O is for Opting Out

I’m doing this blogging A to Z thing. Today is O.

For a few years I’ve been receiving emails from people trying to sell me contact lists. Ironically, I don’t need contact lists, and yet, there I am, on one, probably many, lists of people who do.

Generally, I just ignore or delete junk email but the list people were myriad and persistent. So I clicked every tiny, pale gray, barely legible link to opt out of receiving further correspondence, but to no avail.

I would stop receiving messages from one email address, then immediately start receiving them from another. And their ads started showing up on every Web site I visited. It was like severing the head of a hydra and having 2 show up to replace it.

Here’s the thing – they’re in the business of selling verified email addresses. And what better way to verify an email address than to receive a response from it? Even if the response is “stop bothering me.”

I don’t want to malign an entire industry. There are probably many companies out there in the list business who take leave-me-alone requests seriously. But I never hear from them – they’re working off better lists.

So it appears simply ignoring the unsolicited emails is the way to go. Usually.

For the last few weeks, I’ve been stalked by some guy named Brian trying to sell me unspecified digital marketing services. I figured opting out would be as effective as it was with the list people, so I’ve been ignoring him.

Every few days I get a follow-up trying to set up a call. There’s no substance – just lots of buzzwords like “scaling online acquisition opportunities.” But each message has all the previous emails attached, as if to remind me how long I’ve been ignoring him.

On the fourth message, he started getting testy “A simple no not interested will suffice.”  Will it, Brian? I suspect not.

Today was message six, which included the phrase “I’ve done something to offend you.”

I’m wondering how long this will continue.