My name is Emily and I have stumbled upon an unusual hobby. Years ago, I acquired an email address with my full name while the service was in beta test. This email address has no additional characters. Since that time, I have received dozens upon dozens of emails intended for other people who just happen to share my name. They forget that their email address may have additional characters such as a middle initial or numbers. Instead they use mine.
I get everything including online loyalty program mail, family picture albums, social media accounts, and other people's receipts. NPR had an article last September about these email doppelgangers. I'm really glad that I'm not alone with this problem.
If it's something more frivolous, say a online music or social media account, I do one of three things: 1. Unsubscribe from the mailing list. 2. Disassociate my email address from the account. 3. Close the account. Sometimes I contact the company and get my email address blocked from further use in their system.
I've also gotten important medical appointment reminders and invitations for job interviews for other people. I could seriously mess up someone's life if I didn't try to get people pointed in the right direction.
I have kept a file of all the information on these presumptive owners of my email address since August of 2013. It's quite a large file with a great deal of diversity of content and locations. The other Emilys live everywhere from California to Uruguay.
Knowing your own email address is an important life skill. I just help people learn this lesson. I hope you will find these writings entertaining and informative. If you have experienced this phenomena, feel free to leave a comment.
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