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  • Planet of the (email) Apes

    From Keith F. Lynch@21:1/5 to All on Fri May 20 01:28:48 2022
    My mailbox is stuffed with megabytes of unwanted HTML gibberish thanks
    to an "email marketing" mailer called Mailchimp. And indeed, it seems
    to have been programmed by an ape.

    This isn't spam per se. It's stuff I requested, or at least sort of
    requested, but I certainly didn't ask that even the simplest and most straightforward messages be accompanied by a retinue of literally
    thousands of angle brackets, ampersands, JavaScript codes, and
    hundreds of incomprehensible header lines.

    I got one from Balticon on the 10th, one from FANAC on the 17th, two
    from Chicon on the 17th (the second 1600 lines were because the time
    zone was wrong in the first email; they're otherwise identical),
    another from Balticon on the 18th, and yet another from Balticon on
    the 19th. The last one -- a mere 422 lines -- was to correct a bad
    single-line URL in the previous email.

    Can anyone think of a reason not to block all of them? And does
    anyone know of a contact at Chicon who can switch me to plain text
    email? Thanks.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Gary McGath@21:1/5 to Keith F. Lynch on Fri May 20 08:51:00 2022
    On 5/19/22 9:28 PM, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    My mailbox is stuffed with megabytes of unwanted HTML gibberish thanks
    to an "email marketing" mailer called Mailchimp. And indeed, it seems
    to have been programmed by an ape.

    This isn't spam per se. It's stuff I requested, or at least sort of requested, but I certainly didn't ask that even the simplest and most straightforward messages be accompanied by a retinue of literally
    thousands of angle brackets, ampersands, JavaScript codes, and
    hundreds of incomprehensible header lines.

    I got one from Balticon on the 10th, one from FANAC on the 17th, two
    from Chicon on the 17th (the second 1600 lines were because the time
    zone was wrong in the first email; they're otherwise identical),
    another from Balticon on the 18th, and yet another from Balticon on
    the 19th. The last one -- a mere 422 lines -- was to correct a bad single-line URL in the previous email.

    Can anyone think of a reason not to block all of them? And does
    anyone know of a contact at Chicon who can switch me to plain text
    email? Thanks.


    Mailchimp is horrible for privacy. Here's their list of stuff they
    report back to the sender:

    https://mailchimp.com/help/reports/

    Reading email as plain text, which you do, defeats all or nearly all
    attempt to monitor your reading. As you note, though, the plain text
    versions can be messy to read.

    Most mail clients won't run JavaScript, so I'm surprised Mailchimp uses it.

    I understand why marketers, including ones that have the recipient's permission, want to snoop on their subscribers' reading habits. I don't understand why fannish organizations use Mailchimp. If you don't want to
    run your own list server, there are plenty of options that respect
    privacy. I've set up lists on groups.io for a personal mailing list and
    for a discussion group.

    MASSFILC, which I'm clerk of, uses a Mailman list server.

    Nobody can decide for you whether Mailchimp is worth the annoyance. If
    it isn't, you should be able to get yourself removed from those lists
    without having to block them.

    --
    Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Keith F. Lynch@21:1/5 to Gary McGath on Sat May 21 01:07:58 2022
    Gary McGath <garym@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> wrote:
    Reading email as plain text, which you do, defeats all or nearly all
    attempt to monitor your reading. As you note, though, the plain
    text versions can be messy to read.

    Messy and very bloated. I don't mind long emails (within reason) so
    long as they consist only of substantive content.

    I routinely search *all* my email, back to day one, for various
    character strings. My searches take longer than they should. But my
    dislike of bloat is mostly just an aesthetic preference. So what if
    disk space is cheap and plentiful? Even if real estate and plumbing
    became cheap and plentiful, I would never say "I have ten thousand
    toilets, so I never need flush one again."

    Most mail clients won't run JavaScript, so I'm surprised Mailchimp
    uses it.

    I stand corrected. A closer examination shows no trace of JavaScript.

    I understand why marketers, including ones that have the recipient's permission, want to snoop on their subscribers' reading habits. I
    don't understand why fannish organizations use Mailchimp.

    Indeed. The fannish organizations aren't doing marketing. And
    anything labeled as "email marketing" rubs me the wrong way. It's
    just another word for spam. Nobody would consent to having their
    email open to marketing, any more than they'd consent to having their
    front yard used as the city dump.

    If you don't want to run your own list server, there are plenty of
    options that respect privacy. I've set up lists on groups.io for a
    personal mailing list and for a discussion group.

    I'm not that happy about groups.io either. Again, lots of HTML
    and MIME turds in nearly all emails. Will future generations view
    "MsoNormal" as being the most common word of 21st century English?
    And =C3=83=C2=83=C3=82=C2=83=C3=83=C2=82=C3=82=C2=A2=C3=83=C2=83=C3 =82=C2=A2=C3=83=C2=82=C3=82=C2=82=C3=83=C2=82=C3=82=C2=AC=C3=83=C2= 83=C3=82=C2=A2=C3=83=C2=82=C3=82=C2=84=C3=83=C2=82=C3=82=C2=A2
    as being a typical apostrophe?

    Nobody can decide for you whether Mailchimp is worth the annoyance.
    If it isn't, you should be able to get yourself removed from those
    lists without having to block them.

    There are unsubscribe links, but they're URLs, not email addresses.
    Giant MIME-infested URLs which need to be manually unMIMEd before
    they're usable. Anyhow, I don't so much want to unsubscribe as I want
    to get nothing but succinct accurate relevant plain text messages.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Tim Merrigan@21:1/5 to kfl@KeithLynch.net on Sat May 21 13:05:44 2022
    On Sat, 21 May 2022 01:07:58 -0000 (UTC), "Keith F. Lynch"
    <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:

    And =C3=83=C2=83=C3=82=C2=83=C3=83=C2=82=C3=82=C2=A2=C3=83=C2=83=C3 >=82=C2=A2=C3=83=C2=82=C3=82=C2=82=C3=83=C2=82=C3=82=C2=AC=C3=83=C2= >83=C3=82=C2=A2=C3=83=C2=82=C3=82=C2=84=C3=83=C2=82=C3=82=C2=A2
    as being a typical apostrophe?

    All of that is for one apostrophe?!
    --

    Qualified immunity = virtual impunity.

    Tim Merrigan

    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
    https://www.avg.com

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Keith F. Lynch@21:1/5 to Tim Merrigan on Sun May 22 03:07:00 2022
    Tim Merrigan <tppm@ca.rr.com> wrote:
    "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl@KeithLynch.net> wrote:
    And =C3=83=C2=83=C3=82=C2=83=C3=83=C2=82=C3=82=C2=A2=C3=83=C2=83=C3
    =82=C2=A2=C3=83=C2=82=C3=82=C2=82=C3=83=C2=82=C3=82=C2=AC=C3=83=C2=
    83=C3=82=C2=A2=C3=83=C2=82=C3=82=C2=84=C3=83=C2=82=C3=82=C2=A2
    as being a typical apostrophe?

    All of that is for one apostrophe?!

    Yes. Each time it was quoted, it doubled in size. And I wasn't one
    of the participants in the thread, so none of it can be blamed on me.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)