Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Dear David Herman

Dear David Herman,

We have the same name. You seem to think you have my gmail address. Periodically I get email intended for you. It may be that you're giving out my address to people--or so I imagine, because every so often, I also get a message from Google saying that someone is initiating the process to reset my password. Naturally, I don't proceed. I don't want to reset my password. I'd prefer you stopped trying to.

I have no particular way of contacting you, because all I know is that your name is my name too, and I think you live in San Francisco (based on your mail that I've received). Which is all the more confusing, given that I spend a lot of time in the Bay Area. But I digress.

Mr. Herman, I'm afraid we can't share this gmail account. You seem to like the version without a dot, whereas I prefer the version with a dot, but either way, Google says it's mine. Sorry. I got there first.

Best regards,
David Herman

5 comments:

Jay McCarthy said...

Maybe I should do the same for Jay McCarthy, a staff member of Senator Kennedy. I respond to many of the emails to his friends telling them to leave me alone, but I'm stuck in some fundraising email lists. Argh!

Macneil Shonle said...

My gmail address is my first name only, which is actually much more common as a last name. That tricky dot really throws people off. It's like they think "don't type in the name before the dot, but do type in the dot."

You should send your blog post to those who write to you with the wrong address! They know the fake Dave!

Mike Machenry said...

Nice post. Have you tried responding to emails and asking Dave's friends for his contact info so that you can send him a message? I grant you that they are probably not a reliable source of information regarding his contact info or this post would not exist, but perhaps they have a phone number? Wouldn't it be great if you asked and it turned out to be yours that they gave you? Hey are we sure that these people aren't actually your friends? Is it possible you frequently get drunk and forget your password and then don't remember resetting it the next morning?

Richard Knowles said...

Google claims any variant johndoe, john.doe, or j.o.h.n.d.o.e is the same address. But logins are unique. So johndoe can't login as john.doe. So Gmail is allowing multiple users with the same name to join. Both my wife and I have dot gmail addresses and since getting them in 2004 Gmail has allowed new signups by others with the same name without dots. And no obvious way to fix the problem.

David Herman said...

We have had a David Herman trying to gain access to bank accounts, on line purchasing, musical instruments, cellular equipment and service, with any title in the company he tags his name with.

This David Herman, he/she/it/ criminal organization has been trying as low as magazine subscriptions to access a second card for our business.

It's impossible to share a Google, just change your password. If you find that he gets that password, check forwarding of a second email copy or can be used to contact you with a password, if you forget yours.

This seems a little funny to me. It seems like you want to share an account or are pfishing for information.

Change the pass, get rid of the forwarding address and it's as simple as that. It sounds like you are the David Herman I have been looking for, for 10 years.