Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure how that could even be an issue. You need access to the gmail account to confirm the email either way. The only possible issue I can imagine is a poorly built site assuming that all email servers do this and ignoring dots in emails.

View on HN

You are assuming that the said site has an email confirmation workflow as part of the registration process (Granted most do these days, but it wasn't the case many years earlier). Even so, you are also assuming that the said site would block your usage unless you confirm your email.

Assuming one John Smith creates an account as john.smith@gmail.com ; and then another John Smith happens to create an account as johnsmith@gmail.com - and doesn't confirm the email right away (either the site doesn't ask for it; or doesn't really block any functionality - just keeps showing an annoying warning message). First John Smith can now easily take over the second account by triggering a forgot password workflow - for shit and giggles.

One of these users doesn't own the email address they have input. If it's the first one, I'm not sure how they could trigger a password reset without access, if its the second one, then I'm not sure why it's surprising you can have your account reset when you signup with someone elses email.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com