Why do I have to type my email address twice?

Infopackets Reader 'Katie' asks:

" Why is it that some sites ask that you type in your email address twice using a web form? What does typing in your email address two times have to do with anything? It's simple enough to cut and paste the email address into the second line, but a hassle. What do you think? "

My response:

A web site with a form to enter an email address twice is for the purpose of verifying that you've typed in the address correctly. For example: any web site with a subscription service (via email) would implement this type of verification scheme to limit the number of bogus email addresses in their database.

In short: the more bogus addresses, the longer it takes to send out email to a large list of people. Often times, bogus email addresses get placed back into the mail queue if they cannot be delivered, which wastes resources (disk space and processing time). This can be very problematic from a large scale perspective, especially if the service sends emails out on a daily basis.

Hope that answers your question.