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Gmail accounts with dot in the username

MB [PersonRank 2]

Friday, March 13, 2009
15 years ago18,581 views

Hello,
is it me or gmail reports all usernames that contain a dot as "account not found". I cannot access 3 gmail accounts that have a dot in the username but I can access another account that does not have a dot in the username. Tried password recovery and I get back a message that the account was not found. Trying to reregister the account...obviously the username is taken.

If this is for real...it's impressive at least.

Mrrix32 [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Gmail ignores dots in usernames, try logging in without adding the dots.

Admittedly I added a dot to my username and was still able to login :/

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

I can access my accounts with dots in the usernames without any issues. Also – and I think this is new – I can also sign in to the same accounts when omitting the dot (and vice versa). IIRC they used to force you to enter your username exactly as you had specified it at the point of signing up.

Did you mean when trying to sign in to an existing account or when trying to create a new Gmail account (i.e. when checking availability)?

MB [PersonRank 2]

15 years ago #

Trying to login to an existing account.

MB [PersonRank 2]

15 years ago #

I can't immagine how this happened...it's not about one account. I've encountered this on at least three accounts. I don't have any other accounts with dots to try. All my accounts with dots are gone.

Jared Cherup [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

I can now login without a dot. This is definitely new.

MB [PersonRank 2]

15 years ago #

Well, guess what I can now login too. The best part is that during the moments that I could not I've followed the procedure for recovery of the account...Google replied to me. They said that they cannot give my account back because I did not provide accurate data.

That's great Google..actually I've kept all this with Camtasia just for the records. Gmail had serious problems lately and for me this was another one that lasted a few hours. After my frustration for about 3 hours I cannot trust them anymore.

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

I think the fact that you got a reply from Google within 3 hours is very commendable. And I'd prefer them to make it as difficult as possible to retrieve login details instead of providing them on a whim.

If this was a genuine issue, I'd hope they'd include it on their status page even if it only affected a really small subset of users.

MB [PersonRank 2]

15 years ago #

I guess Tony you are right. But when you lose your accounts...you don't really think that ...oh! great Google replied fast...you have already a bigger problem.

My real concern is the last part of your reply. How sure we are that gmail or google issues that cause damage on a small base of users really get Google's attention?

And then...they reported back that I did not provide accurate data. That is not true and in any case...have you ever seen the page that you have to compile in order to get back your account. For example they ask you when you have created your account or the date of the last access. Dates not easily to remember ...they say try your best shot...I wonder how a best shot to remember can be accurate.

Some concrete questions could be better. For example for one of my accounts I had written down that I signed up on October 2 2008 on mediafire and some other storage services...

Also, I was not requesting to get back a password...I was requesting to get back access to my account. My username and password were valid ...actually I can login now with the same username and password.

Since I had not access, nobody had access...I remind you that during the password recovery procedure I was getting the message that my account was not found....then why they don't ask the simplest thing...username, password and the reply to the secret question. If these match...why they should not give the account back.

This was for sure a Gmail's issue that made me lose time and cracked a bit my nerves. Had to talk with Mozy and other services to change the email address.

MB [PersonRank 2]

15 years ago #

http://www.google.com/appsstatus#

I see no issues there but I had issues. This was a genuine issue (Tony) I don't think you have any reason to believe that I'm lying. Actually that doubt of yours made me consider publishing the videos that I captured with Camtasia studio although it requires a lot of work since I was typing usernames...visiting various services..trying to change my email address. If there will be the time I guess I'll do the video editing and I'll pubblish it.

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

> I don't think you have any reason to believe that I'm lying.

I didn't mean to imply you were lying. I'm sorry if that's how it came across.

What I really meant was whether it was a *known* issue which they subsequently had to fix or whether it was just a glitch (which is still an issue, but one which might have easily gone unnoticed and could be hard to track down).

mbegin [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

Were some of the accounts you're talking about Google Apps accounts?

If so, the username "bradley" and "brad.ley" are not the same account.

See here: http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=33380

MB [PersonRank 2]

15 years ago #

Surprise suprise, they did it again. Again I lost access to accounts with dots in the username. I don't know what exactly they are doing but they are doing crap. This is the second time in a period of two months.

mrbene [PersonRank 10]

15 years ago #

If you are using a gmail account, then the real account name is "username[put at-character here]gmail.com", even if you have regularly logged in as "user.name[put at-character here]gmail.com", because gmail doesn't recognize the (.) character.

In other words – on gmail, there is no such thing as an account with (.) characters, these are simply cosmetic details.

For the record, I did laugh at the help here (http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=8158), with the 'm.y.a.c.c.o.u.n.t[put at-character here]gmail.com' example.

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