171–180 of 217 posts
The correct policy here is not mandating a “button” or even “the same number of steps to unsubscribe as to subscribe”, rather the government should just mandate adherence to a simple protocol. Then we can just unsubscribe in our mail clients (gmail already tries to do this). If you mandate a button, then each site will put it in a different place. It’s frustrating to see the lack of technical competence cause us to l…
I've long since given up on this. I write email filters. I sign up for things under my Fake Name. Unsubscribing is an amazing crapshoot, especially when years later something you know you've unsubscribed from, because you have the email confirmation happens to send an "oops" email. Filtering email is the only thing that works, and ever since I adopted this approach I'm down to an average of zero marketing mails a wee…
While I completely agree with the legislation, why isn't this going through congress? Update the CAN-SPAM act to be more substantial.
Re: hidden fees, I still do not understand why most US purchases treat tax as if it does not exist until you're at the cashier. You have to sort of know what the state tax is (I'm not a US resident, so I do not have that information at hand), and then do the calculation mentally. I think this is quite disfavourable to consumers.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"legal notice in a newspaper" is still very much a thing in common law jurisdictions, with a long history, see banns going way back https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/banns if you change your name you need to put it in the newspaper, and https://futureofnewspapers.net/how-to-place-a-legal-notice-i... There are many different types of legal ads, with different costs to advertise. The most common type of legal notice in Ne…
I am well aware of that, but there is a very huge and crucial difference between putting something in the newspaper for the sake of public dissemination vs. for the sake of making sure one specific known private entity gets the information. The only case I can recall off the top of my head for the latter is for things like service of judicial papers, and even then as a last resort, only when direct attempts to reach…
yes, and that huge and crucial difference in this case is that the entities in question have attorneys on staff, and those attorneys understand their responsibilities on behalf of the corporation
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There is zero incentive for a company to invest in tooling and tech to make processes that lose them customers more efficient. This is something that has to be regulated and enforced. I just don't see a c-suit clamoring to spend money on making it easier to leave.
There is a reason to invest in this, the rationale goes as follows: Some of my customers will legitimately need to cancel, unsubscribe, stop using, or whatever, but they like the product. If I piss these customers off, they may recommend against using it, and refuse to ever use it again so I should accept that they're leaving with grace and maybe they'll return later. You can offer to "pause" a subscription for examp…
In my case I enjoy reading The Economist and do not mind paying for it, but some years back I had to cancel my subscription (I was cutting back on expenses) and honestly I found that experience so much against the business values they preach that it has made me not subscribe again, even if it means not reading their publication.
(Every few years I go to check if they have made it easier to unsubscribe, but last time I checked they still had the same practices)
Edit: I can also imagine that I’m a minority and so it really pays off to keep doing this.
Anecdotally: A: I get more spam than ever. What is especially annoying is that the majority of reputable companies do this. Order something? Sign up for an account? Set up an LLC? File a trademark? Boom: Spam emails UFN. B: It's easier to unsubscribe than ever: Often one-click at the bottom of the email, or let Gmail/Fastmail etc do it for you. Generally effective. One annoyance I find is the Our terms have been alte…
I recently ordered pants from The Gap. I am reasonably sure that I didn't sign up for anything, but I started getting spam emails anyway. I unsubscribed immediately, and the unsubscribe page says it "takes up to 10 days to process". I received 1-2 emails from them per day for the next 5 days until I blocked the sender on the 5th day. I reported all the emails as spam but I don't know if that helps.
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For my convenience; and by two-step sign up I mean "enter my e-mail into a form, then receive a confirmation e-mail and click on a confirmation link to be actually subscribed".
Are you confusing this with email newsletter subscriptions? This is talking about paid membership services, the kind of thing where you need an account and often payment methods.
This is a Biden administration initiative; the latest step in consistent hard work to free US residents from corporate "heads we win, tails you lose" dark patterns.