I know little about E-Mail & sort of slug my way through, so this thread is very interesting to read and quite helpful. Lots of people must appreciate all that everyone has posted.
There are some items mentioned above that I have 'Dopey Boy' experiences with. I hope you all don't mind me passing them along:
UNSUBSCRIBE LINKS-
Back in Post #4, Nick mentioned that clicking "Unsubscribe" can increase junk mail. That has been my experience in a Big Way!
I learned that by clicking in e-mails from legitimate senders.
I once clicked the "Unsubscribe" button on an On-Star marketing e-mail. Holy Cow! That sent their marketing department into overdrive. I got e-mails for On-Star insurance discounts, extra features, new cars with On Star, phone minutes to use with On Star, warranties and more. Dozens & dozens. Also I immediately started receiving e-mails from other companies, all of which said something about "Because you are an On Star subscriber...." (When we first subscribed, we did "Opt Out" of sharing. So much for that.)
Usually it's no big deal, but On Star and many of its affiliates are more than happy to include your entire account number, car description, city of residence and complete VIN number in the e-mails. A few even had my complete credit card information. You also have the pleasure of receiving these e-mails to multiple e-mail addresses. I have no idea where they got the other addresses and where else these messages go.
Calling On Star more than once didn't help. I was so crabby about my personal data being sent through e-mail to so many addresses & by their affiliates that I cancelled my subscription- yet the marketing continues. Nifty company, huh?
My bank and health insurer did almost the same thing- but without the personal data. Clicking "unsubscribe" must mean "Send me more, more, more" and " Please sell my address" Again, so much for opting out of sharing.
I'd hate to find out what would happen if I were to click "unsubscribe" from an unknown e-mail.
LINKED WEB PAGES-
I also don't click the web page links in e-mails, with very few exceptions. If I want to see an article, I'll find it manually by going to the sender's site.
One notable exception is this user forum. When I get an e-mail about a reply to a thread I am subscribed to, or when I get the weekly newsletter, I have no reservations about clicking the links. Actually, clicking the link tells the forum that you've read the subscribed thread reply & to send notification about the next one.
Hobby Machinist and All About Circuits are other safe forums. They never give away your address.
For vendors, Grainger & OWC are a couple that I believe are very good about protecting your address if you click a link.
DEDICATED ADDRESS-
For shopping sites we have a dedicated e-mail address.
On that particular dedicated mail account, I do daily mass deletions without opening any messages. Then I empty the trash.
eBay has its own mail account to fill up because we sell stuff there. Actually, they are pretty good about not overloading you, but you do get fair bit of advertising stuff.
Other vendors are not so respectful. If one of us goes to Sears, for example, to buy on line; a bunch of marketing e-mails for similar products flood in for months. Home Depot is another culprit, and your telephone number gets spread around, too.
MYSTERIOUS ADDRESS BOOK ENTRIES-
Sometimes a vendor with whom we have done business ends up in my address book. How rude is that?
I have no idea how that happens. It happens quite often when I buy something from a large seller on eBay. It even happens when buying from some brick-and-mortar stores. If a vendor thinks that is a good way to get my business, they are very mistaken.
One of my Mail Rules highlights anyone in my address book in blue, so those entries are quite prominent and easily deleted.
Those are just some experiences I've had that I wanted to share and how I managed them (sometimes not so successfully).
Be Sure To Enjoy Today!
Paul