Tuesday, December 10, 2024

How the “Unsubscribe” Button Really Works


It’s not what you think

Photo by Sandy Millar on Unsplash

Since the election, I have received many more unwanted emails in my personal email account. Most are from right-wing media outlets, financial or investment websites, or Conservative PACs. And most ask for money.

As a liberal, I am sure I have never been on such sites and certainly have not subscribed to receive emails from them. At first, I simply deleted them or marked them as junk mail and then moved on. But as they continued to appear in my inbox, I began to get angry and decided to click on their “Unsubscribe” button. This led me to a page where I encountered a second “Unsubscribe to All Emails” button, which I promptly clicked on. Problem solved.

Nope. Not even close. The more of these sites I “Unsubscribed” to, the more new sites with similar content began to appear. Clicking on the button set off a chain reaction that sent out more and more unwanted emails. Now, what do I do?

Do I ignore them and delete them as I receive them? Or do I continue to “Unsubscribe” to them and receive even more? Either way, I feel as though they have defeated me. As angry as I get when I receive this junk mail, I’ll just have to accept it as a downside of our modern technology.

Has anyone else experienced this phenomenon? If so, how do you deal with the non-stop chain reaction?

Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed reading this article and wish to subscribe to my Newsletter, click on my photo below. (No, I will not send you unsolicited emails if you subscribe).


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