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Comment by brenainn | Hacker News Reader

I was getting some dude's email for about 7 years. Started with newsletters and discussion threads for a journalism guild and a teacher's union. I found that amusing and left it, but one day emailed whoever was in charge and let them know I'm not the intended recipient. Stopped for a while and then it started again and I ignored it.

But in the last few years I started getting hotel reservations, golf course membership, bills, orders for liver supplements. I tracked down who it is ages ago and sent them an email (I was cordial - "Hey we have such similar names but I'm on the other side of the world, crazy huh?") and got no response. Eventually I replied to the liver pill people and said "Hey this isn't me and if you could let the actual person know that'd be great" and the emails stopped. Way to go liver pill people.

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> I was getting some dude's email for about 7 years. Started with newsletters and discussion threads for a journalism guild and a teacher's union. I found that amusing and left it, but one day emailed whoever was in charge and let them know I'm not the intended recipient. Stopped for a while and then it started again and I ignored it.

I had a similar experience, funnily enough golf course memberships too. Doing minimal OSI work on the numerous emails I found the guy on facebook and friended him (accepted due to same surname I assume). I remember saying something like:

"Hi, I noticed you just signed up for an Epic Games account, and you happened to use my email address <lastname>@gmail. Would you mind not doing that, please?"

He responded that I was a creep and that it was his email, and proceeded to block me. I mean he might've been right on the former, but patently wrong on the latter.

it has gotten so bad in usa, with creep calling. Seems whenever somebody is not happy with something their immediate response is you are a creep. I find those kind of people disturbing.

You might even call it creep creep. (Sorry, couldn't resist)

> Sorry, couldn't resist

The creep creep creep ;-)

Incorporate the first strike doctrine. Before contacting someone that is erroneously using your email address, call them a creep up front to disarm them mentally. Then proceed with your demand that they stop using your email address.

I waited until my Gmail doppelganger ordered a pizza, then from the phone and address details in that email I was able to text him and say I hoped he enjoyed the pizza, that his house looked nice from Street View, and please stop using my email address. He did.

I kept getting receipts from a nice grandmother from Missouri (at least I think it was Missouri, but that detail doesn’t matter). I don’t live in Missouri. However, she must have had a similar gmail account. But she couldn’t get her email address right. It was fine for a while, just the typical odds and ends emails. Then I started getting shipping receipts and return information from a clothing company. And then receipts for holiday presents for kids. Eventually I had to use the info in the emails to write and actual letter to this woman, letting her know about the email mixup. I only knew her address from billing information on the prior receipts.

In retrospect, I probably should have printed the emails and then sent those too. That may have been taking the bit too far, but it would have been much funnier from my POV.

I have my own domain that I used to use for hosting random stuff and my email (nowadays it's just for the email). The email is a catch-all box.

I once got someone and their family's Disney World booking details sent to <theirname>@<mydomain>. It was a real thing, I could click the link and go view their booking at the official website. I have no idea what made that person to type out <mydomain> as their email, the domain is not even close to any publicly hosted email services or any company names. I kept getting more notifications of the upcoming Disney World trip so I ended up disabling that particular address so that those emails bounce.

I have a similar experience, I received emails from his families with children photos, emails from his certification, notices about his internship, etc..

I sent a few emails to his family explaining this, they told me that I was wrong. I gave up and just ignore all of those emails.

It's on gmail and I don't use gmail for important things anyway...

> they told me that I was wrong

What a bizarre response... somebody who isn't the person you intended to email has replied to you from the address you sent the message to. What could possibly make someone think that the person replying is the one who was wrong?

Someone who doesn't want to make the effort to correct things?

Some people just don't understand how all this works behind the scenes. It works by 'handy wavey magic' and the messages just arrive.

In their minds, they did email their brother, and the weird guy who replied is wrong. It might be possible, with enough investment of time, to help them understand how/why it went wrong, but as nicolas_t experienced, it is sometimes easier just to block them and move on.

I was lucky, I was a Hotmail early adopter and I regularly receive emails for two namesakes. I was able to figure out their correct email addresses over the years and they are both tech savvy enough to understand the issue. I forward on messages when they come through, and I actually met up with one of them at a house party he was invited to.

When I forwarded the invitation, he suggested coming along as well and I figured why the hell not. It was a fun ice breaker in a room full of strangers.

Print out the emails you get from them, highlight the recipient email address, then mail them a love letter containing their own messages. Put a parking garage as the return address.

For 20 years I've been getting emails from construction industry companies, addressed to a Japanese sounding name but my email address. Sometimes they are of a personal nature and I reply telling them I'm not Soichi. Sometimes I leave the guy messages through those contacts hoping they reach him. It originated from a (now gone) directory entry in the San Francisco chamber of Commerce which used my email for some reason I'll never know.

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