I used to be the type who would give endless directions but not do the
unsubscription for someone in an effort to help the next listowner down the
line. With the growth of the internet that's no longer an important
issue. So now I do it to help ME down the line.
I must have about half a dozen on and off subscribers who follow the same
pattern. They subscribe without any help from me whatsoever. A few weeks,
months, or a year later, when they want a break, they can't remember how to
unsubscribe.
Note: directions are at the bottom of every post. Along with the website
url (with directions written up differently in case some people can read
that better) and my personal address where people can ask me for help. Do
they use these tools? No!
These subscribers respond to random posts and say "take me off this list"
while quoting the entire message they used for their reply. Some of them
do this over and over and attempt to post to the list with it (one of the
reasons I've kept my list moderated).
And other subscribers will just write me and say "I can't figure it out,
please help me!" Which would be fine if they didn't do this month after
month. And most don't ask, they just say "remove me" then "remove me,
second request." And so on.
Mind you, when they want to return to the list they just do it themselves.
And that's harder than leaving! Although you write to the same address,
you have to use a strange word (subsingle) if you don't want the digest (I
didn't write the server code!), and you have to respond to an
authentication message.
I try to cut people some slack since it's a list for people with
disabilities that include brain fog and wanting to unsubscribe is often the
result of being overwhelmed and too sick to keep up with the posts. But I
can't be people's personal assistants either. I know from experience that
if I do that same person will come back later expecting the same treatment
(for subscribes too). If I teach them once then they will often do it
themselves the subsequent times, or at least know how to ask for the
directions. (If someone says, please do it for me cause I'm very sick
right now, then I will.)
One of the best things I ever did was to move to a system where the default
is requiring an authentication message for subscriptions. Now I almost
never get "how did I get on this list, I never asked for this mail!" (note
the almost)
Cyndi
--
_______________________________________________________________________________
"There's nothing wrong with me. Maybe there's Cyndi Norman
something wrong with the universe." (ST:TNG) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.tikvah.com/
_________________ Owner of the Immune Website & Lists http://www.immuneweb.org/
