6 ms·

I want a "plonk" button in Gmail

39 points by kolinko 16y ago

PedroCandeias 16y ago
Don't see the point. Unsubscribing is generally faster than going through the motions of setting up a filter. It's also much more polite. I reserve filters or "mark as spam" for only the stuff with a missing or malfunctioning unsubscription option.
- kolinko 16y ago
  Well - that is the point! The filter should be faster than the "Unsubscribe"! :)
  - grantheaslip 16y ago
    I'm not convinced this is a real problem though. I don't think I've ever thought to myself "man, hitting this unsubscribe link is so annoying, I wish there was a better way!". Plus, why keep all of these emails in a label when you can just opt-out of them at the source?
nhangen 16y ago
I think that if I'm taking the time to sign up for a newsletter and add to the costs of hosting that email account, then unsubscribing when I no longer need it is the right thing to do. I also find it to be the easiest thing to do. In the few cases where I unsub and still get emails, I'd prefer the "Report as Spam" button would just block that sender's address in the future.
JoachimSchipper 16y ago
Obviously, unsubscribing is more polite. That said, maybe GMail and friends could add a button based on a List-unsubscribe header?
- judofyr 16y ago
  If you mark a message as spam and there's a Unsubscribe header, Gmail asks you if you want to unsubscribe from the mailing list itself.
  - larrik 16y ago
    Marking a newsletter you signed up for as "spam" seems pretty harsh.
    - cookiecaper 16y ago
      I usually unsubscribe first, but often these newsletters, which I'm automatically placed on when I order something, or do anything on the site that includes giving out my email, don't respect the request. At that point, "mark as spam" is the appropriate option, but even that doesn't always work and I end up making a filter to delete the messages immediately.
    - fps 16y ago
      I've never signed up for an email newsletter in 15 years online and I get 100 messages a day into my Gmail junk folder, and 10 into my inbox, masquerading as newsletters. They're spam. Pretending that people sign up for these things is a tactic the spammers are using to discourage constructive discussion.
      - pbhjpbhj 16y ago
        >Pretending that people sign up for these things is a tactic the spammers are using to discourage constructive discussion. It was quite common back before RSS feeds and always on internet. One would have newsletters delivered to a MUA and then go offline to save precious minutes from your heady 14.4kbps connection costs. People still do sign up for newsletters. But there is also a lot of spam masquerading as requested mail.
    - halfasleep 16y ago
      Gmail can take a "report spam" as unsubscribe request, for some mailing lists. http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/unsubscribing-made-easy.html http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/unsubscribing-made-eas...
idive 16y ago
That seems like a good idea, until you plonk your US Airways newsletter and realize that you've plonked future flight confirmations as well.
- kolinko 16y ago
  it's still in the archive and usually newsletters are sent from a different mails than newsletters. there could be also some other mechanisms (filtering titles?) - come on, I'm sure there are solutions that won't require me to get through four separate screens and interrupt my workflow!
  - xyzzyb 16y ago
    Is it really a regular part of your workflow? How often are you unsubscribing from lists? Maybe just archive them when you are in the middle of workflow, then have a weekly time when you work up filtering for the non-spam unwanted email you got that week. The priority inbox feature seems like it was made for you as well.
- msluyter 16y ago
  Yes, this is precisely what I thought. I have a gmail label, "bacon," for such cases. I filter bacon by applying the label and then skipping the inbox (archiving). So, for example, my Priceline junk mail doesn't appear in my inbox, but it's not lost if I ever do make a priceline request.
  - lukeschlather 16y ago
    I call it marketing, but it would be nice if there were a way to add an address to the filter with a single click.
    - TheAmazingIdiot 16y ago
      There already is. Its built into emails already. If your username for gmail is user@gmail.com ... Now if you want to use ebay with that address, use user+ebay@mail.com Now all mails will come in, pre-tagged for bins. They've done your work, for you. Edit: its also good for finding out who's sharing addresses without your consent.
zalew 16y ago
I am surprised that there are people that actually unsubscribe from newsletters. I never to that. Instead I filter out the sender from my Gmail ummm, why surprised? why have your email in a database you don't want to use, or why have it send emails you won't read anyway? I think unsubscribing is fair for both sides.
- kolinko 16y ago
  it takes time to unsubscribe, sometimes it's not that easy and sometimes "unsubscribe" is not respected (or mysterious "server error prevents me from unsubscribing) - of course that's not the case of yahoo groups or google groups, but there are quite a few companies that do that.
  - camiller 16y ago
    Most of the time when I unsubscribe it is easy and respected by the sender. When it is not I resort to the gmail filters as a backup.
  - grantheaslip 16y ago
    The vast majority of the time it's a one or two click process. A few sites require you to log in to change your email preferences, but they're few and far between. The one exception I can think of off the top of my head is MTV Networks, who got a hold of my email somehow and won't stop spamming me, even after I've unsubscribed at least a dozen times.
    - kolinko 16y ago
      That's what I'm talking about. We are hackers. Why should we settle for a mediocre solution (like fighting with MTV from time to time) when there is a better around the corner?
      - mcav 16y ago
        A better solution isn't to just block all unwanted messages... a better solution would attempt to unsubscribe, and only if that doesn't work, block the sender.
ditojim 16y ago
gmail actually will attempt to unsubscribe you automatically when you mark a newsletter as spam, sometimes. screenshot: http://imgur.com/HqbVm http://imgur.com/HqbVm so it seems they are trying to solve this problem in a more complete way then filtering the mail thru personal mail filters.
narag 16y ago
A couple of companies regularly sent me spam disguised as a newsletter. I'm completely sure I didn't subscribe to anything from them. Their unsubscribe systems and polite requests didn't work. The worst was that GMail didn't learn to mark them as spam. I found a nice GMail feature: I could create a filter that killed their spam from my inbox and then sent a copy of the message to the addresses that I chose, that were the abuse, postmaster, etc. that previously had ignored me. I also added addresses from DNS database and the staff of the spammers. Unfortunately this feature seems to be disabled for some time now. The filters I created are still there, but I can't create more of their kind.
bkhl 16y ago
Windows Live Hotmail already does a similar thing with its new Sweep feature.
- kolinko 16y ago
  cool! :)

39 points by kolinko 16y ago

Don't see the point. Unsubscribing is generally faster than going through the motions of setting up a filter. It's also much more polite. I reserve filters or "mark as spam" for only the stuff with a missing or malfunctioning unsubscription option.

kolinko 16y ago
Well - that is the point! The filter should be faster than the "Unsubscribe"! :)
- grantheaslip 16y ago
  I'm not convinced this is a real problem though. I don't think I've ever thought to myself "man, hitting this unsubscribe link is so annoying, I wish there was a better way!". Plus, why keep all of these emails in a label when you can just opt-out of them at the source?

nhangen 16y ago

I think that if I'm taking the time to sign up for a newsletter and add to the costs of hosting that email account, then unsubscribing when I no longer need it is the right thing to do. I also find it to be the easiest thing to do. In the few cases where I unsub and still get emails, I'd prefer the "Report as Spam" button would just block that sender's address in the future.

JoachimSchipper 16y ago

Obviously, unsubscribing is more polite. That said, maybe GMail and friends could add a button based on a List-unsubscribe header?

judofyr 16y ago
If you mark a message as spam and there's a Unsubscribe header, Gmail asks you if you want to unsubscribe from the mailing list itself.
- larrik 16y ago
  Marking a newsletter you signed up for as "spam" seems pretty harsh.
  - cookiecaper 16y ago
    I usually unsubscribe first, but often these newsletters, which I'm automatically placed on when I order something, or do anything on the site that includes giving out my email, don't respect the request. At that point, "mark as spam" is the appropriate option, but even that doesn't always work and I end up making a filter to delete the messages immediately.
  - fps 16y ago
    I've never signed up for an email newsletter in 15 years online and I get 100 messages a day into my Gmail junk folder, and 10 into my inbox, masquerading as newsletters. They're spam. Pretending that people sign up for these things is a tactic the spammers are using to discourage constructive discussion.
    - pbhjpbhj 16y ago
      >Pretending that people sign up for these things is a tactic the spammers are using to discourage constructive discussion. It was quite common back before RSS feeds and always on internet. One would have newsletters delivered to a MUA and then go offline to save precious minutes from your heady 14.4kbps connection costs. People still do sign up for newsletters. But there is also a lot of spam masquerading as requested mail.
  - halfasleep 16y ago
    Gmail can take a "report spam" as unsubscribe request, for some mailing lists. http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/unsubscribing-made-easy.html http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/unsubscribing-made-eas...

idive 16y ago

That seems like a good idea, until you plonk your US Airways newsletter and realize that you've plonked future flight confirmations as well.

kolinko 16y ago
it's still in the archive and usually newsletters are sent from a different mails than newsletters. there could be also some other mechanisms (filtering titles?) - come on, I'm sure there are solutions that won't require me to get through four separate screens and interrupt my workflow!
- xyzzyb 16y ago
  Is it really a regular part of your workflow? How often are you unsubscribing from lists? Maybe just archive them when you are in the middle of workflow, then have a weekly time when you work up filtering for the non-spam unwanted email you got that week. The priority inbox feature seems like it was made for you as well.
msluyter 16y ago
Yes, this is precisely what I thought. I have a gmail label, "bacon," for such cases. I filter bacon by applying the label and then skipping the inbox (archiving). So, for example, my Priceline junk mail doesn't appear in my inbox, but it's not lost if I ever do make a priceline request.
- lukeschlather 16y ago
  I call it marketing, but it would be nice if there were a way to add an address to the filter with a single click.
  - TheAmazingIdiot 16y ago
    There already is. Its built into emails already. If your username for gmail is user@gmail.com ... Now if you want to use ebay with that address, use user+ebay@mail.com Now all mails will come in, pre-tagged for bins. They've done your work, for you. Edit: its also good for finding out who's sharing addresses without your consent.

zalew 16y ago

I am surprised that there are people that actually unsubscribe from newsletters. I never to that. Instead I filter out the sender from my Gmail ummm, why surprised? why have your email in a database you don't want to use, or why have it send emails you won't read anyway? I think unsubscribing is fair for both sides.

kolinko 16y ago
it takes time to unsubscribe, sometimes it's not that easy and sometimes "unsubscribe" is not respected (or mysterious "server error prevents me from unsubscribing) - of course that's not the case of yahoo groups or google groups, but there are quite a few companies that do that.
- camiller 16y ago
  Most of the time when I unsubscribe it is easy and respected by the sender. When it is not I resort to the gmail filters as a backup.
- grantheaslip 16y ago
  The vast majority of the time it's a one or two click process. A few sites require you to log in to change your email preferences, but they're few and far between. The one exception I can think of off the top of my head is MTV Networks, who got a hold of my email somehow and won't stop spamming me, even after I've unsubscribed at least a dozen times.
  - kolinko 16y ago
    That's what I'm talking about. We are hackers. Why should we settle for a mediocre solution (like fighting with MTV from time to time) when there is a better around the corner?
    - mcav 16y ago
      A better solution isn't to just block all unwanted messages... a better solution would attempt to unsubscribe, and only if that doesn't work, block the sender.

ditojim 16y ago

gmail actually will attempt to unsubscribe you automatically when you mark a newsletter as spam, sometimes. screenshot: http://imgur.com/HqbVm http://imgur.com/HqbVm so it seems they are trying to solve this problem in a more complete way then filtering the mail thru personal mail filters.

narag 16y ago

A couple of companies regularly sent me spam disguised as a newsletter. I'm completely sure I didn't subscribe to anything from them. Their unsubscribe systems and polite requests didn't work. The worst was that GMail didn't learn to mark them as spam. I found a nice GMail feature: I could create a filter that killed their spam from my inbox and then sent a copy of the message to the addresses that I chose, that were the abuse, postmaster, etc. that previously had ignored me. I also added addresses from DNS database and the staff of the spammers. Unfortunately this feature seems to be disabled for some time now. The filters I created are still there, but I can't create more of their kind.

bkhl 16y ago

Windows Live Hotmail already does a similar thing with its new Sweep feature.

kolinko 16y ago
cool! :)