>I hate with a fiery, burning passion every site that attempts to do any kind of email validation beyond simply sending me an email and letting me click a link to verify my email exists.
Yet at the same time, that's the one important validation that infuriatingly many sites don't do.
I once lost a protracted argument with the US Department of Education who absolutely refused to stop sending me private personal financial aid and academic details of a complete stranger who mistakenly gave them a common outlook.com email address that I have. As far as I can tell, in their view, since the user had put in a valid email address, that was their email address, and just because it was my email address didn't mean I was authorized to have it removed from the account. I continue to receive the person's private information from the state, colleges, and predatory businesses.
In fact, the number of mistaken accounts that get linked with that email address is fascinating. Paypal UK apparently does not send email validation requests before associating email addresses with accounts. Nordstrom does not. Internal divisions of the North Carolina Department of Insurance does not. UK Revenue and Customs apparently does not. Many of the larger organizations that, even more infuriatingly, always send emails from noreply addresses, and give no other way of contacting them other than logging into your account.
Yet at the same time, that's the one important validation that infuriatingly many sites don't do.
I once lost a protracted argument with the US Department of Education who absolutely refused to stop sending me private personal financial aid and academic details of a complete stranger who mistakenly gave them a common outlook.com email address that I have. As far as I can tell, in their view, since the user had put in a valid email address, that was their email address, and just because it was my email address didn't mean I was authorized to have it removed from the account. I continue to receive the person's private information from the state, colleges, and predatory businesses.
In fact, the number of mistaken accounts that get linked with that email address is fascinating. Paypal UK apparently does not send email validation requests before associating email addresses with accounts. Nordstrom does not. Internal divisions of the North Carolina Department of Insurance does not. UK Revenue and Customs apparently does not. Many of the larger organizations that, even more infuriatingly, always send emails from noreply addresses, and give no other way of contacting them other than logging into your account.