I subscribe to a number of email newsletters, and a number of my subscriptions have spawned new subscriptions. That’s bad enough (bastards selling each other (or ‘sharing’) mailing lists), but today I got an email from one of the hellspawn asking why I haven’t opened their emails in awhile. Hmm. The only way for an emailer to know if an email is read is to have “response requests”, ala MS Outlook, (which I would never honor), or encoded images tied to each email sent that download from a server that tracks which are viewed. I also don’t download embedded images for most emails, and I’m guessing that’s the tactic these assholes are using to determine whether or not I read their little missives. Did I mention this group calls themselves the “American Center for Law and Justice?” The irony is inescapable. What do you want to bet I am unable to successfully unsubscribe from them?

Today, among other things, I am thankful for the gmail SPAM filter.

ADDENDUM.  I just ran across a new (to me!) feature of GMAIL!  When I hit the “mark as SPAM” button, a popup offered to “attempt to unsubscribe.”  Very cool.  Maybe it’ll even work.