| There are many dark patterns that encourage people to accept their address going on the general spam list: * wording on check-boxes being sufficiently ambiguous that yo have to think to get the right meaning * check-boxes on forms in different stages of the ordering process that have inverted meaning from each other * resetting check-boxes to the “please send me junk” state if the user goes back to correct some other issue or otherwise update the order * wording the checkbox text to imply that opting out also opts out of getting order update emails (or in some cases opting out does opt out of order updates messages too, and you have to check via some other method what the state of your order is) And so on. It is easy to avoid all these accidental opt-ins individually, but it is also very easy to miss one in amongst the sea of dark patterns and one is all that it takes. You need to be vigilant all the time, they scummy marketers only have to get lucky once. Furthermore, I'm sure some just ignore your opt-out and send crap anyway. When taken to task they'll say you must have accidentally [un]checked the wrong box (how do you prove otherwise?) and tell you that you can opt out from future emails by following the link in the messages. |