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Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Unsubscribe Me!
I don’t know about you, but I receive way more email than I like. This past weekend, I realized that about 20 percent of it comes from email newsletters and companies I’ve done business with in the past. Half of it, I don’t recall opting into—even legitimate companies. Most of it is a complete waste of my time. Worse, much of it is downright annoying. In the words of David Allen, it consumes “psychic ram.”
These messages are not exactly spam, so my spam blocker doesn’t filter them out. So, in the past, I have simply deleted these unwanted messages as I receive them. But as the volume has increased, I have decided I must get more aggressive. I am now scrolling to the end of each message and clicking on the “Unsubscribe” link. Sure it takes a few more seconds, but it is far more satisfying than merely hitting the delete key. Hopefully, I will only have to do this once and thereby incrementally reduce the clutter in my life. I am looking forward to a leaner, meaner inbox!
Technorati Tags: clutter, entourage, productivity, email
December 20, 2005 at 01:12 PM in E-mail Tips, Getting Things Done, Web/Tech | Permalink
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Comments
Some kind of "soft spam" is probably inevitable, but what really annoys is when the sender turns unsubscribing into some kind of battle of wits--small print, confusing links, geek-speak, misdirecting choices, ad infinitum. It ought to be one click, and you're free. I'm not normally an advocate of enforced standards, but I would make an exception for a mandatory one-click unsubscribe requirement for all commercial email.
Posted by: Clay | Dec 20, 2005 2:12:07 PM
Hi Michael,
You should try a better filtering system, such as a Bayesian program like SpamSieve. You can train it to learn to accept some mail but not others-- even from the same senders. It is very flexible and adaptable, and takes next to no time to set up.
I covered this, and other ways to use Apple's Mail application, in a recent article. SpamSieve (and, I would presume, others like it) works with Entourage and other applications, as well, so you're not constrained to Mail.
You could also set up rules that would auto-reply to the sender with a request to remove you from the list. Half the time this won't work, but it might be a start.
Just a couple of ideas that might get it done faster and with less psychic ram consumed.
Posted by: Ed Eubanks | Dec 20, 2005 3:05:26 PM
Another thing to be careful of (espcially if you aren't aware of who is sending the message, or if you ever signed up for anything) is that a lot of companies use the unsubscribe feature to confirm they have a legitmate address. Even if they unsubscribe you from this particular email, they may still pass your now confirmed email on to someone else.
Obviously I am not talking about legitimate companies, but just something to be aware of.
Posted by: Scott Winter | Dec 20, 2005 4:59:08 PM
I agree with Scott. I experienced an increase of spam when I started unsubscribing. I have since gone to SpamBayes which has helped a lot. Now the only mass mailings I get are ones I once subscribed to so unsubscribing is easy... relatively
Posted by: Aaron | Dec 20, 2005 5:12:37 PM
I tried Spam Bayes, and for me it didn't do any better than Outlook's junk email filter. With Outlook, I route every email from an address that is not on my safe sender's list to the junk email folder, and I sort through that regularly. Most of the spam I get is from worms. The email is from a legitimate address with a scrambled word subject header.
I also sign up for email notifications, but I often go back and turn these off. As I travel the web, I'll sign up for newsletters for different sites. I'll often realize that I've bitten off more than I can chew and I have to unsubscribe from most of these newsletters before I begin another round of subscribing.
Some are useful and quick to delete, such as the Bloglet notifier that lets me know when Michael has updated his blog.
Posted by: Eric S. Mueller | Dec 21, 2005 7:04:19 AM
If you're talking about spam now, rather than the original topic of unsolicited email letters from commercial websites visited, then let me put in a word for PC users for Cloudmark Desktop for IE/Outlook (www.cloudmark.com). It works transparently and almost transcendently, filtering spam and phishmails using a proxy system based on what its enormous community of users say is spam. In the six months I've used it, Cloudmark has intercepted several thousand spams from 10 active email accounts, and it has misdirected only 5-6 good emails. It's cheap ($40/year), low maintenance, and very effective.
Posted by: Clay | Dec 21, 2005 9:34:09 AM
I have a small suggestion that has worked well for me. I singed up for a Yahoo email account for a modest fee. It comes with a service they call "AddressGuard". It basically allows you to create and manage disposable email addresses to defend your primary address against spam. I give EVERYONE a unique qualifier. Then, if and when they become annoying, I turn them off. It's very neat. I think of it like the "Squelch" on the old CB radio. I used to use "spam motel" similarly. It seems like it could be a useful feature in any email system.
Posted by: reinkefj | Dec 21, 2005 5:02:36 PM
Agreed. I've been more diligent doing the unsubscribe instead of delete and the volume difference is noticeable. I also use the + feature in gmail ("mygmailname+stuff@gmail.com", where "+stuff" is ignored by gmail. Everybody gets a difference suffix. It accomplishes the squelch concept, gives me a consistent string to filter on AND it will flag if my email is passed from company to company. And it works 100% of the time.
Posted by: Rob | Dec 22, 2005 9:32:55 AM
Try SpamSoap. They use an unsubscribe database that, when you report even a "valid" message or newsletter as spam, will automatically unsubscribe you and know if the unsubscribe is even honored by the sender of the email.
www.spamsoap.com
Posted by: Brendan Cosgrove | Dec 27, 2005 7:09:26 PM
Similar to not unsubscribing, I try not to click anything at all that will confirm my "real" email address.
I believe I stopped a large amount of spam by not opening e-greetings and similar well-meaning forwards from friends.
When I get an e-card, I respond to people with an apology, and ask them if they wouldn't mind resending it to my Hotmail account. It's awkward, but it seems as though it's worked.
Posted by: Kyria | Feb 28, 2006 12:08:04 PM
Good suggestion, Michael - I've become an unsubscribe clicker now, too.
I've also noticed that some of these unsoliciters are turning on "Message receipt" notification. Very cheeky, if you ask me.
Posted by: Dwayne Melancon | Oct 10, 2006 7:54:15 PM
