and that others have. Without it I am sure a lot of people I have learned a lot from on HN couldn't have told the things they have done or at least I couldn't have asked or answered a lot if questions. (I mean there is a massive difference between talking about working in such a type of company and having this kind of problem and being on permanent record as the bloke from acme corp who admitted they actually had such and such problem.)