Bobbert Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 I have been reporting unsolicited spam E-mail to SpamCop for about a month now. What i'm finding of late, is that i'll get a reply from the original sender providing me with a link entitled "be removed now!" that i'm assuming allows me to remove myself from their mailing list. I have in fact used these links a couple of times and what it does is take you to a screen on the internet where you can enter your E-mail address and hopefully be removed from their mailing list. Now, i'm wondering if this was just a hoax to get you to reply and prove you're a valid recipient? Anyone have experience with this? Is it a legitimate way to get removed from these mailing lists? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wazoo Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 http://www.spamhaus.org/removelists.html is but one view on the subject. That it happens to correspond to the general guidance to "never unsubscribe to something to which you did not subscribe" is purely coincidental. This is obviously not a "Reporting" issue, moving Topic to the Lounge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbert Posted July 5, 2005 Author Share Posted July 5, 2005 http://www.spamhaus.org/removelists.html is but one view on the subject. That it happens to correspond to the general guidance to "never unsubscribe to something to which you did not subscribe" is purely coincidental. This is obviously not a "Reporting" issue, moving Topic to the Lounge. 29932[/snapback] Not sure this really addresses my issue. I am not being asked a fee to remove myself from any list.......i'm smart enough to not fall for that. While i agree with you that one should not have to ask to be removed from a list to which they never applied, nonetheless, this spammer has somehow gotten my E-mail address and appears to be willing to allow me to remove myself from their list. If they were beaten up over this by SpamCop, wouldn't this be a logical thing to do. I guess only time will tell if indeed they were being co-operative? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wazoo Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 OK let's try this .. you make a generic query about some spam, some reply that sends you to some web site, that you say looks like other web-sites you've used in the past, that lets you type in an e-mail address to remove you from some list. I offered a link to a fairly generic response/overview that also went into some specifics about a few specific outfits, websites, and organizations involved with "Remove Me Now" garbage concepts. If all this generic stuff isn't answering the question in your head, then I'd say it's time to get specific ...?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenUnderwood Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 Not sure this really addresses my issue. I am not being asked a fee to remove myself from any list.......i'm smart enough to not fall for that. While i agree with you that one should not have to ask to be removed from a list to which they never applied, nonetheless, this spammer has somehow gotten my E-mail address and appears to be willing to allow me to remove myself from their list. If they were beaten up over this by SpamCop, wouldn't this be a logical thing to do. I guess only time will tell if indeed they were being co-operative? 29936[/snapback] the general guidance is to "never unsubscribe to something to which you did not subscribe" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Betsy Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 At one time the FTC did a study on how many 'removes' actually work - IIRC, it was about 40%. The odds are against you actually being removed from any list. Miss Betsy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farelf Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 I am surprised that the FTC figure (thanks to Miss Betsy) is so high. If we are talking generalities, you can't go far wrong if you remember Rule # 1 - "Spammers lie". Why should they remove you from their lists? Because you asked? Like you asked to be spammed in the first place? Basic games theory - when "straights" and liars are in the mix, the liars come out on top. Accepting the FTC figure, in the majority of cases, when you unsubscribe, you are simply confirming your address for further use, presumably including resale - which can more than make up for the minority occasions when the removal request *might* be honored to a greater or lesser degree. Having said that, I must confess I have followed the occasional "removal" link, in cases that seemed more than usually legitimate (remembering how good some of them can be at appearing to be almost legitimate). Whether it works or whether I was just lightwashed for a particular run is hard to say. But I know I still get the occasional offer of Chinese rubber goods. Maybe I should ask them to take me off their list again! I think I might actually miss the whimsicality of that particular company's "advertisements" if they unaccountably complied. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lukas Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 nonetheless, this spammer has somehow gotten my E-mail address and appears to be willing to allow me to remove myself from their list. If they were beaten up over this by SpamCop, wouldn't this be a logical thing to do. I guess only time will tell if indeed they were being co-operative? 29936[/snapback] No. If they really take SpamCop serious, they simply remove you from their list. (Just to avoid further reports). No need for a confirmation... Lukas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Betsy Posted July 6, 2005 Share Posted July 6, 2005 I am surprised that the FTC figure (thanks to Miss Betsy) is so high. 29947[/snapback] That was a couple of years ago when there still were a few legitimate companies trying to use email advertising. It probably is much lower now. 'Never unsubscribe to anything you didn't subscribe to' is not only prudent, but also is a principle that anti-spammers should adhere to. And I noticed that the OP had to enter an email address in order to unsubscribe - in an experiment once, I discovered that one got the same page to sign up for emailings as one got to unsubscribe! Miss Betsy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbert Posted July 7, 2005 Author Share Posted July 7, 2005 I'm not saying that using the spammers link to unsolicite myself from their mailing lists worked, but interestingly, this is the first day that i've received NO spam MAIL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farelf Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 I'm not saying that using the spammers link to unsolicite myself from their mailing lists worked, but interestingly, this is the first day that i've received NO spam MAIL! 29973[/snapback] Well, I for one will keep my fingers crossed for you ... it *could* happen. We tend to get a bit cynical about unprincipled spammers, and hear of people who think they've won against them, only to be deluged later and so on. Against all of that, there *has* to be a good news story, sometime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shmengie Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 I was recieving an average of about 40 spams a day. I was soo tired of it, I thought I'd try using all of the unsubscribe links... for about a day I unsubscribed. Two months later I was recieving an average of about 80 spams a day. Unfortunatly, I can only guess this is the consiquence of the effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraemeL Posted July 7, 2005 Share Posted July 7, 2005 Now, i'm wondering if this was just a hoax to get you to reply and prove you're a valid recipient? Anyone have experience with this? Is it a legitimate way to get removed from these mailing lists? 29931[/snapback] I have a couple of spam traps that have only ever been used to fill out unsubscribe forms received as links in spam. They both receive around 10 spam attempts a day. Never unsubscribe from something that you didn't subscribe to in the 1st place has already been mentioned. I've seen a few people in various locations claiming that their spam load has been reduced by unsubscribing. It's really your own choice. You may end up with a few more spams a day. On the other hand, you may get less. It really depends on which lists you're on and the integrity ( ) of the spammers running them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Betsy Posted July 8, 2005 Share Posted July 8, 2005 I'm not saying that using the spammers link to unsolicite myself from their mailing lists worked, but interestingly, this is the first day that i've received NO spam MAIL! 29973[/snapback] It will be interesting to see what happens. Please let us know. My experience has been that once I have been listwashed there is a lull and then a different genre of spam starts arriving. It also doesn't prevent them from re-adding you to their list from another source (again from experience). Miss Betsy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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