4 ms·
Opting out of something you asked to receive is the courteous thing to do. If your interests have changed and what you signed up for is no longer relevant to y
by biot 15y ago
Opting out of something you asked to receive is the courteous thing to do. If your interests have changed and what you signed up for is no longer relevant to you, it's the best thing all around. The company doesn't have to keep trying to send you emails that you don't want which might be getting rejected by your mail server using cryptic messages (for example, major ISPs use some variant of a 4NN response such as Yahoo's 451 message deferred) making your mail server waste resources rejecting messages you don't want. The sending mail server also keeps retrying until it either gives up as undeliverable or until it eventually gets into your mailbox. If it makes it to your inbox then you waste your time marking it as spam again. Or maybe it goes into your spam folder where you waste your time reviewing the messages to ensure there were no false positives. It also penalizes other users who actually do want to receive the email since that email has a higher likelihood of getting delayed or undelivered because of your actions.
By all means mark as spam stuff you didn't opt in to receive. But marking stuff you did opt in to receive is the digital equivalent of hanging up on your best friend when he calls to see if you'd like to go for your usual weekly coffee. He keeps calling back thinking there was a phone problem and you keep hanging up on him. Wouldn't it be better if you just said "Hey dude, I know we agreed to go for coffee every Monday but I actually stopped drinking coffee a few weeks ago."
- click170 15y ago"Or maybe it goes into your spam folder where you waste your time reviewing the messages to ensure there were no false positives. It also penalizes other users who actually do want to receive the email since that email has a higher likelihood of getting delayed or undelivered because of your actions." I don't check my spam folder, if it's really important and by some fluke chance their email gets marked as spam, they can call me, my number is just as readily available as my email address to those who need to know it. I use Gmail, and haven't had to check my spam folder in years. Further, I'd argue it's the company sending the emails who is penalizing the legitimate users by not providing an unsubscribe link (or equivalent) in the email. My process is simple: if I receive a newsletter that was opted in to that I don't want to receive anymore I look for an unsubscribe link and if I can't find one I email the admin explaining why I think they should have one and requesting that they remove me manually (intended to be a penalty for not providing a sufficiently automated mechanism). If the emails persist, I will mark them as spam and if I'm feeling particularly resentful, I'll set up a filter to forward them all back at the admin. If they're providing an easy way to opt out, marking it as spam is overkill. However, having to login in order to opt out is inappropriate and potentially illegal.
- click170 15y ago"...marking stuff [as spam that] you did opt in to receive is the digital equivalent of hanging up on your best friend when he calls to see if you'd like to go for your usual weekly coffee." I call shenanigans. Bad analogy, a better one would go like this; Your friend calls you asking if you want to go out for coffee, and you say no. 5 minutes later, he calls back asking again if you want to go out for coffee, and you say 'no, stop calling me'. Again 5 minutes later he calls you back, so you block his number. You've tried to tell them you don't want them to contact you anymore, yet they persist. That my friend is spam, and I will mark it appropriately.