# About the idea: IDENTITY = EMAIL

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/about-the-idea-identity-email/34642>\
**Category:** Site feedback\
**Tags:** email\
**Created:** [October 18, 2015, 12:41am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/about-the-idea-identity-email/34642 "2015-10-18T00:41:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 1

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**Author:** ![jd2066](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@jd2066](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jd2066)\
**Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 12:41am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/about-the-idea-identity-email/34642/1 "2015-10-18T00:41:12Z")

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Continuing the discussion from [Why e-mail validation when using OpenIDs?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-e-mail-validation-when-using-openids/1990/9):

> [@codinghorror](#):
>
> The TL;DR is this:
> 
> # IDENTITY = EMAIL
> 
> Remember that Stack Overflow was rather unique in that we did not care, at all, about your email address. _Ever._ Can you name one other major site on the Internet that also does not care about your email when signing up …? Because I can’t.

I have read a few posts here like the one I quoted where @codinghorror says that “IDENTITY = EMAIL”.

I’m not really sure about that myself though so I started a new topic to talk about that idea.

Here are a few points that make me question that idea:

1. In Discourse, you have an email address and a user name.  
In fact you can tag someone by their user name.  
You can’t do that with their email.
2. Email is just an address tied to a mailbox similar to regular mail.  
People don’t usually associate someone’s identity with their street address.  
Just like a street address mailbox is shared by all that live on the street address, email addresses are not a one to one relationship with a mailbox.
3. Discourse doesn’t show a user’s email address publicly.  
So unless you are saying the person’s identity is private.

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_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/about-the-idea-identity-email/34642)._