4 ms·
That's placing an awful lot of faith in this third-party website doing what it is intended to do, as opposed to other possibilities such as it not doing much of
by Ansil849 4y ago
That's placing an awful lot of faith in this third-party website doing what it is intended to do, as opposed to other possibilities such as it not doing much of anything at all, or worse yet, exposing your data at some point.
Instead, my approach whenever I receive junkmail is:
1) I write to the sender to request that all of my information be removed from their databases and that I did not consent to receiving any information from them.
2) I file a report with the Better Business Bureau: https://www.bbb.org/file-a-complaint https://www.bbb.org/file-a-complaint
3) If they have a public-facing presence on a site like Google Reviews, Yelp, and so on, I leave a review detailing that this company sends out spam.
4) And most importantly, I keep a spreadsheet of companies that have sent me spam, and try to avoid ever giving them any of my money or labor.
- orzig 4y agoFirst, thank you. I’m free riding in the positive pressure you’ve exerted. Does it work for you? Do they stop, and is it worth the time? Also, do you go through all four steps at the “first offense”? Rightly or not it’s considered business as usual to blanket a geographical area on occasion, so there are only a few places which are constant enough I’d actually consider myself vengeful instead of annoyed.
- Ansil849 4y ago> Does it work for you? Do they stop, and is it worth the time? Actually, surprisingly yes! After doing the above for several years, I now get virtually zero junk mail (according to my spreadsheet, I've only received three pieces of junk mail so far this year). And yes, I do it on the 'first offense' to nip it in the bud as soon as it starts.
- paxys 4y agoMost of the functioning of the US government at every level (city/state/federal) relies on private third parties doing the heavy lifting. In some cases it is visible to you up front (like this one), otherwise it is just happening behind the scenes. A blanket "I don't trust third parties" stance means you have to live a completely self sustained lifestyle off the grid.
- Ansil849 4y ago> A blanket "I don't trust third parties" stance Except this is not a blanket stance, but a very specific stance against the specific third-party in question: dmachoice.org, which states that they may use information they collect about you for digital advertising: > Information gathered by cookies or similar technologies may be used for our business purposes such as analytics, research, digital advertising, and operational purposes. [1] [1] https://www.dmachoice.org/static/privacy_policy.php https://www.dmachoice.org/static/privacy_policy.php Sorry, but I'm not paying $2 to replace physical spam with digital spam.
- PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago> I file a report with the Better Business Bureau: https://www.bbb.org/file-a-complaint https://www.bbb.org/file-a-complaint Ah, the boomer/"greatest-generation" version of something like Angie's List. I used to believe in BBB too, until I realized it was just another middle-layer scam, sitting between businesses and consumers, with time-varying ideas over who should pay to either (a) get information (b) control information.
- chrsstrm 4y agoThe International Association of Better Business Bureaus is listed as a 501(c)(6) and their EIN is 83-3454617 but they don't provide any links to their financial reports or required filings on their website and trying to search for their Form 990 comes up blank, even on the IRS website. But I'm sure they're totally legit...
- RajT88 4y agoAll the shady behavior that Yelp has been accused of, but largely never caught doing, various state level BBB's have been caught doing. It beggars belief that Yelp has gotten away with it. I have heard from 4-5 restaurant owners the same story: it costs $300 to hide bad reviews. Those that don't pay start getting more bad reviews.
- Ansil849 4y ago> It beggars belief that Yelp has gotten away with it. I have heard from 4-5 restaurant owners the same story: it costs $300 to hide bad reviews. Is there documented evidence of this available? Emails with DKIM signatures, recorded conversations with representatives who can be confirmed to work for Yelp, official Yelp correspondence, etc? Basically anything that can actually make a solid case instead of just anecdotal evidence.
- RajT88 4y agoNope. What I have been told is it is always a phone call shakedown. Random call, I am not sure if they followup. Suffice it to say, AFAIK no one has managed to record the shakedown calls.
- kevin_thibedeau 4y agoThe BBB is a protection racket. You're wasting your time on them.
- shawnz 4y agoDoesn't your argument against using the third party agency DMAchoice apply just the same to the BBB?
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- dinkleberg 4y agoThat sounds a lot more complicated than taking a chance and paying the $2 to see if it works. If it doesn't your method works as backup.