[TimG]

Received a personal note that I had been removed from their mailing list (after sending a request to sales@).

[mgoetze]

In the world of spam, "unsubscribe" means "confirm your email is real and thus suitable for further spamming".

[TimG]

delete

[Phil]

I received this too. I have no idea how I got on this spam list.

[CarlRitner]

I get that email every once in a while, maybe three or four times a year.
Since I am interested in bridge, and especially bridge books, it doesn't bother me at all.
I am a little surprised to hear that it's considered annoying.

Disclaimer: I have no association with the author or the website.

[Rossoneri]

CarlRitner, on 2010-December-05, 19:08, said:

I get that email every once in a while, maybe three or four times a year.
Since I am interested in bridge, and especially bridge books, it doesn't bother me at all.
I am a little surprised to hear that it's considered annoying.

Disclaimer: I have no association with the author or the website.

I think the main issue is the fact that the email is unsolicited, and questions should be rightfully asked as to how the other party obtained the email addresses.

[barmar]

Tim said he'd sent mail to their sales address, isn't that an easy way for them to get his email?

I haven't gotten these emails, but I could easily imagine getting on their list by them harvesting addresses from rec.games.bridge (I don't munge my email when posting to Usenet).

[Siegmund]

I think it's not online harvesting, but rather the business in question buying a mailing list from the ACBL or baron barclay or some similar outfit. Unlike "normal" spam it may well be worth asking to be taking off the mailing list for something like this.

Quote

Since I am interested in bridge, and especially bridge books, it doesn't bother me at all.
I am a little surprised to hear that it's considered annoying.

Even as a book dealer, it bothers me at least a little bit to get unsolicited ads - especially those obviously sent out en masse, as opposed to ones from a firm I've already done business with or that knows something about me.

By a funny coincidence, for the last 2 days I considered posting a "gee, I used to get emails from Boehm but he didn't send me one this time, so unsubscribing really must work" note -- and then today I received the same email you all did.

[han]

Just double it for takeout, but make sure you have at least two books already in case partner passes.

[TimG]

barmar, on 2010-December-05, 22:37, said:

Tim said he'd sent mail to their sales address, isn't that an easy way for them to get his email?

I sent an e-mail to their sales department only after receiving the unsolicited sales e-mail. (They were prompt and polite in responding to that request to remove my e-mail address from their list and also claimed to have fixed the 'unsubscribe' link after I brought it to their attention.)

I suspect they bought the e-mail list from someone and was wondering from whom when I made my initial post.

[CarlRitner]

TimG, on 2010-December-06, 06:55, said:

I sent an e-mail to their sales department only after receiving the unsolicited sales e-mail. (They were prompt and polite in responding to that request to remove my e-mail address from their list and also claimed to have fixed the 'unsubscribe' link after I brought it to their attention.)

I suspect they bought the e-mail list from someone and was wondering from whom when I made my initial post.

OK, I understand it better now. In my case, I've bought books through their website, and I assumed they got my name that way.

I sell books for the ACBL and they won't give me a mailing list. So I sort of doubt it's them.

[barmar]

CarlRitner, on 2010-December-06, 19:35, said:

I sell books for the ACBL and they won't give me a mailing list. So I sort of doubt it's them.

While not actually giving their mailing list to third parties, some organizations will send out mass mailings to their list on behalf of the third party. That allows them to control how the list is used. But I assume if you already have a partnership with ACBL, you'd know if they provide this service.

[CarlRitner]

barmar, on 2010-December-09, 23:49, said:

While not actually giving their mailing list to third parties, some organizations will send out mass mailings to their list on behalf of the third party. That allows them to control how the list is used. But I assume if you already have a partnership with ACBL, you'd know if they provide this service.

Quite right. We found that running a small notice in the ACBL Bulletin was more effective than a mass mailing.
Hopefully we'll do the same thing this time around.