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Show HN: Please-unsubscribe.com – fwd emails to unsubscribe from marketing

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Re: Show HN: Please-unsubscribe.com – fwd emails to unsubscribe from marketing

#101

Post by r1ch »

arielm wrote: post #74

As someone who’s responsible for sending emails, all of the comments about “marking it as spam is easier than unsubscribing” really make me cringe. For several reasons: 1. If you subscribe to a list then please please please take the time to locate the very clearly marked unsubscribe link, or use the one that gmail or your other email client shows. I spend a lot of time making sure it’s suuuper easy to unsubscribe. 2…

I'm on several mailing lists from US companies that use Cloudflare country filters or similar technologies to block non-US traffic to their sites. So since moving out of the US I have no way of unsubscribing and no way of contacting them, so they all get reported as spam.

Keep this in mind if you run a list and are ever tempted to mass block traffic from your site.

Re: Show HN: Please-unsubscribe.com – fwd emails to unsubscribe from marketing

#102

Post by m0nty »

sleavey wrote: post #99
nullandvoid wrote: post #79

For me fast mail alias for every site I use, and a password manager, mean spam is a problem of the past Feels great having separation on every site

How does this reduce spam? All it tells you is which site sold or leaked your information to the spammer.

You can remove the alias later, email to that address will bounce. I do the same with my own domain on postfix/dovecot.

Re: Show HN: Please-unsubscribe.com – fwd emails to unsubscribe from marketing

#103

Post by appleflaxen »

arielm wrote: post #74

As someone who’s responsible for sending emails, all of the comments about “marking it as spam is easier than unsubscribing” really make me cringe. For several reasons: 1. If you subscribe to a list then please please please take the time to locate the very clearly marked unsubscribe link, or use the one that gmail or your other email client shows. I spend a lot of time making sure it’s suuuper easy to unsubscribe. 2…

When you use dark patterns to trick users into leaving a box checked to receive your email, then you reap what you sow.

And if you're not, those users aren't marking your email as spam.

Re: Show HN: Please-unsubscribe.com – fwd emails to unsubscribe from marketing

#104

Post by tgb »

the_french wrote: post #94

I honestly have never wanted to receive mail from anyone other than a real human being. There is not a single 'account update' or marketing mail, etc.. that I am happy to see, nor has there ever been. Does anyone actually enjoy those mails? How is it any better than the classic physical letterbox spam that used to be more common?

You don't want a transfer confirmation from your bank? Or a ticket number from your airline? Or an alert that your tax documents are available?

Re: Show HN: Please-unsubscribe.com – fwd emails to unsubscribe from marketing

#105

Post by xtiansimon »

vntok wrote: post #91
nikanj wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3. This is not an ad hominem, and I'm sure you're part of the 1%, but 99% of newsletters I receive are spam that I never wanted in the first place. Companies employ a tremendous range of dark patterns to get my consent for email, then flood me with spam. Time after time I have unsubscribed from the "best products of the week"-newsletter, just to receive a "weekly product highlights"-newsletter the next day. According…

Don't be sorry. If you receive something you don't want to receive, that is the definition of spam.

Wiktionary ‘defines’ spam as ‘unsolicited and unwanted’.

Elsewhere, Wikipedia describes spam as ‘unsolicited or unwanted’.

And vs. Or. Of course spam’s definition should use ‘and’.

When you sign up for a newsletter, and later decide you don’t want it, to call it ‘spam’ is merely metaphorical.

[1]: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spam

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam

Re: Show HN: Please-unsubscribe.com – fwd emails to unsubscribe from marketing

#106

Post by m-p-3 »

sleavey wrote: post #98
user5994461 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>> please please please take the time to locate the very clearly marked unsubscribe link You mean the one word link in font 6 hidden maybe somewhere at the bottom of the email if it's there at all? I have never seen an easy clearly marked unsubscribe in my life. When at look at my friends and parents who are not as computer savvy and often don't see things put in front of them, there is no way they would ever manage…

What's worse is when the unsubscribe link takes you to a page where you can select the reason why you are unsubscribing, and it doesn't include an option like "I never signed up to this mailing list". I've never in my life checked the box to sign up to any mailing list, so this is always my reason, yet some arrogant marketers believe they always obtain consent when they add emails to their mailing lists and so remove…

The even worse scenario is when the unsubscribe workflow is hidden behind a login screen. Unsubscribing from a mailing list should be one of two clicks at most.

Re: Show HN: Please-unsubscribe.com – fwd emails to unsubscribe from marketing

#107

Post by coddle-hark »

arielm wrote: post #74

As someone who’s responsible for sending emails, all of the comments about “marking it as spam is easier than unsubscribing” really make me cringe. For several reasons: 1. If you subscribe to a list then please please please take the time to locate the very clearly marked unsubscribe link, or use the one that gmail or your other email client shows. I spend a lot of time making sure it’s suuuper easy to unsubscribe. 2…

> 1. If you subscribe to a list then please please please take the time to locate the very clearly marked unsubscribe link, or use the one that gmail or your other email client shows.

Teaching people to click unsubscribe links in spam emails is horrible security practice. I know you said “if you subscribed to a list” but it’s hard for me to verify that the sender of the email is the original company I subscribed to.

Re: Show HN: Please-unsubscribe.com – fwd emails to unsubscribe from marketing

#108

Post by m-p-3 »

the_french wrote: post #94

I honestly have never wanted to receive mail from anyone other than a real human being. There is not a single 'account update' or marketing mail, etc.. that I am happy to see, nor has there ever been. Does anyone actually enjoy those mails? How is it any better than the classic physical letterbox spam that used to be more common?

I send them to my Inoreader account, I don't need those mixed with my important emails.

Re: Show HN: Please-unsubscribe.com – fwd emails to unsubscribe from marketing

#109

Post by vntok »

xtiansimon wrote: post #105
vntok wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't be sorry. If you receive something you don't want to receive, that is the definition of spam.

Wiktionary ‘defines’ spam as ‘unsolicited and unwanted’. Elsewhere, Wikipedia describes spam as ‘unsolicited or unwanted’. And vs. Or. Of course spam’s definition should use ‘and’. When you sign up for a newsletter, and later decide you don’t want it, to call it ‘spam’ is merely metaphorical. [1]: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spam [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam

Nah. You forgot to quote the key word from those definitions: email. Not "newsletters subscriptions", not "promises to receive interesting emails", not "agreements to get sent x mails per week". Spam is unsolicited and/or unwanted email, period.

It does not matter whether you were tricked into subscribing to some newsletter or whether you checked a "receive interesting emails from us" box while paying for something.

If the email you just received is unsolicited and/or unwanted, then it's spam by definition.

Re: Show HN: Please-unsubscribe.com – fwd emails to unsubscribe from marketing

#110

Post by 11thEarlOfMar »

My e-mail address is on a 3rd party list that is sold repeatedly to marketers. The marketers do not employ unsubscribe links or provide a means to get off of their list in the e-mail. I'd rather not engage them and ask their source.

Is there a way to learn who the original list holder is and get my address off?

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