# \`levenshtein distance spammer emails\` should flag accounts that are similar even if no accounts have been marked as spammers yet

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/levenshtein-distance-spammer-emails-should-flag-accounts-that-are-similar-even-if-no-accounts-have-been-marked-as-spammers-yet/49858
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [7 בספטמבר,‏ 2016,‏ 10:10pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/levenshtein-distance-spammer-emails-should-flag-accounts-that-are-similar-even-if-no-accounts-have-been-marked-as-spammers-yet/49858 "2016-09-07T22:10:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 27

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### Author: ![pfaffman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/pfaffman/32/120154_2.png) [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [8 בספטמבר,‏ 2016,‏ 7:55pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/levenshtein-distance-spammer-emails-should-flag-accounts-that-are-similar-even-if-no-accounts-have-been-marked-as-spammers-yet/49858/27 "2016-09-08T19:55:39Z")

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Right now it’s handy to be able to use [username+somestring@gmail.com](mailto:username+somestring@gmail.com) to create a second account with the same username. I recommended it to someone [here](https://meta.discourse.org/t/seeding-a-new-forum-by-creating-users-and-content/49345/3). If the intent is to keep people from creating multiple accounts, though, the code should strip dots from (at least) gmail addresses as well as `+` up to the `@`.

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_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/levenshtein-distance-spammer-emails-should-flag-accounts-that-are-similar-even-if-no-accounts-have-been-marked-as-spammers-yet/49858)._