Does SPAM Unsubscribing Really Work?

dacarr asks: "An associate on a mailing list I am on recalled an article (which he, in turn, does not recall), in which the author managed to reduce his spam some 80% by, of all things, using the provided 'unsubscribe' mechanism in the messages. This is totally counterintuitive to what most of us have learned (doing so was a spectacularly good way to actually *confirm* your address) - but perhaps this isn't the case anymore, based on this. Has anyone else had any luck as far as this goes? By following the aforementioned unsub links, said associate found a number of broken links and dead addresses (and one link that tried to create an attachment and email it out (which he stopped)), but after three days and 400 unsub links, he trimmed his spam levels 'from an average of 250 a day to just 40 today' - that's just around 17% of what he was getting. Maybe spammers are getting their act together and listening for a change." Do any of you have any anecdotal evidence to provide to confirm or contradict this? Have you been able to lower your spam volume by "unsubscribing"?

Comments

Re:I've been thinking about doing this

[AnwerB]

I vote we all go out and try this on a large scale to see if it works. I will be glad to compile the results when we're done.

Sincerely,

Alan Ralsky
CEO, Email Clearing House

Hmm...

[rehannan]

Perhaps our friend here is sending out a few "marketing messages" as well?

Fox: "No, really, we only eat bugs and stuff."
Chicken: "Oh, really? Great! Lets do lunch"
Fox: "Muahahaha"

No, it doesn't

[lightspawn]

Hormel keeps sending me those cans of spiced ham, even though I've asked them to stop at least five times now.

Really, what's with the uppercase? Is "spam" an acronym now?

Re:Not entirely the same method, but effective any

[harrkev]

Yes. Sit back and laugh. You seem like an intelligent person. Why would you possibly want to e-mail somebody who is do dumb that they have to use AOL. If you ask me, they are doing you a favor.

This also keeps your e-mail address out of the computers that are most likely to pick up trojans, spyware, and viruses.

Re:I've had good success with this.

[Alwin Henseler]

"This seems to work for legit spammers"

Legit spammers? Do they exist?
Is it legal to use "legit" and "spammers" in one sentence?

Spam Unsubscribing is like...

[Lead Butthead]

Calling your local known felon and ask not be bugularize or robbed...

"Hello, this is John Smith living at 1234 Any Street. I have a lot of valuables and carry a lot of cash on my person, please do not rob me or bugularize my house."