Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 386 posts

Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#131

Post by grugagag »

senojsitruc wrote: post #125

I tried that recently with some political texts. I do not recommend. It could be coincidental, but I suddenly started receiving a lot more political texts. It might be true that I stopped receiving texts FROM THAT NUMBER, it's clearly the same organization spamming me from other numbers. Whatever. I'd rather get spam texts than robocalls.

I share the same experience. Block seems to subscribe you a deluge of crap. Similar experience with unsubscribing from emails (many of which I never subscribed to).

Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#133

Post by ForHackernews »

solardev wrote: post #63
oasisbob wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone shares lists. I have a politics label in gmail that is blue/red from 2012 onwards. All the GOP emails are from poking around Romney 2012, and nothing else. I'd say you'd be surprised on the reuse, but you shouldn't be.

It's not just the re-use and sharing of lists, but also the incredible Facebook-style targeting available to anyone for spamming. Anyone can sign up for something like ActionNetwork.org or NationBuilder and send out an email blast to registered voters in a particular zip code. NGP VAN is even more powerful. The whole industry is mature and super targeted like any other spammer, but mostly immune to spam regulations (…

Good.

If the price of living in a democratic society with transparent voter/donor records is a few annoying emails, we should all be paying that price gladly.

Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#134

Post by jezzamon »

adastra22 wrote: post #121
addicted wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately political messages have an exception in the laws involved here. Also, my understanding is that this isn’t even a case of the politicians making an exception for themselves but for this being protected speech, so there are legal issues with blocking it without the kind of majorities American congress is not capable of anymore.

I don't see how there could be an argument for protected speech here. The constitution protects your ability to petition the government, not the government's ability to petition you.

If someone is campaigning to be in government, I guess they don't technically fall under the "government" category yet...

Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#135

Post by buildbuildbuild »

Beware the edge case: I responded STOP to a message years ago, then was unable to receive SMS from a popular money transmission app during the signup flow to claim funds that a friend sent me.

After over a month of troubleshooting, it turns out that I had sent "STOP" to that number years ago on a different device (no longer visible in chat history) and now had to send "UNSTOP" in order to receive the phone verification SMS required to sign up for the service. It was a shared number between multiple apps.

Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#136

Post by eli »

senojsitruc wrote: post #125

I tried that recently with some political texts. I do not recommend. It could be coincidental, but I suddenly started receiving a lot more political texts. It might be true that I stopped receiving texts FROM THAT NUMBER, it's clearly the same organization spamming me from other numbers. Whatever. I'd rather get spam texts than robocalls.

Unfortunately at best you’re opting out of one customer, not the entire sms service provider.

Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#137

Post by wil421 »

senojsitruc wrote: post #125

I tried that recently with some political texts. I do not recommend. It could be coincidental, but I suddenly started receiving a lot more political texts. It might be true that I stopped receiving texts FROM THAT NUMBER, it's clearly the same organization spamming me from other numbers. Whatever. I'd rather get spam texts than robocalls.

It’s made no difference for me. I stopped replying STOP a couple mm the ago and just did report and block. The amount SMSs have increased, I get 5-10 a week.

Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#138

Post by eli »

dkdbejwi383 wrote: post #130
senojsitruc wrote: post #125

I tried that recently with some political texts. I do not recommend. It could be coincidental, but I suddenly started receiving a lot more political texts. It might be true that I stopped receiving texts FROM THAT NUMBER, it's clearly the same organization spamming me from other numbers. Whatever. I'd rather get spam texts than robocalls.

are these unsolicited political messages? Where do you live that this is a thing? It's something I've not experienced before.

US is blanketed with them. They are exempt from some anti-spam laws.

Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#139

Post by jeremyjh »

Havoc wrote: post #108
adastra22 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that STOP is handled at the carrier level and isn't even returned to the sender. It's effectively a mandated block command.

For which countries is this true?

Its true in the US; its mandated by law that they comply.

Re: Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts?

#140

Post by nottorp »

adastra22 wrote: post #120
nottorp wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> blocks the sender from contacting you again No, it blocks that mailchimp sender account from contacting you again. It doesn't block the sender from contacting you again through other means or through a different identity. Would you like to buy a bridge?

That's not a reasonable interpretation of what I said.

Yeah, it's sad, but it's what will happen, not what you wish will happen :)
Post reply on HN