3 ms·

I get plenty of junk mail in the post. The fact that it's legal doesn't stop it being junk mail. Yes, I could take the time to write to a politician to complain

I get plenty of junk mail in the post. The fact that it's legal doesn't stop it being junk mail. Yes, I could take the time to write to a politician to complain about junk mail, or I could just chuck it in the trash and get on with my day. Ditto spam. Yes, some of the spam I receive might be within the law. That doesn't stop it being spam though. I could also take the time to write to a politician to try and change the law on what spam is legal and what isn't... or I could just mark it as the spam it is and get on with my day.

Aachen 4y ago
What kind of junk mail? Where you gave your physical address to a third party and now they're sending you crap, but they're a legit business that you can tell to stop doing that and then you stop receiving junk mail, or do you mean they got your physical address from data leaks and the sender tries to scam you into resetting your password, sell you illegitimate drugs, etc.? You're talking as though both kinds, legal and illegal spam, are the same thing. > Yes, I could take the time to write to a politician to complain about junk mail, or I could just chuck it in the trash and get on with my day. What you're suggesting is messing with a spam filter designed to handle illegitimate email to get confused enough to also filter out legitimate emails based on a guess as to whether or not you might want it. You're not "just chunking it in the trash and getting on with your day" but actively harming the system instead.
- Karellen 4y ago
  > What you're suggesting is messing with a spam filter designed to handle illegitimate email No, I'm teaching my spam filter about which emails I consider spam, so it knows to automatically filter them out in future. Which is exactly what I want my spam filter to do. That's its job. That's why I installed it. > You're [...] actively harming the system instead. Lol.
  - Aachen 4y ago
    Lol.
- MiddleEndian 4y ago
  I'd say the vast number of irrelevant commercial bullshit people get in their email harms the system more. It is spam. If I order a pair of pants from the Gap and they start sending me two or three emails a day, that is spam. If those marketing emails got marked as spam by all providers by default, the world would be better off. Same with physical mail, which also explicitly just has an option for "bulk mail", which is even worse. If I could opt out of receiving mail from the USPS entirely, I would. (Although I consider them to be the most reliable service for sending and receiving packages.)

Aachen 4y ago

What kind of junk mail? Where you gave your physical address to a third party and now they're sending you crap, but they're a legit business that you can tell to stop doing that and then you stop receiving junk mail, or do you mean they got your physical address from data leaks and the sender tries to scam you into resetting your password, sell you illegitimate drugs, etc.? You're talking as though both kinds, legal and illegal spam, are the same thing. > Yes, I could take the time to write to a politician to complain about junk mail, or I could just chuck it in the trash and get on with my day. What you're suggesting is messing with a spam filter designed to handle illegitimate email to get confused enough to also filter out legitimate emails based on a guess as to whether or not you might want it. You're not "just chunking it in the trash and getting on with your day" but actively harming the system instead.

Karellen 4y ago
> What you're suggesting is messing with a spam filter designed to handle illegitimate email No, I'm teaching my spam filter about which emails I consider spam, so it knows to automatically filter them out in future. Which is exactly what I want my spam filter to do. That's its job. That's why I installed it. > You're [...] actively harming the system instead. Lol.
- Aachen 4y ago
  Lol.
MiddleEndian 4y ago
I'd say the vast number of irrelevant commercial bullshit people get in their email harms the system more. It is spam. If I order a pair of pants from the Gap and they start sending me two or three emails a day, that is spam. If those marketing emails got marked as spam by all providers by default, the world would be better off. Same with physical mail, which also explicitly just has an option for "bulk mail", which is even worse. If I could opt out of receiving mail from the USPS entirely, I would. (Although I consider them to be the most reliable service for sending and receiving packages.)