Did you know that dots don’t matter in gmail addresses?
your.name@gmail.com is the same email address as yourname@gmail.com
I’m guessing most people don’t because — in my experience at least — that’s not how other email systems typically work.
It’s obviously caused enough confusion that Google had to write an FAQ about it.
Anyway this explains why, for many years, I’ve been trying to help another Leigh Dodds to remember their own email address.
Actually there are several Leigh Dodds out there with this problem.
I once got an online shopping order confirmation for a Leigh Dodds and then rang the Sainsbury’s helpline to try and figure out what had happened. I hadn’t ordered all that buffet food and prosecco. We figured it out and hopefully Leigh had the great night they obviously had planned.
But the persistent offender is another Leigh Dodds who lives in Australia.
For years now I’ve been getting emails from family members, their work, garage, children’s schools and more. I once received their flight confirmation, which Google Calendar helpfully popped straight into my calendar.
In every case I’ve tried to follow up with whoever sent the email. I politely point out the mistake and ask them to update their records or address book. I even once asked their boss to nudge them about getting the details right in future.
I can’t contact Leigh directly because I don’t know their email address! Although I’d guess there’s probably a single letter difference. And I don’t want to stalk them online using the bits of personal information I now have about them. That would be weird and distressing for everyone.
I don’t read the emails (or attachments!) beyond the point I recognise the mistake and then hit reply.
But I also don’t want to keep receiving them. Just this week I’ve had a quote for car repairs and a confirmation of a school enrollment for one of their children. Happily the school have said they are going to fix their records before I get sent login details to the parent portal.
For now I have to keep having this tangential contact with this alternate Leigh Dodds. Until they start remembering their email or decide to change it, I’ll just keep patiently and politely pointing out the mistake.
If the meantime it’s an ongoing lesson, not just in how small technical decisions can have lasting impact and subtle impacts on privacy, but also in the difficulty of getting people to manage even one piece of data about them.
If you’re reading this and your name is Leigh Dodds: Hello! Please double check your email address and especially any autocomplete your browser is doing for you!
Lost Boy 