If you don't want people to know your age...

[Susan Hogarth]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Doug Grossman [mailto:Doug.Grossman at sas.com]
> ...
> No, it actually doesn't tell someone's age for certain. Far from that,
> actually.

[SJH] I never said/suggested/intimated/whatevered that it DID. Probably what
I should have said is if you don't want someone GUESSING at your age, don't
include something that could be construed as a year number in your email
addy.

When many people see a number in an email addy, they start playing around
with various associations, etc - human nature being what it is. When I see
'bob1966 at boohoo.com', I would first think "Gee, I bet Bob's the same age as
me!" It may or may not be true, but it's what many people born in 1966 would
THINK on seeing that as an email addy.

> It might have nothing to do with age, birth year, or anything at all, and
> can actually be part of someone's address, zip code, phone number,
> significant date in their life, something having to do with their children
> or their spouse or their parents, etc., as evidenced by my other examples
> and e-mails from others.

[SJH] Sure. Again, though; if you don't want people to know
(guess/speculate/whatever) about your age, don't use your year-of-birth (or
any year, or maybe even any number) as part of your email addy.

Personally, I think using numbers in an email address is a bad idea anyway,
as they are the part most likely to get forgotten. An email address ought to
be simple enough that someone -could- conceivably remember it after seeing
it once, and I don't think numbers make that likely.

- Susan