# Please think before using .edu email addresses!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 7, 2003, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-think-before-using-edu-email-addresses/153593 "2003-02-07T22:56:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2003, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-think-before-using-edu-email-addresses/153593/21 "2003-02-08T17:56:29Z")
My school let us choose, but being the brilliantly creative person I am, my email address was kyla@school.edu. You can imagine how many other Kylas there were. Oh wait, maybe you can’t. There was another one, whom I actually met during orientation week. And for our entire four years of college, I got emails and phone calls meant for her. A friend of hers put me on his email list and sent me updates on what he was doing for YEARS, despite my repeated emails that he had the wrong person. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2003, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-think-before-using-edu-email-addresses/153593/22 "2003-02-08T18:07:20Z")
My undergrad used the first initial, middle initial, first five letters of the last name @school.edu. Not hard to figure out, but at that point in time they didn’t have a phone directory online (that I can remember). They were fairly new to allowing all students to have e-mail when I started - and you had to go to the computing office to get it set up, then learn the unix mail system. The grad school I’m at now uses first initial, first seven letters of the last name@school.edu OR @state.edu (either gets to the same person). This changes for anyone who’s default is not unique…John Smith might be jsmi4444@school.edu if there were enough J Smiths on campus. But after reading this thread I went to check and see what information came up when I searched on myself. I got my phone number, full name and the school of study I’m in. But, I did this on campus - I need to check again when I get home and see if I get the same info. I never use my school e-mail for anything that isn’t school related, or someone I’d be comfortable knowing that information anyway. I use the hotmail account for anything online. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2003, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-think-before-using-edu-email-addresses/153593/23 "2003-02-08T18:20:35Z")
BTW, if you want to know how a college generates its e-mail addresses, go [here](http://www.cs.queensu.ca/FAQs/email/college.html). I notice, though, it hasn’t been updated; our new system isn’t listed. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2003, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-think-before-using-edu-email-addresses/153593/24 "2003-02-08T18:25:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Flymaster \* > \*\*You’re wrong 🙂 \*\* Well, that’s what I get for letting you people see my email address… ---
**Author:** ![Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mercury)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-think-before-using-edu-email-addresses/153593/25 "2003-02-09T00:24:27Z")
Oddly enough, Penn State uses first initial, middle initial and a number. If you’re a student, you get a three-digit number. Faculty and staff get one, two or on rare occasions, no numbers. (My physics teacher, who’s been there thirty-odd years, has no numbers at all.) If you don’t have a middle name at all, you get an “x” or a “z” as a placeholder. I got a z, but I don’t know anyone else who did. That address is pretty anonymous. Trouble is, we have a StalkerNet too, and from the e-mail address you can get a student’s physical address, whether they live on campus or not, and their phone number. -M, who is pretty shocked that another school calls it stalker net. ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-think-before-using-edu-email-addresses/153593/26 "2003-02-09T03:39:50Z")
I dunno; it seems to me that the risk isn’t great enough for me to go to great lengths to hide my identity. Then again, I am not hot enough or interesting enough to inspire a real-life stalker. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-think-before-using-edu-email-addresses/153593/27 "2003-02-09T03:49:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CrankyAsAnOldMan \* > \*\* > Then again, I am not hot enough or interesting enough to inspire a real-life stalker. \*\* I have some…umm…“interesting” jpegs that suggest otherwise. You might want to close yer curtains in the morning. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Daniel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Daniel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daniel)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-think-before-using-edu-email-addresses/153593/28 "2003-02-09T04:04:12Z")
Where I went as an undergrad they had “b” for the college name I guess, an alphabet letter indicating the year you started (a,b,c… mine was “g”), and then a five-digit random number. They’ve since switched to name-based emails, which pisses off us older random-number students (or alumni I guess now). Where I go to grad school it’s choose-your-own, and most go with name-based on purpose. Both myself and my brother had phone numbers and mailing info online too. Which is great, since it’s really the only way I can track him down without having to call our parents first (brothers are odd that way: greatest friend I’ve got that I never talk to) ---
**Author:** ![Cosmopolitan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/94ad74/32.png) [@Cosmopolitan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cosmopolitan)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-think-before-using-edu-email-addresses/153593/29 "2003-02-09T04:39:38Z")
I’m an undergrad at a school that does indeed use the FirstinitialLastname@school.edu method for e-mail addresses… Of course, I don’t live on campus, so someone’d have to look me up in the white pages if they wanted to stalk me - too much work, I’d think. ---
**Author:** ![Shadez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Shadez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadez)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-think-before-using-edu-email-addresses/153593/30 "2003-02-09T08:17:23Z")
heh, if you were Robert Smith at MY school, which we’ll just call, uh, Harvard, your email would be: Robert.Smith@Harvard.edu Unless, of course, you have a nickname you like, as in Robbie, etc. Sucks, only plus it has going for it is it is easy to remember. /Shadez ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-think-before-using-edu-email-addresses/153593/31 "2003-02-09T16:14:09Z")
I’d just like to add that our directory search is called stalker-tron, not stalker-net. You see, when you go to a technical school, siffixes like “tron” get used far more often. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-think-before-using-edu-email-addresses/153593/32 "2003-02-09T17:41:17Z")
I scared the crap out of a now-friend of mine. I was at a chatroom back in the day when they were fairly new and I saw that her e-mail address was posted under her profile. Using a terminal at school allowed me to do a quick “whoson” search and finger her userid (NOTE: I was not “stalking” this was to prove a point that it was dangerous to reveal her at school e-mail.) Sure enough it told me the name of the terminal she was using, and anyone familiar enough with the computer labs would know which room that was in – in this case, she was just down the hall! Luckily, this bizarre “how did you meet” story ended in a cool freindship, but it rattled her enough that I was able to tell her _exactly_ where she was sitting. I was harmelss, but I could have been a big, scary dude. She never, _ever_ gave _anyone_ her school e-mail address again. ---
**Author:** ![TwungTister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TwungTister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwungTister)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-think-before-using-edu-email-addresses/153593/33 "2003-02-09T19:42:13Z")
Gee, this is funny. All of you are talking about the school “using” a certain format. We chose our usernames. I chose last name\ first initial, but I could have chosen anything. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-think-before-using-edu-email-addresses/153593/34 "2003-02-09T20:03:54Z")
Our school doesn’t give us a choice, **TwunTister**. Like I said, Bob Smith would have (with this ID number) an email address of BS000012345@myschoolname.edu if he went to my uni. It’s incredibly stupid, especially since my school has only _5,000_ students, _tops_, so it’s not like they have tens of thousands of students who would likely have the same name(s). :rolleyes: I mean, any prof who uses email to contact students says, “don’t give me your school e-mail, give me the one you actually use”, and that’s a pretty good sign that it’s a bad system, don’t you think? ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-think-before-using-edu-email-addresses/153593/35 "2003-02-09T20:07:21Z")
And dammit, I had to backspace 5 times typing your username, and I _still_ spelled it wrong! Sorry 'bout that, **TwungTister** [sub]she says, while praying that she did it right this time[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-think-before-using-edu-email-addresses/153593/36 "2003-02-09T20:19:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shadez \* > heh, if you were Robert Smith at MY school, which we’ll just call, uh, Harvard, your email would be: Hey! That is _not_ how Harvard does it. Why didn’t you pick something made-up, like Springfield University? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Shadez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Shadez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadez)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-think-before-using-edu-email-addresses/153593/37 "2003-02-09T20:30:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Achernar \* > \*\*Hey! That is _not_ how Harvard does it. Why didn’t you pick something made-up, like Springfield University? 🙂 \*\* Simple. It was 2:17 am. You expect brilliance, give me 5 cups of coffee. Seeing as none of the places that serve coffee are open, well, you’re out of luck, my good friend. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-think-before-using-edu-email-addresses/153593/38 "2003-02-09T21:12:01Z")
My school has the first initial, last name @ school.ca format. The email directory is only available to on-campus students (which limits the stalker possibilities to about 20 000 people, if you include staff and faculty). You have to log in, and then the only info you can get is Full/Last name and email address. There are no phone directories UNLESS you live oncampus - limiting would-be-stakers to about 5000 students - and the “On campus” directory found at most phones around the buildings only have services and staff/faculty - not sutdents. I just did a search on my name at my school, and the only info I got back were the captions that I approved of for some pictures that were took last year at an event. I suppose that lets people know what department I’m in, but anyone who cares to can just ask around, since i’m pretty involved in the department. At least these email addresses are easy to remember. My CEGEP email account was the worst. It is no longer active, and I’m pretty sure they changed formats lately, but it went something like this (the numbers are a student ID): 9835171d@student.town.collegenameinfull.qc.ca (yep - the word “student” was in there). None of that could be shortened, so getting an email to ANYONE was annoying. No one ever used it, except for the “who’s online email chat” thingy when we were in the computer labs (and if you’re surprised at someone finding you there, then you obviously hadn’t noticed the gigantic windows around the rooms!) ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-think-before-using-edu-email-addresses/153593/39 "2003-02-09T22:39:53Z")
This thread inspired me to check to see if my university email account was still active. They’re “supposed” to delete them after you’ve graduated, which I did last year. Gotta love efficiency! I just deleted about thirty junk emails from my inbox. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-think-before-using-edu-email-addresses/153593/40 "2003-02-09T23:09:47Z")
Well, I just remembered to check what’s available for me from off campus, and found that you can find me, but not my phone number or the like without logging into the campus system. That makes me feel somewhat better, though you could still find out my first and last name if you didn’t alread know it. At least I don’t have to worry about random people getting my phone number though. And it doesn’t prevent on-campus people from stalking…just random internet people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-think-before-using-edu-email-addresses/153593.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-think-before-using-edu-email-addresses/153593.md?page=3)