bbs.spamgourmet.com

This is a bit embarrassing, but I accidentally sent an email to another spamgourmet user, a total stranger.

I was testing one of my email accounts, and meant to send an email to:

word.numberword.myusername@wronghead.com

But by mistake I left off my spamgourmet username, so I sent the email to:

word.numberword@wronghead.com

Since numberword is a common English word, I thought there was a good chance it was someone's username, so I sent another email explaining and apologizing for my mistake. Then out of curiosity I tried to register numberword, and indeed it is already taken.

So what is the protocol when this happens? Send an apology like I did, or just move along and not risk upsetting them with a second email?

not sure -- maybe sending the second message was the right thing. This isn't a problem that's unique to spamgourmet, obviously, since it's easy to mistype any email address. Maybe it's more likely with spamgourmet because of the address formation rules? Dunno. Anyway, sounds like you did the right thing.

Thanks for the reassurance, josh. You made a good point, too. And it's not just email that gets mistyped. I have 37 eBay feedbacks intended for someone else. Fortunately, they're all positive!

We are all "insiders" to the spamgourmet system of addresses and how to compose them, and therefore the second message is really polite, courteuos and helpful.

Otherwise we might fret as to how the unsolicited mail got through to us.

perhaps it ought to be in the FAQ as spamgourmet etiquette?

I too would like to get a note. When I get funny messages I am curious as to how they came about.

Most of the time it is because spam harvesters write sloppy programs, which bungle addresses.