Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with junkmail

Two mailings from Peaceful Mountain Donkey Rescue in less than three weeks was the last straw.

ocherdraco — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:31:24 -0800

How can I get off mailing lists for charities (and other non-profits) I never contacted in the first place? I occasionally give money to charities, and/or patronize the arts. They, then, pass my information on to other charities and arts organizations, who send me solicitations. I would like to both:

stop the solicitations I am already receiving, and
prevent yet more organizations from spamming me with their junkmail

I already make sure I always uncheck any boxes on forms that indicate I will be added to any mailing lists; unfortunately, not all organizations are straightforward in their intentions in this way.

How do I make it stop?

Is there a one-stop way to make snail mail disappear?

ohyouknow — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 09:56:13 -0800

On my list of everyday things that drive me up the wall, snail mail is right up there with cilantro. Please help me make my mailbox disappear. I've read these threads, and was hoping that by now someone had come up with something a little easier?

I pay all of my bills automatically so there is really almost nothing that arrives via snail mail that's important to me. I've signed up for Green Dimes (which didn't really work), and signed up for e-payments across the board. I've also called Equifax and all of those guys. Yet the crap keeps on coming. There has got to be an easier way than spending half an hour on the phone with Pottery Barn and West Elm every other week... right??? (Also, I rent so I can't really just dismantle the mailbox, much as I might fantasize about it.)

Googlegroups scam? Or what?

St. Alia of the Bunnies — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 07:11:15 -0800

I just got this in my inbox from Google Groups. Is this some sort of scam or problem? Hello,

I've added you to my gvxytifdc group at Yahoo! Groups, a free,
easy-to-use service. Yahoo! Groups makes it easy to send and receive
group messages, coordinate events, share photos and files, and more.

Description of the group:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
taavdrmrdmuuxyo

Complete your Yahoo! Groups account:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Your email address has been added to the email list of a Yahoo! Group.
To gain access to all of your group's web features (previous messages,
photos, files, calendar, etc.) and easier control of your message
delivery options, we highly recommend that you complete your account
by connecting your email address to a Yahoo account. It is easy and free.
Please visit:
http://groups.yahoo.com/convacct?email=sdflkjwenrlkjsdf%40gmail.com&list=gvxytifdc

Important information about the gvxytifdc group
------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was about to just unsubscribe from this-obviously this isn't a real group, right?-but then I thought maybe responding to this was not a good idea....so, other than delete this as junkmail, anything else I should be concerned about?

Junk Mail filtering not needed

beagle — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 11:46:51 -0800

Is there a way to completely disable junk mail filtering in Outlook 2003? I'm finding real mail that's ending up in the Junk Mail folder, and I get very little actual junk mail. So having to check the junk mail folder is just a nuisance. I want to stop Outlook from filtering, altogether. I want every message to go into my Inbox and stay there.

It's Outlook 2003. Current Junk Mail settings are:
--No automatic filtering
--Don't turn on links in messages, etc.
--Safe Senders: Trust email from my Contacts, & Automatically add people I email to the safe senders list.
--Safe Recipients: none listed
--Blocked Senders: none listed
--International/Blocked Top Level Domains: none checked
--International/Blocked encodings list: none checked

Any suggestions appreciated.

How can I get AmEx to stop sending me so much junk mail?

tumbleweedjack — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:44:24 -0800

3-5 times a week, every week, I receive promotional offers from American Express (with whom I am a current cardholder). How do I get them to stop? The mailings vary, mostly they're offers of new cards. I don't even open them anymore- I just tear them up and throw them away, because I have supposedly gone 'paper free' on my billing. It's really annoying and an enormous waste of paper.

Carbon Footprint of Junk Mail?

gnossos — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:22:10 -0800

What is the carbon footprint for unsolicited, promotional mail for one year in the USA? I seem to get a lot of unsolicited, promotional advertisements in the mail each day. I recycle the paper, but what a waste! If we add in the costs to transport the paper, envelopes and cards across the US each year, the carbon footprint has to be huge! What other factors might be included? Maybe this concept can be used to slow the waste.

What level of success have you had cutting down on incoming junk mail and how?

poppo — Tue, 13 May 2008 07:40:29 -0800

I saw this thread from last year, which listed some sites for cutting down on junk mail. If you have used some or all of them, how effective was it? Which one(s) did you use? I am particularly interested in opinions on 41 Pounds or a service like it, where they take a fee in exchange for the bulk of the work, which seems time consuming if you go the piecemeal route.

Do I have to have a mailbox?

nitsuj — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 20:46:11 -0800

Do I have to have a mailbox? I live in an apartment in the U.S. with a mailbox, but literally 99.9% of everything dropped into my box is junk (hehe). I get maybe once piece of mail every two months that I actually open. Am I legally required to have a mailing address in the eyes of the USPS? If not, is it possible to NOT have a mailing address but continue to live in an apartment with an address?

Signed,
Confused

Want to cheapen my debt expenditures. Know of any cheap money (unsecured loans)?

zpousman — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 07:29:03 -0800

Cheap Money Filter: I've got a moderate amount of credit card debt right now ($15k), at reasonable but not great rates (13-18%). I'll be making more money in the upcoming year, and the debt load is manageable, but I want to explore trading these loans with an unsecured line-of-credit type loan or some other loan. Advice? Suggestions on where to get a good rate (i.e. got any good junk mail lately)? Should I even look at a credit card loan (i.e., open a new card and transfer balances)? These have the advantage of having low introductory rates, and, if the rate lasted a year, that's a year of free money (I'll probably pay this debt off in 2 years). I've got a flyer from B of A with a 9.9% fixed loan that seems like it would serve me well. It's a line of credit (unsecured). Has anybody gotten similar but better offers in the recent past? Pitfalls to avoid? If so, I'd love to hear about it. I see that lending tree can show me loans of this type, but I'm sure that means trading info for thousands of pieces of email and junkmail.

What's going on with my email?

squishy — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 10:19:09 -0800

Has a company given out my email address, or am I at fault? I use a catch-all email address on my domain, and customize addresses anytime I enter it in forms. For instance, amazon has amazon@mydomain.com, metafilter has metafilter@mydomain.com, etc.

Just a *few* times have I noticed SPAM coming to emails that I've given out. United Airlines is a known offender (I'm not the only one, according to Google), but junk mail to addresses given to two pretty small companies have also appeared in the last year or so, one in just the last month.

Both companies responded immediately, but hadn't had anyone else report this, and can't figure out where the leak was.

My question is: I assumed that *they* inadvertently compromised my address, but is it possible that there's fault on my end? Something on my system or servers? What are the possibilities?

If it's on their end, it's easy for me to deal with, as I can just filter that incoming email to Junk. If not, what should I do?

Giving to charity without getting junk mail?

blakeleyh — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 17:50:59 -0800

Is there a way to donate money to charity without ending up on junk mail lists?

Junk, Junk and More Junk!

SoftSummerBreeze — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 10:20:53 -0800

What is this Application Tracking Code thing? Amongst my mail yesterday was credit app #147,683. I've had enough! So I'm filling the postage paid return envelope with this and that and notice on the back of the envelope that there's a barcode with numbers beneath it. Above it it says Appication Tracking Code. Below the numbers it says 'Warning; Unauthorized use of or tampering with this envelope or its contents may result in legal action.'

Will I go to Envelope Prison if I mail back my envelope o' junk to the very folks that essentially sent me an envelope o' junk?

Mysterious junk mail

I_Love_Bananas — Wed, 17 May 2006 18:45:20 -0800

Why am I getting junk mail in my ex-husband's name? Here's the rundown:

I have been divorced for 6 years, remarried for 4. Last year we moved to a new house. We live in the same metro area as my ex, but not in the same part of town.

Last week I got a mailing from Kroger addressed to my ex. I called them and they promised me they'd remove his name/association with my address.

Today I got junk mail to his SON at my address. This is a grown son who (last I heard) is about to get married an move out of state. (He is not my son, but from my ex's marriage before me. )

Why is this happening? Why now, when it never did before? I can only think it will get worse.

I DO NOT want any association with his name/household and my own. I fear it may spread to credit bureaus. He has terrible credit and lots of bad financial stuff in his past.

In what cyber-realm has our data become co-mingled? What can I do to fix this?

Thanks for requesting more information about visiting Colorado!

davehat — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 23:20:18 -0800

I've started getting lots of emails thanking me for my interest in a variety of services/info requests/subscriptions that I definately didn't ask for. Is this some wierd cyberstalking, or is there some new sophisticated type of spam going around? So far, I have received about 20 messages from tradepub.com denying me subsriptions to trade publications as diverse as Nursing Monthly and Federal Computing Weekly.

I also been thanked for my enquiries about purchasing Boston Whaler Boats, visiting Colorado, getting a hair transplant and I've been sent a link to download i-anywhere's "M-Business Anywhere Developer Edition". There were a couple more before this, I think, but I just deleted them because I thought they were regular type spam that my web based email had missed.

Nearly all the emails have mentioned that whatever it was I requested has been (snail) mailed to me....

WTF is going on? Am I sleep surfing? Is someone just hiding behind a "fake" email address they think they've created? If so anyone have any idea how can I track the person down and ask them to stop?

I wouldn't be bothered, but there's no way to spam filter them so they arrive in my inbox. Also, I have no idea whether the person has opted out or if my email address is being distributed to every shyster in America....

Stop the circulars

nakedcodemonkey — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 12:06:28 -0800

Isn't there any way to permanently block delivery of unaddressed junk (USPS) mail? The post office insists on cramming increasingly thick stacks of "Occupant", "Resident", etc mail into the box every day and it's become ridiculous. Cards and letters get crushed. Bills get hidden among the loose papers. Netflix envelopes frequently get torn. It's just a matter of time until a DVD is cracked or something important gets thrown out by mistake. All to ensure delivery of (ugh) ads, which go straight into the recycling anyway. The Direct Marketing Association's list apparently only blocks mail that's addressed to us by name. Postal policy allows us to block senders individually by name only and besides, we have to claim they're sending porn just to get that block, sheesh. Sending without an addressee name on the label seems to be the loophole that allows unlimited amounts of this crud a free pass into everyone's mailbox. Isn't there any way to block all these random circulars that are crowding us out of our own mailbox?

Credit, credit everywhere

borkencode — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 02:57:31 -0800

JunkmailFilter: How do I get credit card companies to stop sending me applications? I usually get at least one credit card application per day in the mail, with a peak of about 5 on a single day. I have all the credit I need at this point, and I'm sick of 90% of my mail being applications for credit cards I don't want. I've started sending back the "Business Reply Mail" envelopes stuffed with the entire envelope they sent me, but this won't stop more from coming.

Is there any way to stop the torrent of mail?

Sorting Snail Mail

klarck — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 12:26:56 -0800

SnailMailFilterFilter: Are there any failsafe rules to separate USPS junk mail from real mail (or vice versa) without opening it? I know I needn't worry about an ink SoBig virus, but I just hate being suckered into opening an important-looking envelope only to find another Visa/MC application. [More Inside] I feel pretty confident tossing anything with no return address and I'm slowly catching on to meaningless markings like "Time-sensitive Material", "Please Do Not Discard", and "Please Open Immediately".

I've noticed that many, if not all, of my monthly bills come in an envelope that's clearly marked "Your Statement is Enclosed" or "Your Bill is Enclosed". I checked the USPS.gov site but couldn't find any reference to this as a requirement. Is it?

How do you determine what to open or toss without opening and tossing?

Can someone explain to me how to use Mozilla Thunderbird's junk mail controls in 30 words or less?

scottandrew — Sat, 08 May 2004 14:22:26 -0800

Can someone explain to me how to use Mozilla Thunderbird's junk mail controls in 30 words or less? [mi] I have the adaptive junk filters enabled and I've been dutifully marking spam as "junk" since I've installed Thunderbird three weeks ago. However, Thunderbird never marks suspected junk mail as "junk," and when I run the Junk Mail Controls on the inbox, nothing happens.

The documentation for Thunderbirds points to this DevEdge document:

http://devedge.netscape.com/viewsource/2003/junkmail-filtering/

I've read it several times and I don't see what I'm doing wrong. I've poked through the training.dat file and it appears to be getting updated although the Junk Mail log is always blank.

Suggestions?