[myth_buster]

What I don't understand (possibly noob question), is the scenario where I get spam and I click on "Report spam" to be prompted with "Unsubscribe and report spam".

I'd never subscribed to it so why am I asked whether I would like to "Unsubscribe". Is it that the spammers got hold of my email from somewhere and "Subscribed" me automatically?

Shouldn't "Report spam" implicitly imply that it's not a subscription?

[plorkyeran]

People use the Report Spam button on things that they explicitly signed up for all the time, and Gmail has adjusted its behavior to match how users use it rather than try to persuade them to instead do the right thing.

[PeterisP]

Opt-out lists are a big issue.

A checkbox hidden somewhere that's enabled by default doesn't mean that "I have subscribed" to the mailing list, both in the common sense and also is prohibited in many legal jurisdictions (not USA, AFAIK), leaving a default checkbox simply doesn't count as obtaining consent, it is a well known 'dark UI pattern' that even the consumer protection laws have understood and explicitly implemented.

Such messages are just another kind of spam, and the right thing to prevent this, naturally, is to block the sender as a spammer. Underneath there is somewhat proper a mailing list that supports unsubscription, so an unsubscribe message can and should also be sent, but it doesn't change the fact that all the subscribers were added without their informed consent - if you built a system with opt-in by default, then you yourself built a system where it is impossible to say that you actually want to subscribe, the only provided checkbox then represents a choice between the default (no informed consent) and an explicit refusal of consent.

[tajen]

I'm the author of a product and in some situation I have subscribed former users to a one-off email. It's gray area since it was to notify them about a major release/change, it was written in my T&C and sign up form, but honestly it would feel legitimate if they marked my email as undesired/spam.

Out of 900 recipients, 1 marked it as spam, 18 unsubscribed. I believe people are very tolerant and they could use "spam & blame" a lot more.

[linkregister]

I think your situation is different; you're not subscribing them to a newsletter. Your communication is reasonable for a typical business relationship. (and is protected under CAN-SPAM)

[dazc]

That's right. All too often I've subscribed to a mailing list expecting the odd email now and again only to suffer a deluge of totally irrelevant and annoying 'updates' on an almost daily basis.

The worst offenders also make it difficult to unsubscribe. Hence, the report spam option.

[myth_buster]

Interesting. Isn't there an information loss since now they would have to infer the motive to decide whether to blacklist the sender?

[coldpie]

Yes. I end up with loads of useful emails in the Spam folder. Mostly it's stuff like shipping and billing notifications. I check the Spam folder daily, now, since so much useful mail ends up there.

[LeoNatan25]

"The right thing".

The right thing is to not register me to these spam mailing lists in the first place. I did not register, ergo they are spam, and should be blocked from spamming other people. "Report spam" is exactly the correct behavior I intended when I clicked on it.

[sbov]

The point is people click spam even on things they did register for.