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Eighteen and Abandoned

78 pointsby footpathabout 12 years ago

10 comments

lysolabout 12 years ago
When GMail came out, it was 2004 and the Iraq war was in full swing. I watched the service launch into beta and then resigned myself to not receiving an invite, until I received an invite at wil@wilwheaton.net, a domain I had been squatting at the time, because it was hilarious. Hilarious, but that's another story.<p>Anyway, I was an everyday, average idiot, receiving an exclusive invite to what was sure the be the premier email service of all time. A gigabyte. Holy fuck. That is such an inconceivable amount of storage, etc. It really is, still. I've never come close to using even a measurable amount of it. Why even have a limit? I'm digressing here. What a cool story.<p>Anyway, instead of registering my own name, which I did, I registered hitler@gmail.com. To this day, it's basically radioactive. It receives an absurd amount of spam, even withe GMail's fantastic filtering, and why would I want to receive mail at hitler@gmail.com? If only I could ask my 22 year old self, because I sure as hell don't remember why that was so hilarious. Kid stuff. My very liberal girlfriend at the time didn't think it was very funny.<p>Every once in a while, I log into it, chuckle a little bit at some of the things people have used the email address for (mostly forum signups and Williams-Sonoma mailing list entries), and forget that I had registered the address for another couple of years.<p>I think the thing is that it was an email service that was launched by an already extant search provider, whereas before most email services had grown organically, beating out the land rush for Hilarious Email Addresses. That said, if anyone wants that email address, let me know. I'll take some fraction of a bitcoin or something for it, you fucking anti-semite.
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jkldotioabout 12 years ago
My gmail account has been suffering a similar problem in that someone uses it for their throwaway signups for computer game forums and the like. Either that or it's a very effective form of spam to pretend to be the "initial registration" message, as by definition such email has to be the first contact.<p>There is still much to be said for spam filtering though as it catches 5-10 a day for me. Layer priority inbox on top of that and only checking mail when you need to, not letting it interrupt you, and you can get some clarity.<p>I wonder if someone can come up with a proper paid competitor to gmail, it would be something I would be interested in. What are the current alternatives?
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anigbrowlabout 12 years ago
I feel like I'm trapped with some slightly drunk person at a cocktail party.
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mtrimpeabout 12 years ago
I'm not nearly as interested in the story of eighteen@gmail.com as I would be in the story of john@doe.com. :)
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bencoderabout 12 years ago
To whoever owns test@test.com, I apologise.
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ezequiel-garzonabout 12 years ago
Somewhat related, isn't it a sensible idea for Google to allow reusing deleted accounts after "a reasonable" period? I can imagine good handles are becoming increasingly rare.<p>On the other hand, I realize the 3.0 version of the web may end up doing away with handles and URLs for all practical purposes...
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jasonhanleyabout 12 years ago
My Gmail address gets all this same sort of stuff, except I use it actively, and have to filter it out constantly.<p>I even wrote a blog post about it and have to send out the following canned response at least once a day:<p>--<p>Hi there,<p>You've reached the wrong email address. Please double-check and try again!<p>You may also want to read the following: <a href="http://blog.jasonhanley.com/2008/10/will-real-jhanley-please-stand-up.html" rel="nofollow">http://blog.jasonhanley.com/2008/10/will-real-jhanley-please...</a>
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incisionabout 12 years ago
I'm routinely amazed at the number of sites which don't perform any sort of email address validation. My wife has a rather common name and a straightforward firstname.lastname gmail address.<p>As a result, she's continuously peppered with all sorts of notices and confirmations intended for one of her many namesakes as well as the occasional, amusing accusation of having "stolen" the address she has used since summer '04.
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benatkinabout 12 years ago
I didn't see any mention of gmail coming out of beta. I wonder if gmail has been in beta for most of the life of this addy.<p>Also would have been smart in retrospect to invest a few hundred in Apple stock back then, instead of futzing around with email addresses. :-)
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trhtrshabout 12 years ago
Yes, people get mail that is misdirected, and sometimes receive spam as well.