Subscribing to / Unsubscribing from Newsletters? Then you are in Danger!
Do you get newsletters in your email inbox? Or do you subscribe often to newsletters? Then you should be careful from now. Do you know how much problem will you get into when subscribing/unsubscribing to/from a newsletter without knowing anything about it really?
Here I am presenting you the dangers behind any newsletter subscription or unsubscription.
Problems from Newsletter Subscription
After subscribing to a newsletter, certain things may happen in background without your knowledge. They are :
- Most common thing is that the person/website who offers newsletter subscription will sell your email address to others for money.
- You may get more newsletters than what they have promised actually.
- They may send affiliate promotion emails to you at anytime.
- You can’t unsubscribe from them and they will just send you spam emails as much as they can.
Problems from Newsletter Unsubscription
After unsubscribing from a newsletter, certain things may happen in background without your knowledge. They are :
- You may not be unsubscribed from the newsletter subscription actually.
- You may get more spam emails than usual.
Solution
The best thing to get relieved of these things is simple.
- Don’t subscribe to any newsletter without knowing anything about the person/website who actually offers it.
- If you are getting any newsletter without your subscription and it has an Unsubscribe link, then don’t try to unsubscribe using that link. Actually what happens here is that the link will lead to your subscription rather than your unsubscription. They actually trying to know whether you are actively using your email id and if you made a click on that, then they will be sure to know that you are eligible to disturb.
- Read their Privacy policy to know their policies on newsletters.
What are you thinking right now? Share with us. Definitely yours will be wonderful than mine!
Share this
Article by Karthikeyan
Karthikeyan has written 55 wonderful article(s) in this blog.
Visit all articles written by Karthikeyan
Editor of BlogrPro - A technology addict who did projects like an Operating System, Search Engine, Content Management Systems, etc. He is specialized in Web design, Web development, Wordpress, SEO, etc.
Nov 15, 2009 @ 7:23 PM
Spam is big problem. I use separate email for all this.
Nov 15, 2009 @ 11:33 PM
@Rahul,
I am also using a separate email id for such things as I don’t want to take risk.
Nov 15, 2009 @ 8:47 PM
Spam has really become pain these days! So I am kept a special Email account to handle Email subscriptions.
Tech-Freak Stuff´s last blog ..Do you feel that your Internet Access Speed is Slow? Google to your Rescue!
Nov 15, 2009 @ 11:33 PM
@Tech-Freak Stuff,
Of course. I am sure how much you all will suffer when losing an important email among 100s of spam emails.
Nov 15, 2009 @ 10:27 PM
The best is just to use RSS to subscribe. That way you can just remove them from your reader to unsubscribe.
Austin´s last blog ..Using the Google XML Sitemaps Plugin
Nov 15, 2009 @ 11:34 PM
@Austin,
That’s a good choice always.
Nov 15, 2009 @ 11:54 PM
I do my best to only subscribe when I have followed them for a while otherwise I don’t just subscribe.
Thanks for this info, I’m sure many will be wary
Nov 20, 2009 @ 8:33 PM
@George Serradinho,
That’s a very good awareness George. So you will get some good knowledge them before subscribing.
Nov 16, 2009 @ 12:18 AM
Cool post, but I have to disagree about the ‘people selling your email’ point. I mean, a few people might do it, but the majority of bloggers nowadays just want the list for themselves. I personally am about to start a list, and have no intention of selling the email addresses I collect.
Also, I use Gmail, which usually catches spam emails very well
Simon | Teenius´s last blog ..10 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Starting A Blog
Nov 20, 2009 @ 9:01 PM
@Simon | Teenius,
I do agree with you and hence only I have posted like there are some people who are selling these details. And good luck for your new list.
Gmail still need lot of enhancements to fight against spam. I am not satisfied with Gmail.
Nov 16, 2009 @ 10:42 AM
I am very choosy in subscribing and was really not aware that there can be so many problems with subscribing with newsletter. I will now use other mail Id to subscribe newsletters.
Ruchi´s last blog ..Is Excessive Blogging Hurting your Relations
Nov 20, 2009 @ 9:08 PM
@Ruchi,
Prevention is always better than cure. Try to follow this always.
Nov 16, 2009 @ 3:43 PM
never heard about this type of problems with newsletter subscription. thanks for the info
Pavan Somu´s last blog ..Computer Training (Beginner To Advanced)
Nov 20, 2009 @ 10:18 PM
@Pavan Somu,
Glad to know that I have alerted you now.
Nov 16, 2009 @ 10:09 PM
i only subscribe in site that i believe have strong community on it.. and also sometime if i think i not trust much about the site, i subscribe it using a specific email for it.. if everything fine, i will subscribe again using my main email..
izzat aziz´s last blog ..13 wordpress plugins that I installed, and you should too
Nov 20, 2009 @ 10:19 PM
@izzat aziz,
That shows how well you are careful on these things. Well done.
Nov 17, 2009 @ 10:31 AM
Well the condition is as not scary as you described here. Moreover gmail takes care of spam really very well. Most of the bloggers dont sell email addresses to others as they keep it for personal use only.
Ricky´s last blog ..Tvider Mobile Tweeter Tool For iPhone J2ME And Blackberry Users
Nov 20, 2009 @ 10:22 PM
@Ricky,
Well I am not just talking about Bloggers alone here. There are sites which sells their subscription data to big clients. And I will never agree with you that Gmail is really taking care of spam. It has a huge drawback.
Nov 17, 2009 @ 10:11 PM
Oh thank god i have separate email account for this. which i only use for reading feeds. Regarding the spam i think we can deal those. But selling the email list is unfair act by any blogger.
Nov 20, 2009 @ 10:31 PM
@Ramkumar,
Ya sure. We can deal everything if we know it in advance.
Nov 18, 2009 @ 1:02 AM
I use different email account for certain functions. BTW, do you have any idea on how to overcome this problems if we already subscribe? Thanks in advance.
steppinout´s last blog ..November – To Do List
Nov 20, 2009 @ 10:32 PM
@steppinout.
We can’t 100% unsubscribe from certain newsletters. They actually give a link for unsubscription to know that you are actually using that email id or not. If they know it, they will be glad to spam you.
Nov 23, 2009 @ 9:56 AM
I think that’s what happen to one of my email account recently. BTW, already delete that account, maybe the best solution
steppinout´s last blog ..Office 2010 Beta Download Link Now Available For Public
Nov 25, 2009 @ 10:08 AM
@steppinout,
I don’t think that’s a best solution. You lost in the battle.
Nov 25, 2009 @ 10:15 AM
That’s right man. Lot of works to be done, I’ve transfer all my subscription (except spam) from that email to another one.
steppinout´s last blog ..How To Improve Your Blog Readability
Nov 25, 2009 @ 10:42 AM
@steppinout,
That’s better.
Nov 18, 2009 @ 4:05 AM
This is all true, but the fact of the matter is that as bloggers, especially if we have contact pages, they can easily get access to your email address. That’s probably why we get so many spam emails to begin with.
Still, your methods will help to minimize it and so this is still a worthwhile post.
Sire´s last blog ..Comments, The Lifeblood Of A Blog
Nov 20, 2009 @ 10:33 PM
@Sire,
Glad to know that you praise my words here. And regarding your views on bloggers contact page, I totally agree with you.
Nov 18, 2009 @ 4:00 PM
I personally use separate email id when I need to subscribe or register. When I last check my that particular email id I get over a 1000 email which are not legitimate. That’s really suck.
Arafat Hossain Piyada´s last blog ..Completing My 1 Year in Blogging Today, What I Gain? What I Lost?
Nov 20, 2009 @ 10:35 PM
@Arafat Hossain Piyada,
That really sucks. Now do you understand how worst is the web?
Nov 19, 2009 @ 9:29 PM
i too use a separate email id which i never check… and you are right, once we try and un-subscribe we might be in even greater trouble because if they understand we are genuine we will get a lot more spam,
Uttoran Sen´s last blog ..How to Fix Windows XP
Nov 20, 2009 @ 10:47 PM
@Uttoran Sen,
Yes Sen. May I know one thing? Why do you subscribe to an email id if you don’t want to use it anyway!
Nov 26, 2009 @ 5:13 PM
hi Karthikeyan,
there is quite a few reasons to do so, like for example a certain site is giving off some free stuff and i have to register to get it or subscribe to get it… sometimes i register on some sites to see how the member panel interface is and stuff like that… i know that they might spam me at a later date, so i use an email id that i don’t check much…
Uttoran Sen´s last blog ..Utilize Two OS in a Single PC – Windows 7 with Vista or XP
Nov 22, 2009 @ 9:31 AM
That’s very true..Spam mails are the biggest head aches we face..To be frank i dont read Privacy policies .I am too lazy
Sham´s last blog ..How To Resolve Memory Card Is In Use By Another Application Problem
Nov 25, 2009 @ 10:00 AM
@Sham,
I know sham. You are always lazy to punish those spammers. That’s what spammer’s strength.
Nov 24, 2009 @ 1:57 PM
yupz………my email have lots of spam daily and there is nothing to unsubcribe them…..what should I do?
Avi Singh´s last blog ..How To Pick Winners From Contests
Nov 25, 2009 @ 10:35 AM
@Avi Singh,
No way you can Avi. Only thing to do is mark them as spam.
Nov 27, 2009 @ 1:15 AM
Thats why I only go with websites offering feedburner,awber of feedblitz subscriptions.
Aery´s last blog ..Useful List of Orkut Softwares
Feb 13, 2010 @ 8:43 AM
Darn it, I just “unsubscribed” from a bunch of stupid newsletters today like HR Block, Eastbay, and other sources. I figured I can probably expect more spam, but I didn’t think of it as an active/inactive test link.
Tony M´s last blog ..Using the Thank Me Later Plugin on Fitness Blogs
Feb 14, 2010 @ 10:01 PM
I too have subscribed to lot of newsletter. Eg: Cricinfo, NY Times, Washington Times.etc
are they bad?
Feb 14, 2010 @ 11:31 PM
@Adithya,
They are not bad mostly.
Feb 17, 2010 @ 2:58 AM
Reading your post.. I have got an idea: why not to make a poll asking if people check for policies before subscribing to newsletters or not..
Because I still believe, that it doesn’t, actually, matter..
What is your opinion on this? Do you have any experience on such problem?
iWoodpecker´s last blog ..First Page of Google With 106 Millions Competitors: My First Time. How?!
Feb 24, 2010 @ 11:27 PM
Perfect example is WEBPRONEWS. I know it is a big site but why does he find my spam box so hygienic?
The other alternative is followed by most. Create an email id to bear all those junk emails.
Kothapally Arun ´s last blog ..This is my Broken Bone Tattoo from Casttoos!!!