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less than 6 characters for Gmail username?

         

Shak

8:17 pm on May 21, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



at present you have to have a user name at least 6 characters >>>

why not lower?

just curious

Shak

eaden

12:13 am on May 22, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I was told it was an effort to prevent spammers guessing the email addersses, and statistically shorter usernames got more spam. Of course I would have prefered a shorter username too.

ThomasB

7:30 pm on May 22, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



eaden, right.

Why can't I have a shorter username?

Answer

Studies have shown that short usernames at popular domains receive significantly more spam due to automatic address generation. Gmail’s requirement that all usernames be at least six characters in length is meant to keep spam out of your inbox.

[gmail.google.com...]

chicagohh

3:46 pm on May 24, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I wonder if they will ever sell shorter usernames...?