diff --git a/src/lib/spam-check.test.ts b/src/lib/spam-check.test.ts
index b7e8bed6..fbc73806 100644
--- a/src/lib/spam-check.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/spam-check.test.ts
@@ -98,8 +98,21 @@ describe("checkEmail", () => {
     expect(checkEmail(email).spam).toBe(false);
   });
 
+  // Initials followed by digits is one of the most ordinary shapes a real
+  // address takes, and it used to be a hard block with no appeal: a reporter's
+  // years-old personal address was refused as "Email matches spam pattern".
+  // An address is not something a blocked signup can just pick differently.
+  it.each([
+    ["abc123456789@example.com", "the shape reported as blocked"],
+    ["ab123456@example.com", "two initials and a digit run"],
+    ["jsm19850612@example.com", "initials and a date of birth"],
+    ["kp4155550143@example.com", "initials and a phone fragment"],
+    ["xy31415926535@example.com", "initials and digits of pi"],
+  ])("allows email: %s (%s)", (email) => {
+    expect(checkEmail(email).spam).toBe(false);
+  });
+
   it.each([
-    ["ab123456@example.com", "letters then a long digit run"],
     ["x7f2q9k1m4z8p3w6r5t0@example.com", "long random local part"],
     ["someone+x7f2q9k1m4z8@gmail.com", "generated-looking tag"],
     ["someone@mailinator.com", "disposable domain"],
diff --git a/src/lib/spam-check.ts b/src/lib/spam-check.ts
index 550bb7f3..e8271f8e 100644
--- a/src/lib/spam-check.ts
+++ b/src/lib/spam-check.ts
@@ -151,8 +151,24 @@ const DISPOSABLE_DOMAINS = new Set([
   "guerrillamail.org", "harakirimail.com", "mailforspam.com",
 ]);
 
+/**
+ * Local parts that are random rather than chosen.
+ *
+ * There used to be a second rule here, `/^[a-z]{2,3}\d{6,}@/i`, meant to catch
+ * `ab123456@`. It caught people instead. Initials followed by digits is one of
+ * the most ordinary ways a real address is formed — a birth year, a phone
+ * fragment, digits of pi — and the shape alone says nothing about who typed it.
+ * It blocked a reporter's long-established personal Gmail address with nothing
+ * but "Email matches spam pattern" and no route back in.
+ *
+ * Unlike a username, an email address is not something a blocked signup can
+ * simply pick differently, so a false positive here is a closed door rather than
+ * an inconvenience. The same reasoning retired the plus-tag length rule below,
+ * and corroboration replaced shape in checkSpam (#531): what marks a generated
+ * address is randomness, which the length rule already covers, not the presence
+ * of digits after letters.
+ */
 const SPAM_EMAIL_PATTERNS = [
-  /^[a-z]{2,3}\d{6,}@/i,           // ab123456@...
   /^[a-z0-9]{20,}@/i,               // long random local part
 ];