[InsomniacL]

But in your example there is no difference wether Google’s dot policy exists or it doesn’t.

Someone could have setup a dodgy Microsoft ads account to your main email just as easily as the dotted/non-dotted version.

Where is the problem?

[richardw]

Firstly, thank you for engaging on it.

The problems:

1) people who are sending important emails are ending up with the wrong person and they don’t know. Fixing that takes effort on my part, I have to tell individuals or a group mail I’m the wrong person. A bounce would fix that, instantly with no effort. I sometimes try find the right person. That also takes effort, I have to look for clues. Locations, work hints etc.

2) I’m fairly careful with my email. Others aren’t. Most of the spam I get is linked to the wrong address. Those should also be bounces. Because I get mail for all dot variants, I get a multiplied amount of spam compared to just my version.

3) I’m pretty sure a dodgy money making racket is to sign people up via affiliate programs in the hope some of those get added. I see this in a huge amount of random email lists, products etc. I’d say 80% minimum of those use the no-dot version. The problem is that 80% I shouldn’t have to put up with. The people doing this are just being lists of addresses and firing them at anything that works. They aren’t targeting me, they’re just using the strings they’ve harvested. So they don’t know about the version I use.

The Microsoft issue pushed me over the edge. I’m now going to trash that entire set of problem for my own (selfish) purposes by filtering it out. The people being harmed are those whose contacts mis-type addresses and now eg invites to funerals will go to trash.

[IIsi50MHz]

The optional dots would seem to be irrelevant. You seem to be asking that all email sent to your address, but not intended for you, to be bounced. An email address can only be validated (as in "Is this an email address?") by trying to send mail to it. Assuming the mail is deliverable, there is literally no way for the sender or any mail server involved to know whether the address on the message has anything to do with any person who has access to the contents of that mailbox.

The only possible way that I know of to provide feedback is to send a reply to the sending address. Perhaps you're asking for an addition to the email system so that a recipient can "click a button" to generate at the protocol level a response from your mail server like "errNum% - Wrong recipient. Undeliverable as addressed."?

[richardw]

No, I want all mail that doesn’t use the email address I chose, which is “fred.flintstone@gmail” to be blocked as it would be on any other mail platform. I want gmail to act like any other mail provider, no dot innovation because I don’t want it. I’ve had this address since 2005. That’s a long time to learn about the benefits and costs.

Rule: for any email address variant that is not what the user selected, reply with “550 no such user here”.

Instant reduction in both spam and mistyped emails. Instant feedback to sender.