When I subscribe to catalogs and magazines, I make sure to use a fake name. It's not for any privacy reasons, really. It's just to keep track of who's giving out my address. For example, I recently requested the West Elm catalog be sent to me at home with the name "Taryn Westelm." So if in the next few weeks I start getting sweepstakes flyers addressed to my blame-searching pseudonym, I'll know exactly who is whoring out my info. Ditto goes for "Taryn CB2," "Taryn Ikea" and "Taryn Domino." Now there's a little trick—really little, just a tiny dot—that does the same for Gmail...
Gmail Trick Can Help You Beat Spam
If your email address is "JohnDoe@gmail.com," anything sent to any of these addresses will be sent to your inbox:
JohnDoe@gmail.com
JohnDoe@googlemail.com
John.Doe@gmail.com
J.ohnDoe@gmail.com
...
JohnDo.e@gmail.com
Basically, put a period anywhere in your name and switch the domain between Gmail and Googlemail and you have countless options for email customization. And that’s not all, you can place as many dots as you want, it can be even something like ‘J.o.h.n.D.o.e@gmail.com’ and you’ll still get it on ‘JohnDoe@gmail.com.’
That's a good alternative to using different email addresses for various purposes (work, school, friends, etc.) Just filter all incoming mail so that mail sent to "Name.Surname@gmail.com" can be put into a work folder and messages sent to "NameSurname@gmail.com" can be put to "friends," etc.
As for tracing spam, Gmail lets you embed random text to your email address using the ‘+’ sign. So to make sure that your subscription with that news site you wanted access to isn't flooding your inbox with spam, register with "JohnDoe+newsite@gmail.com."
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I've been using different email addresses at my own registered domain for a while now to keep track of who passes my email to various spam sources. I had no idea the same can be done with gmail natively!
view runtime's profile
yeah, this is good- I am on it.
view maximumHOTbottom's profile
oh, so nice. Thanks!
view kvh's profile
But what if your email is JohnDoe@gmail.com, but someone else has the email address of John.Doe@gmail.com? This happened to me and I was getting email for the latter address. It seems Google gave the 2 email addresses to 2 different users.
view sjh100's profile
sjh100 - according to this, they can't.
view kvh's profile
... oops - wasn't trying to sound like a jerk - I meant to finish with: I wonder if you got a really early name, before they put that policy in place.
view kvh's profile
While I haven't given fake names on purpose, there have been a couple times when data entry typos have allowed me to see where my name came from. One time this happened with a magazine subscription I received as a gift, and last year it happened after I made a donation to a charity. Suddenly I was inundated with requests for donations from other, similar groups -- all with the same typo in my name! Needless to say, none of them got my money and the organization who shared my info got no more money from me either.
view Benjy's profile
kvh, I have the same problem as sjh100, so it is possible. My gmail is (something like) smith.j@gmail.com and I am always getting email for smithj@gmail.com (no dot, see?) Lately I've been getting her netflix notifications. I don't know how to fix it since sending her an email at smithj just comes back to me, but she obviously thinks that's her email address.
view Jezebella's profile
To kvh: I do, in fact, receive my gmail address in the early beta stages. I saw the google policy, but it still continues to happen. Perhaps people think her email is JohnDoe@gmail.com, but it really is DoeJohn@google.com. In any case, I hope she's not getting my mail.
To Jezebella: One of the things that helped was that I received the erroneous email when the recipient was sent a group email. So I just hit "reply to all" and told the sender that someone must have the wrong address for so-and-so.
view sjh100's profile
Sorry, for the typos, but you get the picture.
view sjh100's profile