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You’re not the only one! I unsubscribed from mostly everything and now my inbox gets anywhere from 1 to 2 new spam messages per week. Still annoying when it doe

You’re not the only one! I unsubscribed from mostly everything and now my inbox gets anywhere from 1 to 2 new spam messages per week. Still annoying when it does happen, but a big improvement from before when I was getting 40+ emails per day, in which most were newsletters I never opened or just spam

BeetleB 8y ago
>I unsubscribed from mostly everything and now my inbox gets anywhere from 1 to 2 new spam messages per week. That would only work for a while for me. 6 months later new stuff has crept in and I would have to go through another round of unsubscribing.
- oooglaaa 8y ago
  If you unsubscribe every time you see a new e-mail that you’re not interested in it’ll help keep it in check. For spammers who don’t respect unsubscribes and you’re using Gmail, you can create a filter which immediately trashes the message based on the “from” address
  - BeetleB 8y ago
    >If you unsubscribe every time you see a new e-mail that you’re not interested in it’ll help keep it in check. That statement gets to the crux of the whole situation. Why should I spend time tending an inbox, continually scanning for the unsubscribe link in any new email I receive? The sender put in almost no effort to send me that email, whereas I the recipient have to expend time getting off their list. I don't want to do that for the rest of my life. I'd rather just remove that email from my whitelist (one keystroke). >For spammers who don’t respect unsubscribes and you’re using Gmail, you can create a filter which immediately trashes the message based on the “from” address Same problem as above. I tried it and in the end found maintaining a blacklist (which is what you're essentially suggesting) burdensome. It's continual work for the rest of my life adding people to a blacklist. I inverted the whole thing. Let the sender work to get on my whitelist.
    - oooglaaa 8y ago
      Makes sense. But I’m not sure inverting is really what you’re doing. It seems to me that the people most effected by this will be people who actually want to reach you - Friends, family, work associates. They’ll have to jump through an extra hoop until they’re on your whitelist. On the other hand the spammers don’t really care if their message hits your particular inbox or not, as you’re just one of very many people they’re sending to. Still a cool solution though, and kudos to you for devising a system that works for you.
      - BeetleB 8y ago
        >It seems to me that the people most effected by this will be people who actually want to reach you - Friends, family, work associates. They’ll have to jump through an extra hoop until they’re on your whitelist. Fair point. In practice it has not been a problem. If I really want to get emails from them, I can always add them myself if they do not want to go through the trouble. On the flip side, If someone I know isn't willing to spend a minute once in their life to get access to me, it does send a strong signal on how much they value knowing me.
- ktosobcy 8y ago
  > That would only work for a while for me. 6 months later new stuff has crept in and I would have to go through another round of unsubscribing. OK, but why wait for 6 months? Be proactive - you see something you don't want the either use unsubscribe or filter them out (if it comes from the same sender, but most of the time they give you unsubscribe link which just works…). One annoying thing with unsubscribing is that often they require you to go throu a couple of steps (including providing the e-mail itself) and confirming it so sometimes only clicking on unsubscribe doesn't work with one click. And to make e-mail a nice tool tune what you receive - if you get gazzilion of notifications that you don't read then just unsubscribe…
  - BeetleB 8y ago
    >Be proactive - you see something you don't want the either use unsubscribe or filter them out (if it comes from the same sender, but most of the time they give you unsubscribe link which just works…). I addressed this in another comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18102870 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18102870 Consider the two methods: 1. Just have a whitelist that I've described 2. Be proactive in unsubscribing. If you buy something from someone online, be proactive at the time you buy in finding the box which says you will not receive pointless emails from them (not all vendors will have that option). Ditto if you or an app you want to run requires your email address. My question to you: If I go the proactive route, what do I gain compared to the whitelist approach? Yes, I could be proactive and actively unsubscribe. That is time lost - even if it's not too much time for some people - what is gained by doing it? >And to make e-mail a nice tool tune what you receive - if you get gazzilion of notifications that you don't read then just unsubscribe… I think the difference between me and many of the commenters is this: I want my inbox (and my email usage in general) to be for personal correspondence. A few exceptions are OK, but I want the majority of the emails in my inbox to be personal emails. So it's not about a gazillion notifications. I probably get less than one personal email per day. If I get more than one non-personal email/notification/confirmation receipt etc, then my inbox is more noise than value.
    - ktosobcy 8y ago
      So - instead of doing a little work on your part you are forcing others (in most cases people that you DO WANT to communicate with) to jump through the hoops so they can communicate with your? In most likely event they will give up on the attempt and marketoids will simply find a way to circumvent the protection. Again - you make it seem like it's gigantic work to keep your inbox tidy. Last time I had to click unsubscribe was months ago and it happens like 1-2 times a year - is that too much work?

BeetleB 8y ago

>I unsubscribed from mostly everything and now my inbox gets anywhere from 1 to 2 new spam messages per week. That would only work for a while for me. 6 months later new stuff has crept in and I would have to go through another round of unsubscribing.

oooglaaa 8y ago
If you unsubscribe every time you see a new e-mail that you’re not interested in it’ll help keep it in check. For spammers who don’t respect unsubscribes and you’re using Gmail, you can create a filter which immediately trashes the message based on the “from” address
- BeetleB 8y ago
  >If you unsubscribe every time you see a new e-mail that you’re not interested in it’ll help keep it in check. That statement gets to the crux of the whole situation. Why should I spend time tending an inbox, continually scanning for the unsubscribe link in any new email I receive? The sender put in almost no effort to send me that email, whereas I the recipient have to expend time getting off their list. I don't want to do that for the rest of my life. I'd rather just remove that email from my whitelist (one keystroke). >For spammers who don’t respect unsubscribes and you’re using Gmail, you can create a filter which immediately trashes the message based on the “from” address Same problem as above. I tried it and in the end found maintaining a blacklist (which is what you're essentially suggesting) burdensome. It's continual work for the rest of my life adding people to a blacklist. I inverted the whole thing. Let the sender work to get on my whitelist.
  - oooglaaa 8y ago
    Makes sense. But I’m not sure inverting is really what you’re doing. It seems to me that the people most effected by this will be people who actually want to reach you - Friends, family, work associates. They’ll have to jump through an extra hoop until they’re on your whitelist. On the other hand the spammers don’t really care if their message hits your particular inbox or not, as you’re just one of very many people they’re sending to. Still a cool solution though, and kudos to you for devising a system that works for you.
    - BeetleB 8y ago
      >It seems to me that the people most effected by this will be people who actually want to reach you - Friends, family, work associates. They’ll have to jump through an extra hoop until they’re on your whitelist. Fair point. In practice it has not been a problem. If I really want to get emails from them, I can always add them myself if they do not want to go through the trouble. On the flip side, If someone I know isn't willing to spend a minute once in their life to get access to me, it does send a strong signal on how much they value knowing me.
ktosobcy 8y ago
> That would only work for a while for me. 6 months later new stuff has crept in and I would have to go through another round of unsubscribing. OK, but why wait for 6 months? Be proactive - you see something you don't want the either use unsubscribe or filter them out (if it comes from the same sender, but most of the time they give you unsubscribe link which just works…). One annoying thing with unsubscribing is that often they require you to go throu a couple of steps (including providing the e-mail itself) and confirming it so sometimes only clicking on unsubscribe doesn't work with one click. And to make e-mail a nice tool tune what you receive - if you get gazzilion of notifications that you don't read then just unsubscribe…
- BeetleB 8y ago
  >Be proactive - you see something you don't want the either use unsubscribe or filter them out (if it comes from the same sender, but most of the time they give you unsubscribe link which just works…). I addressed this in another comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18102870 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18102870 Consider the two methods: 1. Just have a whitelist that I've described 2. Be proactive in unsubscribing. If you buy something from someone online, be proactive at the time you buy in finding the box which says you will not receive pointless emails from them (not all vendors will have that option). Ditto if you or an app you want to run requires your email address. My question to you: If I go the proactive route, what do I gain compared to the whitelist approach? Yes, I could be proactive and actively unsubscribe. That is time lost - even if it's not too much time for some people - what is gained by doing it? >And to make e-mail a nice tool tune what you receive - if you get gazzilion of notifications that you don't read then just unsubscribe… I think the difference between me and many of the commenters is this: I want my inbox (and my email usage in general) to be for personal correspondence. A few exceptions are OK, but I want the majority of the emails in my inbox to be personal emails. So it's not about a gazillion notifications. I probably get less than one personal email per day. If I get more than one non-personal email/notification/confirmation receipt etc, then my inbox is more noise than value.
  - ktosobcy 8y ago
    So - instead of doing a little work on your part you are forcing others (in most cases people that you DO WANT to communicate with) to jump through the hoops so they can communicate with your? In most likely event they will give up on the attempt and marketoids will simply find a way to circumvent the protection. Again - you make it seem like it's gigantic work to keep your inbox tidy. Last time I had to click unsubscribe was months ago and it happens like 1-2 times a year - is that too much work?