3 ms·

This phenomenon hits me all the time because I'm an early adopter. There are many dgabriels in the world, and all of them think my gmail adress is theirs. I h

This phenomenon hits me all the time because I'm an early adopter. There are many dgabriels in the world, and all of them think my gmail adress is theirs. I have gotten emails meant for theater directors, therapists (with very confidential info), been signed up for a million services (including adultfriendfinder and some Australian hook-up site). I get chain mail with puppy pictures from other people's grandparents, and yoga lesson confirmations, and invitations to participate in physician studies. On one hand, it's a fascinating window into the diversity of dgabriels and their lives, but it gets irritating when I repeatedly get stuff after telling the sender I am not the droid they are looking for. And, yes, I totally grabbed my outlook.com username, even though I don't currently have plans for switching...

johnbellone 14y ago
Generally I agree about this, but I think for something like an e-mail address I don't actually care. If I ever move off Gmail its going to be to something that I manage. If it is a service that I think I may want to use, or at least try out, I'd definitely squat my name. But I also think there should be an "inactivity" period for most services where user accounts merely get purged. When I ran an online video game we did this by the number of "game hours" that your character had. At a certain point, if the character had enough "glory," we would make the character permanent for story purposes.
petitmiam 14y ago
I can relate to this. Last week I received 2 rather lengthy and intimate love letters, in my inbox from a lady in half Italian/half English. This was made all the more interesting, by the fact that a month ago I received a series of risqué photos from a different lady speaking Italian. Maybe it's just coincidence, but I like to think there's some Italian stud out there who's too busy working his charm to remember his correct email. Other highlights have been a company requesting a toothbrush design (to which I promptly replied with a ms paint mock-up) and 2 requests for me to provide artwork for graphic novels.

johnbellone 14y ago

Generally I agree about this, but I think for something like an e-mail address I don't actually care. If I ever move off Gmail its going to be to something that I manage. If it is a service that I think I may want to use, or at least try out, I'd definitely squat my name. But I also think there should be an "inactivity" period for most services where user accounts merely get purged. When I ran an online video game we did this by the number of "game hours" that your character had. At a certain point, if the character had enough "glory," we would make the character permanent for story purposes.

petitmiam 14y ago

I can relate to this. Last week I received 2 rather lengthy and intimate love letters, in my inbox from a lady in half Italian/half English. This was made all the more interesting, by the fact that a month ago I received a series of risqué photos from a different lady speaking Italian. Maybe it's just coincidence, but I like to think there's some Italian stud out there who's too busy working his charm to remember his correct email. Other highlights have been a company requesting a toothbrush design (to which I promptly replied with a ms paint mock-up) and 2 requests for me to provide artwork for graphic novels.