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Comment by airstrike | Hacker News Reader

I remember being absolutely amazed at how clean, fast and huge Gmail was. This post brings back great memories. I got an invite as I was an avid blogger user and signed up as early as 4/20/2004. Missed out on claiming firstname@gmail.com since my first name is only 5 letters long...

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You're probably lucky to not have firstname@gmail.com, it'd be inundated by idiots who don't know their own email address signing you up for things.

While my old email address isn't very common (old internet nickname + numbers), it still ended up on some list and it seems like someone (or some people) in a Spanish speaking country are using it to register accounts for Deezer, Netflix, etc; I don't understand why they can start a trial and use it right away without confirming their ownership of the e-mail address. Joke's on them, I've changed the password to those accounts. (note that my email address has NOT been compromised, it's got a unique password + 2FA).

Absolutely. I have firstname.lastname@gmail.com. My first and last names are by no means common, but still I get emails, bank statements, job offers(!) and account recovery emails meant for others.

You're probably right. I have firstlast@gmail.com and still receive countless e-mails meant to other recipients

I once received itinerary details of the Brazilian VP's trip to South Korea...

> You're probably lucky to not have firstname@gmail.com, it'd be inundated by idiots who don't know their own email

Early on, first@gmail.com and yes absolutely.

Even military fucking emails.

> Even military fucking emails.

This will be downvoted, but your comment made me smile for a second, thinking on what kind of strange pr0n about military is flooding your inbox.

I have a six letter email address and have gotten mistyped emails tons of times. Once got an email welcoming me to the NRA, even. Had to let the NRA know that I was not, in fact, interested in being a member of the NRA.

Ugh, same here, i have common first initial and common last name at Gmail. Almost daily emails to the wrong person.

I have firstinitiallastname@gmail.com (I don't have a particularly common name) and I get a surprising amount of email not meant for me. People signing up for Facebook, Instagram, online orders, you name it.

I was invited near that date and happened to grab lastname@gmail!

Cool! Unfortunately my last name is also 5 letters long

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