… that it’s getting more and more difficult to “unsubscribe” to unwanted emails?
Comments
Have you noticed … — 13 Comments
Perhaps it might turn easier to unsubscribe *from* them.
Yes.
I think when you click one of those “unsubscribe” links it just verifies to them that the email address is valid and encourages them to send more (and probably sell your email address to spammers).
It’s usually more effective just to block emails from the domain in your email client.
The number of subscribers on a mailing list is an important metric in online revenue. Usually what you are getting through that list is free, and it’s paid for by the small number of subscribers who buy something. Making it easy for you to unsubscribe reduces their perceived value to potential investors.
Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die. I call this enshittification, and it is a seemingly inevitable consequence arising from the combination of the ease of changing how a platform allocates value, combined with the nature of a “two-sided market”, where a platform sits between buyers and sellers, hold each hostage to the other, raking off an ever-larger share of the value that passes between them.
Have heard that many email users have huge amounts of spam – my spam folder doesn’t get many. Maybe 4-5 times a year I find something like 10-15 spam emails in it. Usually just 2-4 every other day…
Most emails I’ve gotten over the past year have been GOP crap. If I hit “unsubscribe” and it gives me trouble unsubscribing – or they show back up then its to the spam folder.
Overall – unsubscribing generally works for me…
I just set up a rule sending e-mails I cannot unsubscribe to to my spam folder,
It is useful to have a second email account to use for when you have to give an email address to complete a purchase or whatever. I have been able to stop the political emails by unsubscribing, but they actually have a decent address.
If you see that a web address that is a jumble of letters & numbers, then just let your mail program send it to the spam folder or block it. I think if you try to open the email or contact them, it just increases the spam.
What bugs me is that some sellers send out a ton of emails and then send you paper catalogs. And, if you see something nice in the catalog, it is already sold out on the website.
Liz makes great points. I have 3 main email addies – only one get spam. That’s the one I give out for purchases ‘n such.
Also, like Liz says, look at new emails for a real addy – don’t even open those with “jumble of letters & numbers”.
You Netflix is closing … Your payment failed … Someone is using your Home Depot account … etc.
Yeah, check the addy before opening…
I have quite a few email addresses I use for different purposes. But I still want to unsubscribe to certain things, even though those things usually are only at one particular email address.
And I don’t want to send the email addresses of these companies to spam, or to block them, because for the most part I want to be able to hear from them in the future if I communicate with them.
Sailorcurt:
No. I’ve found that until now, about 4 times out of 5, clicking on “unsubscribe” works just fine. But lately it’s working less often. And by “lately” I mean in the past week or so.
And please see my comment above this one about why I don’t want to block them. Most are companies I sometimes do business with. I just don’t want to get their emails advertising stuff.
Every now and then they give a choice of what type of emails to unsubscribe to. But usually it’s all or nothing.
I donated in the past election cycle, and started getting emails from “dailygopnews.” I can’t unsubscribe. It seems to me that it’s an email service, and separate GOP candidates or groups use it to send emails. Unsubscribing stops only the ones from each specific group, not from the server. I gave up and report them all to spam.
Kate – I had that problem with dailygopnews but I kept unsubscribing from them and also kept track on which candidates the emails came from. Since it is an email service, it takes a few times for a particular candidate to stop. Eventually, I think I was taken off the main gop list. But it is work to get off the lists.
Yes. Almost impossible. For the first time in over 20 years, I’m trying to think of a new email address because of the spam you can’t stop.
Yes. As Sailorcurt says, attempting to unsubscribe simply verifies your email address as belonging to a human.
Flag the sender as Junk or Spam. That will get it out of your inbox, at least until they switch their address.
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Perhaps it might turn easier to unsubscribe *from* them.
Yes.
I think when you click one of those “unsubscribe” links it just verifies to them that the email address is valid and encourages them to send more (and probably sell your email address to spammers).
It’s usually more effective just to block emails from the domain in your email client.
The number of subscribers on a mailing list is an important metric in online revenue. Usually what you are getting through that list is free, and it’s paid for by the small number of subscribers who buy something. Making it easy for you to unsubscribe reduces their perceived value to potential investors.
Possibly connected:
Have heard that many email users have huge amounts of spam – my spam folder doesn’t get many. Maybe 4-5 times a year I find something like 10-15 spam emails in it. Usually just 2-4 every other day…
Most emails I’ve gotten over the past year have been GOP crap. If I hit “unsubscribe” and it gives me trouble unsubscribing – or they show back up then its to the spam folder.
Overall – unsubscribing generally works for me…
I just set up a rule sending e-mails I cannot unsubscribe to to my spam folder,
It is useful to have a second email account to use for when you have to give an email address to complete a purchase or whatever. I have been able to stop the political emails by unsubscribing, but they actually have a decent address.
If you see that a web address that is a jumble of letters & numbers, then just let your mail program send it to the spam folder or block it. I think if you try to open the email or contact them, it just increases the spam.
What bugs me is that some sellers send out a ton of emails and then send you paper catalogs. And, if you see something nice in the catalog, it is already sold out on the website.
Liz makes great points. I have 3 main email addies – only one get spam. That’s the one I give out for purchases ‘n such.
Also, like Liz says, look at new emails for a real addy – don’t even open those with “jumble of letters & numbers”.
Yeah, check the addy before opening…
I have quite a few email addresses I use for different purposes. But I still want to unsubscribe to certain things, even though those things usually are only at one particular email address.
And I don’t want to send the email addresses of these companies to spam, or to block them, because for the most part I want to be able to hear from them in the future if I communicate with them.
Sailorcurt:
No. I’ve found that until now, about 4 times out of 5, clicking on “unsubscribe” works just fine. But lately it’s working less often. And by “lately” I mean in the past week or so.
And please see my comment above this one about why I don’t want to block them. Most are companies I sometimes do business with. I just don’t want to get their emails advertising stuff.
Every now and then they give a choice of what type of emails to unsubscribe to. But usually it’s all or nothing.
I donated in the past election cycle, and started getting emails from “dailygopnews.” I can’t unsubscribe. It seems to me that it’s an email service, and separate GOP candidates or groups use it to send emails. Unsubscribing stops only the ones from each specific group, not from the server. I gave up and report them all to spam.
Kate – I had that problem with dailygopnews but I kept unsubscribing from them and also kept track on which candidates the emails came from. Since it is an email service, it takes a few times for a particular candidate to stop. Eventually, I think I was taken off the main gop list. But it is work to get off the lists.
Yes. Almost impossible. For the first time in over 20 years, I’m trying to think of a new email address because of the spam you can’t stop.
Yes. As Sailorcurt says, attempting to unsubscribe simply verifies your email address as belonging to a human.
Flag the sender as Junk or Spam. That will get it out of your inbox, at least until they switch their address.