Gmail Mis.delivered?

An anonymous reader writes "Google doesn't make many mistakes but when it does, boy, are they doozies! The latest is that Gmail doesn't care about periods in usernames. So mail sent to [e-mail] is also delivered to [e-mail], even though these are two separate mail accounts. Google admits Gmail doesn't see periods, but no word on a fix yet." Update: As may users have pointed out Ars has since corrected the story, stating that the original submitter was mistaken and the email was just improperly addressed.

Google is Sexist!

[biocute]

I can't believe Google is disrespecting users with periods.

Since there is no word on a fix yet, it would be interesting if Microsoft rolls out a 3rd party patch which warns Gmail users when the recipient email address has periods in it.

Google is teh Sexist!

[TubeSteak]

can't believe Google is disrespecting users with periods.

Women have been disrespected for thousands of years.

Just the other day, I was overjoyed that Google was fighting for my rights, now I'm dissapointed to learn that they're not fighting for women's rights too.

I can only imagine what Condoleezza Rice & Hillary Clinton will have to say about this.

Re:Google is teh Sexist!

[Anonymous Coward]

I can only imagine what Condoleezza Rice & Hillary Clinton will have to say about this.

Why do they care? They don't have periods.

Re:Google is Sexist!

[caffeinemessiah]

Since there is no word on a fix yet, it would be interesting if Microsoft rolls out a 3rd party patch which warns Gmail users when the recipient email address has periods in it.

I've said this before on /., but perhaps you should really put down the bong. Nobody really needs periods in their email address if they can fill out an SMTP "From" line properly. Your period-less email address can be the hash key and the plaintext value you put in quotes before the address would be the value. So nobody who didn't

Shame really

[LiquidCoooled]

This couldv been a really neat feature.
I could signup a generic [e-mail] type account and then pass around multiple variations to different sites.
Depending upon the variation received I could determine which site leaked my mail.

I think the only way to rectify this is to start accounting for the period.
The cat is out of the bag so to speak.

Re:Shame really

[StonedRat]

Gmail already has this feature if you own [e-mail] you can also use [e-mail]

Sigh... This really is a FEATURE

[Anonymous Coward]

Headline here should be corrected; this isn't a huge gmail flaw; seasoned users know it as a feature.

Secret gmail feature #1: you can add and remove periods from your username with no change in mail routing. There is no collision with other accounts since only one account (stripped of periods) is allowed to exist.

Scret gmail feature #2: you can append a plus and any string to your account name and it will still be routed to you. Try creating filters by giving out your address this way: eg [e-mail] will be delivered to username 'example'

Re:Shame really

[comcn]

The '.' character in an email address violates RFC, but no one seems to really care.

er, no. Only that if you want to begin or end the local part with a ".", then you have to quote the local part. i.e. [e-mail] is fine, but [e-mail] must be stated as ".somebody"@domain.example

RFC 2822, 3.4.1 "Addr-spec specification" (italics mine):

An addr-spec is a specific Internet identifier that contains a locally interpreted string followed by the at-sign character ("@", ASCII value 64) followed by an Internet domain. The locally interpreted string is either a quoted-string or a dot-atom. If the string can be represented as a dot-atom (that is, it contains no characters other than atext characters or "." surrounded by atext characters), then the dot-atom form SHOULD be used and the quoted-string form SHOULD NOT be used. Comments and folding white space SHOULD NOT be used around the "@" in the addr-spec.

'.' character in local part does NOT violate RFC

[e_AltF4]

> The '.' character in an email address violates RFC,
> but no one seems to really care.

Nobody cares, probably because it doesn't violate the RFC.
Don't put it as first or last character and rfc2822 is your friend.

[...]
Some of the structured header field bodies also allow the period
character (".", ASCII value 46) within runs of atext. An additional
"dot-atom" token is defined for those purposes.
[...]

Re:Shame really

[daikokatana]

my friends and family are spreading my email address more than any of the websites I sign up with

I've noticed this myself. A lot of people I know come to me to get their computers cleaned (spyware, adware, you name it) and see me as some sort of helpdesk.

They send me an email, asking me for help, and when I reply they put me on their "send funny mails to" list, thinking they are doing me a favor.

So one helpful mail from me, and I am getting emails from all over the place. That'll teach me.

Nowadays, I j

Not two accounts

[rritterson]

From what I understand, it's not two seperate accounts (i.e. [e-mail] and [e-mail] are only one account and you can't register both, and you get mail that comes to either).

In addition, you can use it as a feature to filter mail. (i.e. if I'm [e-mail] I can give out [e-mail] to friends and [e-mail] to random websites, then filter the incoming mail automatically).

Feature, not a bug, in my opinion.

Re:Not two accounts

[qbwiz]

That's the way it is now, but you used to be able to register both at the same time. I guess they fixed it now. I know that this is a problem, as I'm getting email for someone else who's got my email address without the dot in it.

Re:Not two accounts

[syukton]

Ok, I just asked a friend of mine who uses gmail and this is the conversation:

me: you use gmail, right?
her: yep
me: is there a dot in the left half of your address?
her: yes
her: and i have had problems with that particular dot.
me: what kind of problems?
her: getting mail that is meant for someone with the same gmail address, only minus the dot
her: because apparently, when you create the account, and log in thereafter, gmail distinguishes between dot and no-dot
me: yeah, it seems to be a widespread problem.
her:

Re:Not two accounts

[iphayd]

You can already use [e-mail]. The plus sign is a deliminator that allows anything before it. You can then add rules based on plus sign included emails.

Re:Not two accounts

[irc.goatse.cx troll]

It also makes it really easy to automaticly prune off the spamtag when selling it on lists of emails. Only good for honest uses like mailinglists.

Re:Not two accounts

[jrockway]

I get plenty of spam to the subaddresses (like "[e-mail]"). I've never gotten any SPAM in my main mailbox, though, so I don't think anyone's doing this yet. I have seen a few people send SPAM to "[e-mail]" or "[e-mail]", but that's fine since those aliases have no legitimate use. I auto-blacklist any senders to those addresses, as well as auto-reporting the SPAM to spamcop. Seems to be working fairly well.

Re:Not two accounts

[bearclaw]

I have a period in my gmail email address and I just confirmed this. However, when you log into gmail, you still need to use the account with the period. I could not log into the non-period account with my period-account's password.

If that makes any sense.

I am a liar.

[Vicsun]

What I said above is a complete and total lie. Instead of going by what other slashdot posters had posted (lies as well, apparently - who would've guessed?), I actually tried it out and it didn't work. The grandparent was correct. I couldn't register [e-mail] when [e-mail] was already registered.

I guess I should actually put a little effort in research before spouting unsubstantiated bullshit. Or I can just take note from the editors of a certain tech-oriented website and continue on my merry, non-reaserching way :)

Re:I am a liar.

[Ruleke]

Yep, but some experimenting also revealed that the google help entry seems incorrect : when dropping the period from my username, the mail did not arrive in the mailbox of my account that contains the period.

Kinda makes me wonder if someone else now received my test mails :/

Actually, you're not a liar. Just behind the times

[Anonymous Coward]

It used to be possible to register both a no-dot and a dot name as two separate accounts, and the mail did mingle. Now it is no longer possible to register both (but mail going to a dot name will go to the no-dot name).

Re:I am a liar.

[Anonymous Freak]

I've had an address in the form [e-mail] for a long time. I picked it because I liked the separation. I don't even know if [e-mail] was taken before I registered. But I know that someone else (named Dave) has [e-mail], because i receive his messages, including ones with private information, like web site admin login/password combos, which would give me access to billing information.

Re:I am a liar.

[plumby]

Don't know whether they've changed the registration or not, but I've just tried registering with hobart.prof and hobartprof - when I first went to register, it told me both were still available. I then registered one of them, went back to register the other, and it told me it had been taken. So presumably it is now preventing ab and a.b both being taken.

Re:I am a liar.

[Richard_at_work]

It only works one way round tho, if you register 'richard.price' then 'richardprice' will forward mail to you as well if it isnt already registered, but if you register 'richardprice' you DONT get 'richard.price' to use. I tried this ages ago when this was first mentioned.

Re:I am a liar.

[Richard_at_work]

Sorry Anonymous Coward, it is you who is wrong. The period thing only works if the origional email address has periods in it, all other variations are forwarded to one without periods in. If the origional doesnt have periods in, this is not setup and you only have the one email address.

No email to [e-mail] comes to me, but I pity the person who just had a barrage of testing emails sent to him.

If this acts differently for some people, perhaps its something google initiated only for cer

Re:I am a liar.

[typical]

Or I can just take note from the editors of a certain tech-oriented website and continue on my merry, non-reaserching way :)

You know, if there's actually *demand* for validation, it would be *really easy* to "wrap" Slashdot. Create a website called ValidatedSlash or something like that, and keep a list of links to Slashdot stories that you've personally validated.

Holy shit!

[Hooya]

you are not from around here, are you? how dare you retract your statement. it's Un-Everything (TM). i don't mean that as a cynical/satarical compliment. i literally mean what i said. largely on the off chance that your post may set a precedent and the rest of us actually have to follow in your Un-Everything (TM) ways of having to stand accountable.

naah, who am i kidding.

Re:Not two accounts

[MikeFM]

Now we know why it's marked a beta. ;)

Re:Not two accounts

[FuturePastNow]

This seems to be very inconsistent. Last night I sent an email to the non-period-dileneated version of my account, and I got it (i.e. I sent it to firstnamelastname and got it at firstname.lastname). I tried creating an account using the name without the period, and couldn't- which means Google's either fixed the security hole, or someone else grabbed the account. I haven't recieved anyone else's mail, but that doesn't mean anything. I really would like to know which it is.

Is it just the earliest Gmail

What date is it?

[Incadenza]

Bloopers like this make me check the calender, sounds like perfect April 1st Slashdot news.

Re:What date is it?

[Art Tatum]

Yeah, except this one was actually believed for longer than 2.38 seconds.

Yep

[BitterAndDrunk]

I addressed this w/Gmail a long time ago. I have two first names (e.g. Mike Roger) and [e-mail] was taken. . . so I grabbed [e-mail]

It's a damn shame mikeroger doesn't have a racier life, it would be awesome.

Google's response, btw, was that I'd secured both [e-mail] and [e-mail] and could switch between the two as I wanted. Obviously, this is incorrect.

The bright side is I seem to have blown the original email user away w/volume; he used to receive about 1 email every 3 days as opposed to my 20-30 (not including spam).

The down-side is he subscribed to XM ENTERTAINMENT's porn newsletter.

Re:Yep

[bfdhud]

so uhm BaD. Can I have my email address back? I miss my newsletter.

Re:Yep

[strobexii]

The down-side is he subscribed to XM ENTERTAINMENT's porn newsletter.

Don't worry, I just got him back big time! I subscribed you to about a dozen porn newsletters. He'll be completely inundated with porn spam in no time! No need to thank me, helping other people is its own reward.

Re:Yep

[Vicsun]

You are a filthy liar, sir.

Either that or Gmail behaves differently with me. I had originally registered [e-mail] but when I just tried registering [e-mail], [e-mail], and [e-mail], it gave me an 'address already registered' error. Try it out for yourself.

I guess it's also possible that Google has recently corrected the flaw and it was indeed possible to register both firstnamelastname and firstname.lastname at some point. I want

Re:Yep

[elmegil]

I guess it's also possible that Google has recently corrected the flaw

From what others have said here that seems the most likely circumstance.

Re:Yep

[starwed]

No, look at this blog post [outer-court.com] about the issue. It's from a while ago, and describes the behavior people are discussing. It's not a recent fix, it's been this way all along! (In other words, the "controversy" here is completely bogus.)

*rolls eyes*

[BitterAndDrunk]

Yes, I made up a complete fabrication to improve on my already excellent karma. Soon I will have more points than the rest of you losers! Take that, nerds!

I may be a filthy liar, but it ain't for this post. You should read my status reports. Then you'll know filthy lying.

Re:Yep

[Chanc_Gorkon]

Yep. Verified this myself. my podcast e-mail address has dots in it. Sent one to it without the dots and it came to the one with the dots. Tried to sign in to the accounts without using the .'s and it did not work. Google need sot fix this. The story may have a correction, but it DOES happen.

Re:Yep

[OS24Ever]

It could be worse. You could travel to New York on business a lot. THere could be another person with the same name but without the dots. That person lives in new york, and has lots of friends visiting him.

Of course, theyre all talking about how they can't wait to hook up.

More power too him, except I don't swing that way. They're all guys, I'm into girls. Should be fun explaining that to the wife. I've replied to the first few that there seems to be a mistake but not sure what they think, because t

erm, no

[BitterAndDrunk]

Perhaps I explained poorly.
I receive email addressed to [e-mail] as well as email correctly addressed to [e-mail].
For obvious reasons, I'm unsure if he receives my e-mail.

And as a final P.S., I used e.g. correctly, as my name is neither Mike nor Robert. (It's Speedy Gonzales)

Update?

[Parham]

There is an update at the top of the article:

Update: Ryan Coleman has since admitted he was mistaken, and that the e-mails he received addressed to [e-mail] were misaddressed.

Re:Update?

[Esion Modnar]

So basicly, never mind? Nothing to see here, move along?

Re:Update?

[earnest murderer]

In other news, a gentleman by the name of Due Diligence was found dead on a downtown street, apparently trampled to death.

When asked about it Angry Mob (currently confined at digg.com) replied "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story".

Seriously, this was a pretty big fuckup regurgitating some random assholes blog entry without checking *anything*. I expect this at digg.com where inflamitory and baseless rule the day. Slashdot can claim to merely be a discussion of "news" and not necessarily journalism itself. Ars, I expected more.

Re:Update?

[Jesus_666]

Well, at least the thing about "bla.bla" being the same as "blabla" is true, I just confirmed it with my account.

Re:Update?

[Art Tatum]

Well, "Ars doesn't make many mistakes but when it does, boy, are they doozies!"

Identity theft?

[SuperDuG]

Since in its infinite wisdom most webservices allow password resets to happen via email. Wouldn't it just be a matter of time to find out soemone's email address and then have the "oops I lost my password" feature on a number of websites utilized?

I wonder how many slashdot accounts, internet domains, and amazon accounts are linked via an @gmail.com address.

This is most certainly not a "little" problem by any means...

Old news!

[travail_jgd]

This has been known for a while in the user community. In fact, this tutorial [outer-court.com] is 18 months old, and demonstrates the "feature".

It's a feature, not a bug (No, really)

[njord]

I don't see the problem with that, I thought it was common knowledge. The way I see it, how often is a period essential, or dangerous? I don't think there are many domains with say, [e-mail] and [e-mail] pointing to different people. I see the period as a way of reducing typing errors.

Also, you can do things like this:

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answe r=12096&topic=1564 [google.com]

I don't want to sound trollish, but this hardly sounds like story material to me.

njord

Re:It's a feature, not a bug (No, really)

[comcn]

Depends what mail server you use... I have configured exim so that it will accept suffixes on e-mail addresses, provided that the folder exists already. That way to create a xxx-YYY@domain suffix, I just create the YYY folder in my maildir. Works nicely.

Crap... Wildcards are a problem, too...

[bennomatic]

I was wondering why I get so much spam. My email address is *.*@gmail.com.

:-P

Re:Crap... Wildcards are a problem, too...

[TubeSteak]

You get mail? I've signed up for tons of stuff and nobody sends anything to my $sys$@gmail.com account.

For the life of me, I can't figure out why.

Re:Crap... Wildcards are a problem, too...

[aaza]

I hate to point this out to you, but you need a username before the "@" symbol. That could be why no one is sending anything. Hope this helps.

Re:Crap... Wildcards are a problem, too...

[cobbaut]

I've signed up for tons of stuff and nobody sends anything to my $sys$@gmail.com account."

> At the risk of sounding like a total dumb ass, what does $sys$ mean?

$sys$ was used by the Sony rootkit to hide files.

Old news

[RedWizzard]

This has been the case since day 1. The only problem is if Google has been allowing people to register addresses that differ only because of the position of periods. Certainly they generally don't - I've tried to register several variations of my gmail address without success. It looks like the case discussed in this article is a isolated incident.

This is all wrong

[Lanzaa]

The person made a mistake. He was getting someone elses mail for a different reason. You cannot make two account that are the same.

Here is his blog post saying he made the mistake.
http://fitrans.blogspot.com/2006/01/oops-formerly- found-in-my-inbox-odd.html [blogspot.com]

When Ryan Coleman makes a mistake, it's a doozy

[toby]

Not much better place to embarrass yourself than on the front page of /. ... :)

Fixed?

[broothal]

Uhm... I just tried this. It doesn't work - you can't register username if user.name is taken, nor can you register user.name if username is taken.

Re:Fixed?

[MooUK]

You cannot now. Apparently, it used to be possible. Presumably they got wind of what was happening and actually did something to prevent it getting worse.

aha!

[bazorg]

they turned evil! It had to happen!

Wow.

[LeeTax0r]

This explains why I've been getting email from some guy telling me I'm his lab partner in some class and that I need to contact him to get info on the final assignment. I wrote to him, "Who do you think I am and what class are you talking about?". He says, "I'm Quincy. I set next to you in IST 326. We have an assignment due soon!" I say, "Uh. I don't think so, since I'm not in any IST program. Are you sure you have the right email?" The guy: "Yes, [e-mail], right?" Me: "No, not at all. [e-mail]." I thought all this time that the guy just didn't know how to use email. Boy, was I wrong.

Re:Wow.

[svanstrom]

People get e-mailaddresses wrong, that's just life...

I've got a 3 character username @ hotmail.com (and msn), I get A LOT of e-mails simply because people make misstakes; not as many misstakes as spam, but still, misstakes have been made.

This is not news and not rocket science

[jbarr]

This is absolutely not mis-delivery or a mistake on Google's part!

See Gmail's Help page on this at:

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answe r=10313&query=dot&topic=0&type=f [google.com]

(You may need to be logged into Gmail account to see this.)

Simply put, the period only matters when logging in. Gmail considers [e-mail] and [e-mail] as the same when delivering email, but if the account was oopened as some.user, then you have to use some.user as the login--someuser will not work. Send an email to [e-mail], [e-mail], or [e-mail], and it'll get delivered to the same account, but you will only be able to login as [e-mail]

Google's intent was to cut down on addressing mistakes as well as spam.

From the user's perspective, actually a good thing because it means that you "lock in" similar addresses so some.user and someuser aren't two different accounts. It also means that the actual number of accounts is less because of this.

-Jim

http://gmailtips.com/ [gmailtips.com]

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:WRONG

[frdmfghtr]

I tried it first as one message to two recipients, and it didn't work either.

Try sending it from an email account other that your gmail account, and don't send to both addresses from the same message (i.e. two recipients.) I send one message from my university account to [e-mail] then a second separate message to [e-mail] and both arrived.

Re:This is not news and not rocket science

[dangitman]

Gmail considers [e-mail] and [e-mail] as the same when delivering email,

I understand the period thing, but why would Google want to eliminate the letter 'e'? That truly is evil. 'e' is a nice, friendly letter, that has never hurt anyone. What did 'e' do to Google to deserve this.

WAKE UP! DO NOT ALLOW GOOGLE TO COMMIT E-NOCIDE

Now my t-shirt makes sense!

[rfernand79]

I read your Email [thinkgeek.com].

Does it work both ways?

[Jason1729]

For example, can I create [e-mail] and get a copy of all email sent to [e-mail]?

Well, that explains a lot.

[ral8158]

Someone must have a version of my G-Mail account with a period in it. Apparently, they're very into penis enlargement...

Your neighbour got mail, huh?

[ceeam]

Well, I suppose this is what "BETA" in Gmail logo stands for. Good thing all current Gmail users are hence beta-testers, otherwise they would've had a serious reason to complain.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

It's not a period...

[bdwoolman]

It is a G spot.

Re:It's not a period...

[gstoddart]

It's not a period...
It is a G spot.

Son, they may be located in similar places, but they are not to be confused!

Now go upstairs and tell your mother it's time for that talk she's been meaning to have with you. =)

Mod Slashdot -1 Flame

[null etc.]

Remove this story, as it's total b.s. BTW it was posted on digg 3 days ago, by which time it had been identified as b.s. Way to go slashdot!

That explains a lot...

[ErnieD]

I had gotten a few strange non-spam emails on one of my gmail accounts, and basically wrote back to the person explaining that I'm not who they thought I was.

But now that I look back on those emails, I notice that they were addressed to [e-mail], while my address is [e-mail].

Doh.

Not a bug - you can't register the duplicates

[SquareOfS]

I don't know what this story is talking about, but the dot-ignoring delivery has been publicly known from day 1, and I just conducted the experiment of attempting to register a whole bunch of stupidly dotted variations on my username, and Gmail wouldn't let me register them.

So apparently they're doing the smart thing, and not including the dots when they do a uniqueness test on new usernames.

Maybe once upon a time in the very beginning they didn't, but I don't think that's the case now.

Experts Exchange..

[mikael]

Reading about this makes me really glad I don't have the gmail account: experts.exchange.gmail.com

Please explain

[FishandChips]

Google doesn't make many mistakes but when it does, boy, are they doozies

I'm not American and I'm not sure I understand. What is a "doozy" and should I be worried if I have one? I'm hoping it isn't the kind of thing I can catch just from using the internet.

Re:Please explain

[jasonhamilton]

It's a STD. Google it.

Re:Please explain

[eyepeepackets]

Let me esplain: Doozy is a bit like floozy, cept that floozy makes you oozy while doozy makes you woozy. And if you don like this, you much too choosey.

Thanks to Fezzik and Ingo from "The Princess Bride" movie for such excellent inspiration.

Hope this helps. *chuckle*

Re:Please explain

[dangitman]

Doozy - noun - Of, or pertaining to dooz.

Re:Please explain

[HairyCanary]

Congratulations on being mostly correct. Now if you could just spell it right when you pass along the name: Duesenberg.

Beta

[Heembo]

Google *very responsibly* referes to a great deal of their software as Beta. Because it is still in Beta. You can read more about the concept of Beta *testing* at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_stage [wikipedia.org] - again, Google, unlike most software companies, takes this concept seriously.

From Wiki: "beta build ... is tested through a limited roll-out to a production environment using live data and real users. The beta test is closely monitored by the software testers."

It's right on the GMail logo. http [google.com]

This is a FEATURE...

[ares284]

Uh, as long as I've had Gmail (a few months since it came out), I have known about this, and it was said to be a FEATURE. You want to know how? Well, I created a filter that sends all email TO: [e-mail] to a spam label, and this way only people who email [e-mail] (notice the period) will go to my inbox. It's a feature, much like the [e-mail]. Some sites don't accept the +tag part though. So, in other words, sign up to websites that may spam you by using [e-mail] and it will be filtered to a spam label (if you set it up that way) but tell your friends your address is [e-mail]. You could also do it vice-versa. Accept email only as [e-mail] but if an address has [e-mail], it is then marked as spam. If they "fix" this, I will be quite upset. I've been using it extensively. -Ares

Re:This is a FEATURE...

[texaport]

And people can filter by sometimes using [e-mail] vs [e-mail]

Why leave this article?

[angryLNX]

Why is this article being left on the front page? It has been seen to be completely invalid, and is giving people the wrong idea. Great, you put a correction up, but the correction negates everything the article contains. Get rid of it.

Re:Why leave this article?

[Thanatopsis]

Two Words - Ad Impressions.

It's really that simple. Even a total troll story lik this will generate them. Maybe even more since it's not true.

Delete a pointless story?

[toby]

You're new around here, aren't you...

Ars technica doesn't make many mistakes

[dangitman]

But when they do, it's a doozy!

But there is ANOTHER dot problem...

[waytoomuchcoffee]

Anything sent to my email address with dots added NEVER gets to me.

My wife too. We both have very early gmail accounts (within the first month or so). Back in the early days, were different people allowed to sign up for different dot-variation names? If so, the obvious fix would have been to remove the dot functionality on those combinations to avoid having email sent to the wrong accounts. Which may be what happened with our accounts. That would suck if true, as missing this functionality is a big loss.

Online Dating Service victim

[Shemus Lowrie]

I experienced this first-hand. I was surprised to see a registration confirmation in my inbox for Lavalife when I have never even been to the site and already have a girlfriend. Awkward, to say the least. It let me log on to his acccount information, and it turns out he's a married guy in Australia looking for a little "fun" on the side. If I were as sneaky as him, he'd be in the doghouse for a few months...

A note on e-mailing yourself

[Temporal]

For those of you who are trying to "test" this by e-mailing yourself: That may not work.

GMail attempts to remove duplicate e-mails in your mail box. This is very useful, for instance, with mailing lists: You don't want to receive a copy of the e-mail you sent, since GMail is already smart enough to aggregate the sent copy with the rest of the "conversation". Also, when people use "reply-all" to reply to both you and to the mailing list, you probably would rather not receive two copies of the reply, so a

Re:What's wrong?

[Skater]

I have a friend from college that I met through a mistakenly delivered email. She was trying to send to someone with the email address like "[e-mail]", but she accidentally put a space between the "m" and the "9", so the system delived it to one of my class accounts with the username "rjm". We became good friends and still email each other now and then, a decade later.

So, it can be a great way to meet new people!

Re:What's wrong?

[daikokatana]

So, it can be a great way to meet new people!

So very true. In fact, this is the real reason why spammers do what they do - send out as much mails to as much people they can reach, in the hope to find that one true person in their life.

They even offer rewards in their emails! Such good people...

Re:What's wrong?

[mr i want to go home]

We've known about this since Gmail started. It's actually a VERY USEFUL FEATURE. I don't believe that there is any mis-delivery going on, because from memory you can't register [e-mail] if [e-mail] has already been used. So no one is going to be reading your mail.

Re:It's beta?

[DaHat]

Oh please, it's rare that Google ever move from a beta version to a gold version.

Granted, officially it's a public beta, sadly very few treat it that way and rely on it for their primary email contact.

Re:It's beta?

[TubeSteak]

I saw a link to Google Gulp in "The World According to Google" thread, but when I read the FAQ, I thought their answer explains why they stay Beta

http://www.google.com/googlegulp/faq.html#11 [google.com]

11. When will you take Google Gulp out of beta?

Man, if you pressure us, you just drive us away. We'll commit when we're ready, okay? Besides, what's so great about taking things out of beta? It ruins all the romance, the challenge, the possibilities, the right to explore. Carpe diem, ya know? Maybe we're jaded, but we've

Re:It's beta?

[nwbvt]

You are free to change your product after a final release, its called version 2.0.

The goal of a Beta test is to let users discover all the final annoying little bugs out there before they put out a final release. Keeping something in Beta indefinitely defeats the point of Beta testing.

Re:It's beta?

[Lispy]

He is braindead, right? Without even mentioning the lack of groupware functionality that Exchange has and even ignoring all the opensource alternatives out there why whould any company want to send and receive mail with a lame @gmail.com? They pay money for their webpresence, right? Amazing with what some smart-asses get away with. Please tell me he's not rich or successful in his filed of "expertise".

Re:It's beta?

[nwbvt]

Either he is not alone or I've met that friend of yours. In a previous /. discussion some guy claimed to have started a business around moving companies to Gmail. We promptly pointed out that such a business would be a major violation of Google's terms of use (you know, the one stating Gmail is for personal use only) and thus a lawsuit waiting to happen. Still havn't heard back from him...

Google replies

[dangitman]

Please stop posting my email address on Slashdot. Think of all the evil spammers!

What is this "Slashdot" you speak of? We only see a site called "Slash"