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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 surpr

by 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.
      - yummyfajitas 16y ago
        A better solution is one button which both attempts to automatically unsubscribe, and blocks further emails if the list does not respect the user's choice. Why should I have to do extra work just because MTV is hostile to users? Or because Hallmark's database takes 10 days to update, gamespot's unsubscribe servers are permanently broken, or because some crappy website demands your login info? http://imgur.com/mzqKk http://imgur.com/mzqKk http://imgur.com/Yn5eD http://imgur.com/Yn5eD http://i.imgur.com/yoky5.jpg http://i.imgur.com/yoky5.jpg
        idive 16y ago
        Google's Report Spam button is actually pretty close to that. If the message has a List-Unsubscribe header, it offers to use that after hitting the Spam button. And usually they don't really take 10 days, but that's the limit the law permits so they give themselves as much wiggle room as possible.
      - Bud 16y ago
        I agree with yummyfajitas' take. My rebuttals to some of the other comments in this thread so far: 1. It's not "harsh" to mark anything as spam in your email; the only person it affects is you. The sender will not, of course, even know whether you've classified their stuff as spam. 2. Some commenters are claiming that it's not that much extra effort to visit the sender's site and unsubscribe yourself. This is manifestly not always the case, and more to the point, the user does not KNOW in advance whether it will be the case, when starting the process. However, hitting a plonk button in your mail client will always have a known time-suck-factor in advance. 3. Hitting a plonk button is also, of course, guaranteed to be at least one page-load and one click easier than any possible solution involving visiting a sender's website. Even if there's an unsub link in the spammy email itself, a plonk button is still one page-load less, and easier to find from a UI standpoint. So in sum, plonk is guaranteed to win from on ease of use. Not even a debatable question. 4. Some argue that taking time to unsubscribe yourself via the sender's website is just "the right thing to do", given that you subscribed to their emails in the first place. It seems to me that it should be incumbent on the marketer, not the customer, to make unsubscribing as easy as possible, and to "do the right thing". This should be the default.
  - idive 16y ago
    For what it's worth, it is actually illegal for US-based companies to require a login or any other nonsense to unsubscribe. CAN-SPAM (for all its many faults) is actually pretty specific about making unsubscribing from a newsletter very easy.

by zalew 16y ago

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.
    - yummyfajitas 16y ago
      A better solution is one button which both attempts to automatically unsubscribe, and blocks further emails if the list does not respect the user's choice. Why should I have to do extra work just because MTV is hostile to users? Or because Hallmark's database takes 10 days to update, gamespot's unsubscribe servers are permanently broken, or because some crappy website demands your login info? http://imgur.com/mzqKk http://imgur.com/mzqKk http://imgur.com/Yn5eD http://imgur.com/Yn5eD http://i.imgur.com/yoky5.jpg http://i.imgur.com/yoky5.jpg
      - idive 16y ago
        Google's Report Spam button is actually pretty close to that. If the message has a List-Unsubscribe header, it offers to use that after hitting the Spam button. And usually they don't really take 10 days, but that's the limit the law permits so they give themselves as much wiggle room as possible.
    - Bud 16y ago
      I agree with yummyfajitas' take. My rebuttals to some of the other comments in this thread so far: 1. It's not "harsh" to mark anything as spam in your email; the only person it affects is you. The sender will not, of course, even know whether you've classified their stuff as spam. 2. Some commenters are claiming that it's not that much extra effort to visit the sender's site and unsubscribe yourself. This is manifestly not always the case, and more to the point, the user does not KNOW in advance whether it will be the case, when starting the process. However, hitting a plonk button in your mail client will always have a known time-suck-factor in advance. 3. Hitting a plonk button is also, of course, guaranteed to be at least one page-load and one click easier than any possible solution involving visiting a sender's website. Even if there's an unsub link in the spammy email itself, a plonk button is still one page-load less, and easier to find from a UI standpoint. So in sum, plonk is guaranteed to win from on ease of use. Not even a debatable question. 4. Some argue that taking time to unsubscribe yourself via the sender's website is just "the right thing to do", given that you subscribed to their emails in the first place. It seems to me that it should be incumbent on the marketer, not the customer, to make unsubscribing as easy as possible, and to "do the right thing". This should be the default.
- idive 16y ago
  For what it's worth, it is actually illegal for US-based companies to require a login or any other nonsense to unsubscribe. CAN-SPAM (for all its many faults) is actually pretty specific about making unsubscribing from a newsletter very easy.