[Tfug] remove from mailing list

[Robert Hunter]

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On Mon, Apr 28, 2008 at 04:31:38PM -0700, John Karns wrote:
> On Sun, Apr 27, 2008 at 2:20 PM, slvrbeard <slvrbeard at cox.net> wrote:
> > Please, Please, Please remove me from your mailing list.
> >  Frank
> 
> Please, Please, Please stop bugging us about your stubbornness and
> inability to follow the link at the bottom of each and every tfug list
> msg you get, which has instructions on how to get off the mail list.
> How did you get on in the first place?  To get off the list, just do
> the converse to what _you_ did to get on!

Here two suggestions for dealing with those hapless subscribers
who annoy everyone with repeated requests to be unsubscribed.

Suggestion one: Install a filter which auto replies with instructions
on how to unsubscribe.  The danger here is that if the filter
identifies a false positive, you have inadvertently spammed someone.
Your filter could confirm with you before replying, which would
certainly improve its accuracy, and help train it.  However, that
doesn't satiate the nagging desire to flame someone for violating
netiquette.  We live in an age where many of us are overloaded with
information.  Even if it takes only a moment to reply to someone who
failed to see the "obvious", these minor distractions/annoyances
could, in principle, add up to the point of overwhelming us.
Furthermore, some of these people won't even bother to read your kind
and thoughtful suggestions; instead they expect that a sufficient
amount of whining will produce the desired result.  This leads to...

Suggestion two: Forward every list message you receive to the
individual requesting to be unsubscribed, and adorn it with
instructions to unsubscribe in large red font.  Rationale: It is
reasonable to assume that in most cases, the individuals who spam a list
with such requests are, themselves, experiencing a certain level of
annoyance.  The level of annoyance has not, however, reached a
threshold of intolerance, and so they merely send nagging messages to
everyone, rather than taking matters into their own hands.  The point
here is to "up the ante", in something resembling a DDOS.  The more
people that employ this strategy, the more effective it is.  For
example, whereas previously the person was receiving a handful of
messages a day from the list, he is now receiving a hundred, all with
flaming red instructions on how to unsubscribe.


- --Rob





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