Dear Alison,
I suppose you are wondering who I am and how I got your address. For some time now, I have been receiving your e-mails, because Gmail [in its infinite stupidity, -ed.] does not recognize dots in e-mail addresses.
This is how I became aware of your trip to Majorca. I hope you had a good time. This morning I received another e-mail from EasyJet. I logged into your account in order to unsubscribe and saw your address and phone number.
I thought I'd write you a note informing you that I've been getting your e-mails. For Gmail, alisonDOTnameATgmailDOTcom = alisonnameATgooglemailDOTcom.
Unless you choose a new user name, I will continue to get your mail. If I have a bone to pick, it's with Gmail, not you. However, I will continue to unsubscribe you from e-newsletters if I continue receiving them.
Thanks for your understanding.
Regards,
Alison SameExactNameAsYou
That's pretty wild that you're getting her mail. I didn't think that could happen. Aren't you the lucky one?
Posted by: ally bean | April 17, 2007 at 20:04
Ally, I haven't even touched on the privacy concerns here. It's pretty bad, and Gmail/Google seems intent on ignoring or denying the problem.
Posted by: Alison | April 17, 2007 at 20:11
Oooh, that's a bit frightening, considering that my e-mail address has two dots for my middle and last name. Should I be worried now?
Posted by: Sarah | April 17, 2007 at 20:26
i think it was good of her to tell you. that is pretty dumb of gmail though.
Posted by: sizzle | April 17, 2007 at 20:47
That would terrify me, if I thought someone else was getting my e-mails. I do lots of flight stuff on the internet too, so that would be a nightmare. Have you heard back from Alison 2?
Posted by: Margaret | April 17, 2007 at 23:44
That's pretty funny. I wonder why that never happens to me.
Posted by: Mist 1 | April 18, 2007 at 00:11
Yikes, I use a gmail address with a dot in it, but that's only for blogging. Even still, worrying...
Posted by: Katherine | April 18, 2007 at 04:18
It's not as if your last name is a terribly common one either. Bit odd. I am relieved my name appears to be a one in a million name so that I will likely never have to experience this. Sorry you must deal with it.
Posted by: gina | April 18, 2007 at 10:58
Whoa! That's not good.
Posted by: Janet | April 18, 2007 at 11:45
funnee and annoying...I went through a like situation with yahoo mail...
Posted by: token | April 18, 2007 at 12:58
That's scary as hell.
Posted by: Robin | April 18, 2007 at 16:45
Whoa. She's unsubscribing you? Why doesn't she change her email address since she's getting your stuff? Are you getting her stuff? Good thing you're not a supersecret top spy. Or maybe you are. Or maybe you have a split personality who is. The possibilities are endless.
Posted by: WanderingGirl | April 18, 2007 at 23:49
I'm confused, who's getting whose mail? Was this letter written by you or received by you?
Posted by: barb | April 19, 2007 at 00:23
I know the problem well. People were always signing on to websites or creating free blogs (livejournal, etc) using "alison@alison.com" as their email address. It wasn't the fault of the mail server, but the person who used my addy as her own. I never got any credit card numbers, but I got lots of phone numbers and addresses. I'm an honest person - the worst thing I ever did was change their passwords on them.
Posted by: AlisonM | April 19, 2007 at 17:53
Oh scary! I have a DOT in my gmail account too... And I can't even think I'm safe in the knowledge that there aren't many Bamberboo's out there; I think there are at least 3 or 4 others already on flickr! *copy cats!!*
Posted by: Amber | April 24, 2007 at 04:23