[email protected] and [email protected] are obviously two different addresses. At least for me. I don't see why the first one should receive mails from the second one.

They are two different addresses, think of the second as an alias to the first. Google creates an alias for every possible combination of dotted email address to your primary.

If you don't want to use the feature, you don't have to. Lots of people find it extremely useful.

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7436150?hl=en#zippy=%...

> if your email is [email protected], you own all dotted versions of your address

> If anyone tries to create a Gmail account with a dotted version of your username, they'll get an error saying the username is already taken.

> Your account is still private and secure. Emails sent to any dotted version of your address will only go to you.

It wasn't always that way on gmail. I have a long-lived account and someone else has in the past had a working address of the same words without the dot but always used the @googlemail.com address.

Note: my bit of research into this taught me that the googlemail.com domain is used by Gmail users in Germany, Russia, and Poland where the Gmail trademark was already taken 1. In each case, Google was forced to use “googlemail” and therefore googlemail.com instead. As of 2012, the situation with Germany was straightened out and new users to Gmail there get assigned a gmail.com domain.

Gmail addresses ending in @gmail.com and @googlemail.com are the same e-mail address and do not represent two different accounts.

They are not different in gmail terms.

If you have John.Doe registered, no one can register johndoe or any with or without dots version.

Gmail (rightly or wrongly, whatever) ignore the dots when creating your account and deliver any with or without dots combination to you.

You’re not receiving anyone else’s mail and no one could have registered another account with/without dots to conflict with it.

Do you use gmail and have you used the . in email? Are you just assuming how it work?

Thanks for checking.

One person is x.yz@gmail. Tens of times I’ve had people or systems strip the x, I am y.z and get their mail. Invites to funerals. Business mail. Admittedly reduced lately, he probably uses it less.

One professor has a “t” in his name, so “ytz”. People miss the t and send to yz. Dot gets ignored so I get those. I get assignments, or people pleading for extensions. That’s stopped over time.

The stuff is important so I tried hard to get it to the right person. But a bounce to the sender would have been better. It’s a bit wearying to be a post forwarder.

Much of the spam I get is to yz. Some makes it through. I’ve never used that version, ever. Many of the mistakes get sent to that version too. I tried setting a rule to block that version because it’s definitely not for me, but no go. I’ve had the address since the earliest intro-only days so it’s had time to add crud. I just checked spam now. First 4 messages were to “yz”.