[dmw_ng]

I signed up for a disposable Gmail account using my real name at one point, and accepted the randomly suggested address it offered. Gmail loaded with someone else's obviously in use mailbox

IIRC I logged out again and back in, same thing, my credentials worked. Went back to it a few days later and the password no longer worked

[wizzwizz4]

Hash collisions most likely.

[ta999999171]

Have heard this so many times about Gmail...

How have they not resolved this?

[joncrane]

I think it's like EC2 instance IDs. When they first came up with it, they never thought there would be literally billions of unique email addresses/EC2 instances eventually.