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Possible Duplicate:
What should I do if a user posts sensitive information as part of a question or answer?

While browsing Stack Overflow, I have noticed that some people have posts with their email address (personal). Some are inside the code and some are in the body of the question asking answers to be sent to them.

I want to know if there are any rules regarding this. I have edited the codes which contain such email address to something like [email protected]. Is this correct approach as well?

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    @SulfurizedDemonbobby While certainly related, that question appears to address more serious sensitive information than a mere email address, and doesn't address the second question here at all.
    – blahdiblah
    Commented Oct 10, 2012 at 7:10
  • I wouldn't edit it out myself just post comment alerting the author of this issue. It's a person's full right to reveal his/her public email address and it's not our role to force them to hide it.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Oct 10, 2012 at 7:15
  • On a slightly related note: what's up with some people calling email addresses "email ids"? Is that a regional thing? My personal impression is that that's mostly an Indian English thing to do.
    – Joachim Sauer
    Commented Oct 10, 2012 at 7:33
  • Should (real) e-mail-addresses be forbidden in questions/answers?
    – Time Traveling Bobby
    Commented Oct 10, 2012 at 8:23

2 Answers 2

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Removing email addresses inadvertently included in someone's example code is a polite way to try and cut down on the amount of spam they receive and poses no problem unless the specific address is somehow important to the post.

Someone asking for answers to be emailed to them has a fundamental misunderstanding of how Stack Overflow and the rest of the Stack Exchange sites work. Every question is intended to serve not only the asker, but also any future visitors facing the same problem. If someone just wants someone else to solve their problem for them, and then deliver it, they should look into sites like rentacoder.com instead.

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  • Note that even if you edit the address out, it will still be visible in the history... So you're only really protecting them against human abuse.
    – Benjol
    Commented Oct 10, 2012 at 11:15
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Based on the replies to the possible duplicate question, I'd say, edit it out and explain to the OP why posting sensitive information on there might be troublesome.

Further, the feature "Notify me by email" at the bottom of the question serves exactly this purpose. Therefore, directing the OP to use that feature might be in their best interests

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