Jul
29

Washington Post: Ignoring Unsubscribes

The Washington Post, one of the major newspapers in the U.S., just started emailing advertisements to the email addresses of people who have accounts there to comment. I was foolish, and provided my usual blog commenting email address instead of a tagged address that I could turn off if needed. :/ I unsubscribed, and also sent email to their ESP E-Dialog (now eBay). The unwanted advertising emails have continued. I want to warn users that either the Washington Post is ignoring unsubscribes or E-Dialog’s unsubscribe system is unconscionably slow despite having (twice now) confirmed that my email address was removed.

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Jan
09

Esquire Magazine: How did you find me?

What an exciting offer! Esquire seems like a nice magazine. Though, I have to admit, I can’t tell you the last time I’ve ever purchased or read an issue of Esquire. I’ve never subscribed to Esquire, online or offline, and I have no idea why they would be sending this to me. I am definitely not a registered subscriber nor did I opt-in to this. It smells to me as though they are obtaining addresses from a third party.

I hope their ESP, E-Dialog, will look into this. I can’t have been the only person to receive this.

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Dec
16

Bombarding Subscribers for Christmas: Toys’R’Us et al

Certain companies are absolutely desperate to sell every last possible bit of product during this holiday season. An example: U.S. toy and game retailer Toys’R’Us. Toys’R’Us is currently spamming one of my spamtraps, one that I consider highly likely to be the result of a typoed subscription and so don’t take very seriously. However, that one spamtrap receives from three to five emails per day.

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Dec
02

Sports Authority: Selling Fitness Equipment to Spamtraps

U.S. athletic equipment retailer Sports Authority recently started to send bulk advertising emails to two spamtraps. Both spamtraps have been closed for over a decade. The ESP is E-Dialog.

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May
12

Dell Computers: Spamming from a New ESP :/

U.S. computer manufacturer Dell Computers is *once again* sending bulk email advertisements to an email address that didn’t ask to receive them. This email came not from Dell Small Business, a perennial offender against opt-in that I blogged about early this year, but the Dell Consumer division. This time the ESP is E-Dialog.

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Feb
15

Rentals.com: Whoa, Nellie! Hitting LOTS of Spamtraps!

Residential real-estate listing portal Rentals.com just sent a number of bulk advertising emails to spamtraps at different domains. None of these spamtraps was active after 2008, and all were in timeout for at least twelve consecutive months. The number of spamtraps pretty much rules out the possiblity of typoed web form subscriptions. Either Rental.com emailed a list that has not been contacted for years, or they purchased a list. (This is the first email that I have seen from them to any spamtrap.) The ESP is E-Dialog.

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Dec
10

LD Products: Selling Ink, Toner, and Refills to a Spamtrap

LD Products, an online retailer of inkjet and laser printer ink and supplies, is sending bulk emails to an email address that was closed in 2007. This email address passed its timeout period and was re-enabled as a spamtrap almost two years ago, but only started receiving email from LD Products a few weeks ago. The ESP is E-Dialog.

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Nov
28

Exposures: Emailing an E-Pended Email Address?

Exposures, a photograph-based personalized gifts seller affiliated with catalog retailer Miles Kimball, is sending bulk email to the same spamtrap as Miles Kimball and another Miles Kimball affiliate. The ESP is E-Dialog.

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Nov
27

Miles Kimball: Selling Christmas Gifts to an E-Pended Spamtrap?

Catalog retailer Miles Kimball is sending bulk email to an email address that was closed in 2007. The name in the bulk email is female, but the email address before it was closed belonged to a man, which normally indicates an e-pended list. In addition, Miles Kimball’s web site shows “As We Change” as a preferred partner. This is the same e-pended email address that As We Change hit a few weeks ago; I blogged about that at the time. Miles Kimball appears to be sharing the same e-pended list with them. The ESP is E-Dialog.

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Nov
14

As We Change: Selling Women’s Products to a Male Spamtrap over 40? ;)

Clothing and accessories retailer As We Change, whose target market is “women over 40”, is sending bulk email to an email address that belonged to a single man before it was closed in 2007. After looking through this seller’s catalog, I seriously doubt that anything in it would have been of interest to the previous owner of this spamtrap. 😉 The ESP is E-Dialog.

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