Ask Leo! by Leo A. Notenboom

Why shouldn't I use the "Report Spam" or "Junk" button?

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I use the block sender button in my e-mail to stop spam senders --am I correct in doing this or could I be causing more problems--it seems to be working -but I've only been doing it for a short time --Carl G.

Posted by: carl graves at September 20, 2006 12:32 PM

As long as you NEVER use it for email that you requested (newsletters that subscribed to, for example), you're fine.

Posted by: Leo Notenboom at September 20, 2006 6:13 PM

lol..spammers and mass mailers are ass cancer

Posted by: Devil wear smart ass at October 1, 2006 5:44 PM

On the other hand, we are told that using the UNSUBSCRIBE option will tell the sender that we really exist and that our adddress is valid which makes them continue. We are therefore advised NOT to use the UNSUBSCRIBE option. A nice Catch-22. Another problem is that many of the "UNSUBSCRIBE" buttons simply do nothing.

Posted by: George Upham at April 30, 2007 7:13 AM

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Hash: SHA1

You're overlooking an important difference:

Did you subscribe and ask for the email? Then use the unsubscribe button to
stop it.

If you didn't ask for it, then it's spam.

Leo
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Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (MingW32)

iD8DBQFGNkTWCMEe9B/8oqERAmwNAJ9f4HBLo/wMbkEY9pjnOxrs2DlGUACeNUZq
zwwrjzDUBrIy0PqhVXZ1ad4=
=vn5b
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Posted by: Leo A. Notenboom at April 30, 2007 12:34 PM

Here's my idea: Give me a 'Return as Undeliverable' button, which requests that the particular email be returned just as if my address was defunct (a big white lie). Hopefully, the junk emailer would remove my 'defunct' address and not even sell it. No more junk; no filter needed.

Posted by: Guy at August 5, 2008 9:03 PM

Someone wrote:

> As long as you NEVER use it for email that you
> requested (newsletters that subscribed to, for
> example), you're fine.

That is my policy also -- with however ONE important exception. Newsletters (or any other E-Mail, for that matter) to which I subscribed, and then unsubscribed from, BUT WHICH CONTINUE TO BE DELIVERED, MY EXPLICIT UNSUBSCRIPTION TO THE CONTRARY NOTWITHSTANDING, after the third unsuccessful unsubscribe attempt get reported as Spam. Period.

Object lesson to newsletter publishers: make SURE that you honor all unsubscribe requests -- or else accept the consequences!

Agreed.

-Leo

Posted by: Glenn P. at August 5, 2008 10:43 PM

It is really funny Leo, as 2 of the sites I really trust, are yours & "crikey.com",& are the only 2 for which I get the warning "thunderbird thinks this is spam". I just click on the "not spam" button, & go ahead. There is always a slight pause,or re-adjustment,& I charge ahead, so I assume I am doing the right thing. I have never had a problem with "un-subscribe" option, probably as I take good care, as to whom I subscribe.
regards,
Lilian.

Posted by: lilian ashman at August 6, 2008 2:10 AM

I have been inundated lately by ads for penile enhancement (!) and knowing if I report them as spam it just seems to make it worse. But every time I try to "unsubscribe", the next window says "Not Found". So what recourse do I have then? I have not subscribed to any part of these ads.

You have almost no recourse other than anti-spam filters in your email client or those provided by your email provider. You should never click on an unsubscribe link except when it's something that you actually subscribed to. Unsubscribe links contained within spam (i.e. NOT those in legitimate email) will also just get you more spam.
- Leo
25-Oct-2008

Posted by: Maxine Foster at October 24, 2008 3:48 PM

I found an effective way to stop spammers. If you are with yahoo, they have a mail option, which directs you to a "Block address" if you can find out the IP address of the spammer, list it there and it does work. I stopped those abusive spammers in 2 days. Try it

Posted by: claude at December 20, 2008 2:55 PM
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