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My biggest gripe is with Action Network.org and related tools like NPGvan. I’ll get multiple texts from politicians on the same day when I’ve actively “unsubsc

My biggest gripe is with Action Network.org and related tools like NPGvan. I’ll get multiple texts from politicians on the same day when I’ve actively “unsubscribe and report as junk” for several years now. I’m political active but don’t want to be text spammed. I’ve reached out multiple times asking to remove my contact or to add me to a global deny list and they say “that’s not possible, we don’t control who our clients send to” which is absolute garbage. But if they had that feature the people who pay them would get fewer messages delivered so they don’t want to implement it. No matter how many lists I take myself off, there’s no way to prevent someone from adding it back on to a different list and these days candidates each have dozens. It’s frustrating to lose agency like that and I’ve stopped donating through them all together :(

teraflop 4y ago
The trick to removing yourself from ActionNetwork's mailings is in how you phrase it. If you ask to be "removed from mailing lists", they will tell you that the only way to do so is to click the "Unsubscribe" link in the footer, and that there's no way to prevent yourself from being added to new lists. But if you're persistent, they'll admit that there's another option: you can ask to be added to the "global block list", which they'll warn you is irrevocable. (I'm sure there's no good reason for the irrevocability, except to make people think twice about taking that option.) Like you, I have stopped donating to candidates who use them.
brookst 4y ago
NGPVan is a scourge. I gave several thousand dollars to political causes in the 2020 cycle and I have regretted it ever since. Never again, and I sincerely hope they are bankrupted by a huge class action.
raldi 4y ago
In many jurisdictions (e.g., California), there’s no requirement for a registered voter to have a phone or email account. Political campaigns are allowed to use voter registration records to generate their spam lists, and most of them do. Years ago I updated my voter record to remove the email address and phone number, and by the next election, my text, voice, and email political spam dropped to near zero.
- thewebcount 4y ago
  Do you happen to know the link to do this? I'd love to do this!
  - raldi 4y ago
    Just google wherever you live plus “voter registration”
    - metadat 4y ago
      The state of California only let's you update your email address, no phone number is referenced or displayed. https://voterstatus.sos.ca.gov/ https://voterstatus.sos.ca.gov/
      - raldi 4y ago
        San Francisco certainly asks for your phone number: https://www.sfelections.org/tools/regupdate/regupd.php https://www.sfelections.org/tools/regupdate/regupd.php
InCityDreams 4y ago
..call the politicians office?
rtpg 4y ago
You need to email NGPVan directly. Tell them you want off all of their systems. They will say they don’t have a way to do this. You then reply that they are lying. You can also threaten to contact the FCC (a bluff given political spam is exempted from so much). They will then remove you.

teraflop 4y ago

The trick to removing yourself from ActionNetwork's mailings is in how you phrase it. If you ask to be "removed from mailing lists", they will tell you that the only way to do so is to click the "Unsubscribe" link in the footer, and that there's no way to prevent yourself from being added to new lists. But if you're persistent, they'll admit that there's another option: you can ask to be added to the "global block list", which they'll warn you is irrevocable. (I'm sure there's no good reason for the irrevocability, except to make people think twice about taking that option.) Like you, I have stopped donating to candidates who use them.

brookst 4y ago

NGPVan is a scourge. I gave several thousand dollars to political causes in the 2020 cycle and I have regretted it ever since. Never again, and I sincerely hope they are bankrupted by a huge class action.

raldi 4y ago

In many jurisdictions (e.g., California), there’s no requirement for a registered voter to have a phone or email account. Political campaigns are allowed to use voter registration records to generate their spam lists, and most of them do. Years ago I updated my voter record to remove the email address and phone number, and by the next election, my text, voice, and email political spam dropped to near zero.

thewebcount 4y ago
Do you happen to know the link to do this? I'd love to do this!
- raldi 4y ago
  Just google wherever you live plus “voter registration”
  - metadat 4y ago
    The state of California only let's you update your email address, no phone number is referenced or displayed. https://voterstatus.sos.ca.gov/ https://voterstatus.sos.ca.gov/
    - raldi 4y ago
      San Francisco certainly asks for your phone number: https://www.sfelections.org/tools/regupdate/regupd.php https://www.sfelections.org/tools/regupdate/regupd.php

InCityDreams 4y ago

..call the politicians office?

rtpg 4y ago

You need to email NGPVan directly. Tell them you want off all of their systems. They will say they don’t have a way to do this. You then reply that they are lying. You can also threaten to contact the FCC (a bluff given political spam is exempted from so much). They will then remove you.