If your email inbox is routinely clogged, there are a few simple things you can do to reduce the gunky buildup. I wrote about email filters a couple of weeks ago, and next week I’ll discuss a nifty way to subscribe to newsletters that completely bypasses your email and stops spam in its tracks.
This week I’ll describe the difference between spam and, well, everything else, and explain why that difference matters.
Spam is unsolicited commercial email. “Commercial” means that it’s trying to sell you something, and I know you understand what “email” means (that stuff that clogs your inbox, remember?).
The “unsolicited” part is the trickiest. Plenty of commercial email is solicited: When you place an order with Amazon, they send you an order confirmation and a shipping confirmation. But does that mean they’re allowed to then put you on a mailing list and notify you every time a new Harry Potter novel comes out?
The best answer, the answer that applies to honest companies, is “not without your consent.” Ideally, companies will explicitly ask for your consent. Honest merchants (and I believe Amazon is one, just to be clear!) will tell you exactly how they’re going to use your email address and what you can expect to receive from them. They’ll also honor your request to unsubscribe and provide an easy way to do it.
Here on my blog, for example, I’ve done my best to include a privacy promise on every page with a sign-up form. My email list provider, AWeber, has very strict anti-spam policies, which means that no one gets on one of my mailing lists without completing an email confirmation step.
There’s an important difference between spam and solicited commercial email. If you agree to receive email from a company, and then they send you an offer that you’re not interested in, that’s not spam. It may be annoying, it may be poor marketing, and it may make you trust them less, but it’s not spam because you agreed to receive it.
In this case, please go ahead and delete the email. Exercise your right to unsubscribe. Email the company and tell them why you don’t appreciate the offer. But don’t call it spam when that’s not what it is. Please don’t click the “spam” or “junk mail” button.
Here’s why: That button is not a shortcut to unsubscribing. Clicking it triggers an official complaint to your ISP (Internet Service Provider) that the sender spammed you. These complaints are taken very seriously by ISPs and (legitimate) email service providers like AWeber. Basically, honest companies can get in trouble if too many people click the spam button instead of clicking the unsubscribe link (remember, honest companies always include a working unsubscribe link).
I’ll never defend spammers, and I’m glad ISPs have created easy ways to report them. I certainly don’t hesitate to click that junk mail button every time one gets through my spam filters, and you should do the same. Just don’t make things harder for companies that are following the rules.
This Week’s Heart of the Matter: Take back your inbox — but don’t stoop to the spammers’ level. If you want to read more about spam and what you can do about it, check out Randy Cassingham’s Spam Primer. The cute anthropomorphic spam can photo was taken at the Spam Museum in Austin, MN and posted on flickr by cursedthing.
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