Page 5 | Traffic? AIBU? Google. Receiving another's emails for years.

WhereTheSuburbsMeetUttoxeter · 2023-08-05T21:48:40+00:00

I'm not entirely sure where to head here. It has been going on for years. I receive her FB notifications, the odd email addressed to her. Now my storage is 98% full - this makes me thinks it involves both accounts. I'll explain as easily as I can - say my Gmail is google.user @ Gmail . Com Hers is googleuser @ Gmail. Com She lives in America in a town that has the same name as a UK town and we both have the same name. The only difference is the . in the email. I've looked at how to report. It doesn't seem like any scam as it's being going so long. Imagine she is mabelsmithtown and I am mabelsmith.town I don't know where to start with getting in touch. I tried to email her and it came back to me! Sorry, boring for a Saturday night but surely there is something amiss and wrong here. I first noticed when getting Facebook notifications thinking, I don't know that person. But I can't find her on Facebook either. It's highly unlikely that I've 98% filled my Gmail. Just looking for thoughts or how someone can help me get in touch with someone?

Original poster

WhereTheSuburbsMeetUttoxeter · 07/08/2023 11:35

SkylarSpirit · 06/08/2023 19:57

OP, people understand what you're saying just fine. But you're wrong. Sorry to be so blunt, but you're making a crucial mistake in not understanding how email works.

My understanding of the situation: you believe that you've registered janesmith@gmail and that someone else has registered jane.smith@gmail and that some gmail bug is resulting in you receiving her emails.

This is not what's happening.

If you register janesmith@gmail then you automatically own jane.smith@gmail as well, because email addresses don't recognise dots that appear before the @.

What's actually happened is that this other person tried to register janesmith@gmail, couldn't (because you'd already registered it), so she registered janesmith1@gmail or janessmith@ or whatever, then either she's forgetting that her email address has an extra 1 or an extra s in it and is telling people the wrong address, or people are thinking "janessmith must be a mistake and she meant to write janesmith" and that's why they are emailing you instead of her.

A lot of people assume their email address must be [email protected] regardless of whether they actually registered that username or not. Like they think it just happens automatically, and get really confused when told that they don't own that email address. "But it's MY name?? How can I not own my own name???"

When I was doing my A Levels, my personal tutor was named Tess Susan Smith (not real name obviously but same name pattern, first name ending in SS, and middle and second name both starting with S) so her email address was tessssmith@whatever. Note FOUR s in a row in the middle. And everyone (including myself once) accidentally emailed tesssmith@whatever and got polite but obviously very fed up emails back. Because it's very difficult to see the visual difference between tessssmith and tesssmith. You have to either religiously copy and paste/autocomplete every time, or really look very closely to see that one has three Ss in the middle and the other has four Ss in the middle.

A lot of people don't have high computer literacy and don't realise how email addresses work. I've had people phone up to have a go at me for not including the dot they'd put in their email address, where I've tried and failed to explain to them that email systems don't recognise dots before the @, it makes literally zero different if you include them or not, and clearly they were receiving emails I'd sent without the dot just fine, but they were insistent that me not putting the dot in would lead to some random person who'd registered the exact same username without the dot receiving their mail. People just aren't educated about it.

Thank you for your lengthy message. 4 A-levels and an IT degree especially in programming via OU.

It's not people mistyping. And whilst yes, she or I may own the address, I still would like to contact Google to see why my address if full.

I don't get all of her emails.

Whatever.

OP posts:

SkylarSpirit · 07/08/2023 12:08

WhereTheSuburbsMeetUttoxeter · 07/08/2023 11:35

Thank you for your lengthy message. 4 A-levels and an IT degree especially in programming via OU.

It's not people mistyping. And whilst yes, she or I may own the address, I still would like to contact Google to see why my address if full.

I don't get all of her emails.

Whatever.

Show quote history

You still don't understand.

You are NOT getting her emails. You're only getting the emails where she's accidentally mistyped her email address or someone else has mistyped her email address. That is the reason you're only getting some of her emails and not all of them. Because the emails that are being sent to the correct address are going to her mail box, and the emails sent to a mistyped email address are going to yours.

She absolutely does not have the same email address as you just with/without a dot.

That simply shows utter ignorance of how the Internet works on a very basic level.

Her email address will be something like WhereTheSuburbsMeetUttoxeter1 or something.

I still would like to contact Google to see why my address if full.

How can you have a degree in programming and not understand something so simple and basic?? You can't "contact Google", and the reason your email storage space is full ("address is full" is a weird phrasing and not phrasing anyone with even base level Internet knowledge would use) is because you have used up all of the space and need to start deleting old emails.

Please listen to people who actually are educated about this.

GloryBees · 07/08/2023 12:11

Can you set up an auto forward? I did that once and accidentally forwarded to the wrong person 🤦🏻‍♀️

kittykarate · 07/08/2023 12:21

I still would like to contact Google to see why my address if full.

Could it be being filled by another Google Application? Google gives you 15GB free storage space, but this can be used by Gmail, Google Drive, Google Photos. So if you have an android phone that is backing up photos to google, then it will use that space, and you would receive warnings via email saying that you are low on space, and it will affect your ability to send and receive emails.

Reugny · 07/08/2023 12:23

@WhereTheSuburbsMeetUttoxeter one of my brother's is an IT professional but didn't know how to use SMS until I showed him.

Point is you may have IT qualifications and be an professional but there are still areas of technology you don't have any understanding and practical knowledge.

(On the other hand I know SFA about mainframes and sound his areas of expertise/hobby.)

Oh and you share your email storage with storage for your photos and other apps in Gmail. One of my accounts is 50% full but that is due to my photos.

DyslexicPoster · 07/08/2023 12:24

OP if you are indeed a qualified programmer, why not do what a programmer who is debugging would do and try to email myself.me@gmail and myselfme@gmail from a friends account and see what happens? I'm a programmer and it's the first thing I'd try after your first email from yourself, came back to you.

The first thing with a bug is to replicate it. You must know that.

Hungrycaterpillarsmummy · 07/08/2023 12:24

I have the same. I have tried contacting her so many times. Also contacting suppliers where she's placed orders from to pass on the message as it's so fucking annoying.
Funnily enough it did stop for a while when I managed to cancel her TV account and a wine order!

Its so not secure..

kittykarate · 07/08/2023 12:29

You can also see a break down of how the space is used between the applications . One way of doing this is to login to gmail using the web interface, on the bottom-left of the page there is a 'XX GB of 15GB Used'. Click on the box next to this and it will show you a summary of where the space is being consumed.

Traffic? AIBU? Google. Receiving another's emails for years.

ThereIsIron · 07/08/2023 12:38

Check your Google dashboard to see how space is being used.

Silvergreenblue · 07/08/2023 12:41

QuitMoaning · 06/08/2023 12:06

I have a relatively unusual surname and set up my gmail account a looooong time ago so got quitmoaning @ gmail .com. Someone in New Zealand has exactly the same name and has the email account quit.moaning @ gmail .com.

I get a lot of her emails, some of them extremely confidential, some less so (latest was her Costco New Zealand membership renewal). I am not changing my email so I just either ignore it or let the sender know depending on my mood.

Those 2 emails are the same address.

Hungrycaterpillarsmummy · 07/08/2023 12:43

Silvergreenblue · 07/08/2023 12:41

Those 2 emails are the same address.

Show quote history

Yes and this is the problem
Google have allocated the same address to two different people.

HyggeTygge · 07/08/2023 12:47

Hungrycaterpillarsmummy · 07/08/2023 12:43

Yes and this is the problem
Google have allocated the same address to two different people.

Show quote history

No. They haven't. You haven't understood the thread.

Hungrycaterpillarsmummy · 07/08/2023 12:47

Or yeh, the other person forgets what their email address is and continue to put the same wrong one which is why we get sporadically.

Silvergreenblue · 07/08/2023 12:48

They haven't that can't happen, they will be mistyping it.

Probably missing a number at the end or something like that.

Hungrycaterpillarsmummy · 07/08/2023 12:48

Yes probably. Its very annoying!

MoralOrLegal · 07/08/2023 12:48

Can I try?

Imagine you started getting letters through the post that aren't for you.
It's not because someone else is also living at your house.
It's because someone has given the wrong address out, or someone in an office typed it in wrong.

HyggeTygge · 07/08/2023 12:49

Your "address" isn't full. You own a Google account with the string of letters you registered plus any combination of stops. Gmail is one part of this account.

LiloP · 07/08/2023 12:51

WhereTheSuburbsMeetUttoxeter · 05/08/2023 23:28

Hallelujah! Thank you.

Do you know how he contacted them?

I'll catch up tomorrow so don't worry tonight.

Show quote history

same thing happened to my DH too (also gmail).

HyggeTygge · 07/08/2023 12:54

MoralOrLegal · 07/08/2023 12:48

Can I try?

Imagine you started getting letters through the post that aren't for you.
It's not because someone else is also living at your house.
It's because someone has given the wrong address out, or someone in an office typed it in wrong.

Good analogy.
So say you live at "The Cottage", 12 Queen Lane W12 123.

You may well receive letters addressed to "the cottage, 12 Queen Lane", or "12 Queen Lane" or "the cottage, W12 123".

They all refer to your address, even if the sender meant to send it to 21 Queen Lane or 12 Queen Road. It doesn't mean someone else lives in your house.

iamrageohtheresakitty · 07/08/2023 12:56

OP, how do you know they aren't being mistyped? Do you have an example where you have received an email that wasn't addressed to you?
Because, as discussed, [email protected] is addressed to you, even if you are [email protected].
Or perhaps you have an example of an email sent to [email protected] that she received, and you didn't?

mushti · 07/08/2023 13:01

A lot of people don't have high computer literacy and don't realise how email addresses work. I've had people phone up to have a go at me for not including the dot they'd put in their email address, where I've tried and failed to explain to them that email systems don't recognise dots before the @, it makes literally zero different if you include them or not, and clearly they were receiving emails I'd sent without the dot just fine, but they were insistent that me not putting the dot in would lead to some random person who'd registered the exact same username without the dot receiving their mail. People just aren't educated about it.

Only gmail ignores dots. Every other email system distinguishes them.

noodlezoodle · 07/08/2023 13:07

I have the exact same thing - someone uses my email address with extra dots, and of course Google doesn't care so I get his email.

Unfortunately it's mostly automated stuff - particularly Xbox and Ancestry.com emails, so I can't let him know - although I do often wonder why he hasn't noticed that he gets no receipts from Microsoft when he buys xbox games!

I thought I'd cracked it a while ago when I started getting minutes for a committee he was part of - I emailed the sender several times and said please tell him this is my email address, not his! Either she didn't tell him, or she did and he didn't understand and insisted it was his correct email address. Sound familiar OP?!

SwedishEdith · 07/08/2023 13:08

Am addicted to this thread now. And yes, my Gmail account is always on about 99% because of backed up photos and attachments. Sort your emails by size to see what can go. But I suspect it won't make much difference if you have lots of photos.

MoralOrLegal · 07/08/2023 13:09

HyggeTygge · 07/08/2023 12:54

Good analogy.
So say you live at "The Cottage", 12 Queen Lane W12 123.

You may well receive letters addressed to "the cottage, 12 Queen Lane", or "12 Queen Lane" or "the cottage, W12 123".

They all refer to your address, even if the sender meant to send it to 21 Queen Lane or 12 Queen Road. It doesn't mean someone else lives in your house.

Show quote history

And if the person who lives at 21 accidentally writes 12 on a form, and you get their magazine subscription, sending another letter to 12 really won't help!

TitoMojito · 07/08/2023 13:16

SwedishEdith · 07/08/2023 13:08

Am addicted to this thread now. And yes, my Gmail account is always on about 99% because of backed up photos and attachments. Sort your emails by size to see what can go. But I suspect it won't make much difference if you have lots of photos.

Same. Can't stop refreshing. Better than a tv drama at this point.