Spam: Do you unsubscribe or just delete?

[neilrr]

I was wondering if people hit the unsubscribe button on junk mail or does this just alert the spammer to a live address?

Been receiving junk / spam email from big, brand name companies with non big brand name email addresses, which I delete en block unopened 99% of the time.

 

[whitenemesis]

Simply delete without opening.

 

[ringway]

The most annoying thing about some of the emails I receive is unsubscribe buttons that don't function. Costco and Thomson Local are two of the major culprits.

 

[BTB 500]

I class 'junk' mail as stuff from companies I've had dealings with at some point - I always 'unsubscribe' from those, and the only issue is the occasional one where (as mentioned) there's no obvious way to do this. Only caveat is to check where the unsubscribe link goes before clicking it - the message may not be from who it says it is

Genuine spam (from people you've never dealt with) is a bit different, and responding in any way (or clicking any link) is a bad idea as a high proportion of them are malicious. Mark them as spam (rather than just deleting) and they should stop appearing in your inbox ... depending on how your email works.

 

[johnsco]

I add them to my list of blocked senders.
... And delete them - of course.
Do not open attachments.
They often contain all sorts of nasties.

 

[Messa]

Even if you don't reply/unsubscribe then most spam can detect that you have opened the email because remotely hosted images/files have been requested and these are uniquely linked to your specific email, so can be traced as a valid email address.

If poss delete without opening.

 

[BTB 500]

Even if you don't reply/unsubscribe then most spam can detect that you have opened the email because remotely hosted images/files have been requested and these are uniquely linked to your specific email, so can be traced as a valid email address.

If poss delete without opening.

Never really thought about it before but that must be why Yahoo mail suppresses all images in messages flagged as spam.