Email aliases

Here’s a little trap that sometimes catches everyone. Modern email programs usually have an autocomplete address facility, start typing a name, “Bill….” say and the “Send to” field gets filled with the fullname and email address, plucked as if by magic from your address book. Now, here’s the tip: double check what the autocomplete fills in, or you may be in for an embarrassing exchange of emails with someone you may not have wished to have sent that email. Imagine it. You could be emailing Bill Poster the manager of your local dry-cleaning company to check whether your dress has been cleaned properly and whether they could get that nasty yellow stain off the front. Instead, the autocomplete puts in Bill Clinton instead of Bill.Poster@drykleeenerz.com. Whoops. Simple mistake, big embarrassment all round.

There is a technical workaround, that simply involves you manually editing any entries in your address book so that the alias or username for each Bill gets its own unique ident. You might relable Mr Poster’s address as “Dry Cleaning Bill” and leave Bill Clinton to sweat. Of course, if you’re name is Monica you may want to get a different dry cleaner, anyway. Too big a bill you see…?