A few months back, I blogged about changing domains and over the last few months I've been slowly updating email addresses at all the sites I have accounts for to a new domain. Rather than using a catchall this time, I decided to go with plus addressing. This means I can allow catchall mail to be swallowed (which will reduce the amount of spam I see) while still maintaining individual addresses for filtering/blocking purposes.

Microsoft Email Fail

Update (5th September 2011): I've since been able to fix this problem by signing up again at domains.live.com and proving I owned the domain, and then closing the account. Looks like it was a result of signing up to Windows Live Custom Domains thing may years ago!

Today I came to update the email addresses associated with my Microsoft passports (Live IDs, whatever they're called this week). My current addresses all end with dantup.me.uk (which won't be renewed), and I wanted to change them to be an address at my new domain.

I found the correct page to change my email address. It was a bit frustrating that I had to type my password (the form doesn't allow pasting), but I can live with that. What I can't live with, is being told I can't use my email address! Note: This is unrelated to using a plus in the email address, since it happens without it.

Unfortunately there's very little information in the error to help me track this down. I have absolutely no idea what the problem could be. If Microsoft are no longer allowing custom email addresses, then the radio option shouldn't be there. If my domain has been somehow blacklisted - I'd love to know why!

Unfortunately the help links all point to stupid FAQs and help pages, with no visible way of contacting Microsoft with these kind of issues. The issue is annoying on its own, but when you're a company the size of Microsoft, not having a way for a user to contact you with these sorts of problems is inexcusable.

Blizzard Battle.net Email Fail

OK, time to try updating my Battle.net/World of Warcraft email address. World of Warcraft accounts were recently merged into Battle.net accounts, so the website is all fairly new. Similar form to the Microsoft one, though it asks for the answer to my secret question. I complete all fields correctly and click Save. Doh! An error. Unfortunately, there's no error text - just a box! Note: This is unrelated to using a plus in the email address, since it happens without it.

I checked on Google and it seems I'm not the only one with this problem. Some people had joy changing browser or clearing caches, but I'm stuck with the problem in IE8 and Chrome regardless. Most of the responses from Blizzard employees in the forums just ask the player to phone them rather than actually trying to track down the issue. Well done, Blizzard.

Facebook Email Fail

OK, Facebook went a little smoother. I could change my email address. What I couldn't do, however, was use a plus in my email address. Just in case you're wondering, here's what the specs say about plusses in email addresses:

Without quotes, local-parts may consist of any combination of alphabetic characters, digits, or any of the special characters

! # $ % & ' * + - / = ? ^ _ ` . { | } ~

Looks pretty clear to me. Plusses are valid. Let's see what Facebook have to say about this in a reply to someone that's already notified them of this bug in their website.

Well, it's quite clear Facebook don't give a shit. "There are no exceptions to this rule". Well that's just super. They may as well have said "We can't be arsed fixing our site, so please change your email address". This kinda of attitude is pathetic from a company this big. What's wrong with "Thanks for the report - I'll pass this on to the correct team and we'll see what they can do"? If you're not going to fix it, at least lie to us.

Other Email Fail

Unfortunately, the email fail doesn't end there. Here's a few other sites/apps/games that don't allow plusses in email addresses I've come across just since January:

• Facebook
• Dominos Pizza
• Square Enix Final Fantasy MMO Beta Signup
• Lord of the Rings Online MMO
• Aika MMO
• Perfect World MMO
• Mersey Tunnels FastTag
• Swiftcover Car Insurance
• Argos online reservation
• Xbox Live

I'm sure there are many, many more. I'd like to send emails to them all and let them know (from an email address containing a plus, ofcourse) but based on the Facebook response above, I'm really not sure it's worth the effort.