How long does it take to opt-out of a mailing list?

A long time ago I subscribed to some (legitimate) web site and ever since I’ve been getting some weekly or so newsletters from them with third part offers. Recently the rate of these newsletters have increased to sometimes two a day at which point I’ve decided to take them up on the offer to opt-out of their mailings.

It was a simple thing really – click the clearly marked “opt-out link” at the top of the email, and I get directed to a web page with a clear “Confirm Opt-Out” button. It doesn’t get much better then that, until the confirmation page that made me do double take (or in my case, “K, thanks, . eh, what was that?! “):

Lengthy opt-out

Lengthy opt-out

Why, oh mighty lords of the internet, does it take 10 days to process an electronic confirmation? Reminds me of that joke about filing the form in cabinet, letting it age for a week before pulling it out for processing.

4 Responses to “How long does it take to opt-out of a mailing list?”

  1. Eran:

    Vogon Constructor Fleets

    Here is what to do if you want to get a lift from a Vogon: Forget it! They’re one of the most unpleasant races in the galaxy — not actually evil but bad tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous. They wouldn’t even lift a finger to save their own grandmothers from the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal—without orders signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters.

  2. Oded:

    That is probably that, though my memory says something else.

  3. Eran:

    I got it from the transcripts.

    • Oded:

      Well, you are correct – I’m just saying that my memory has another quote: it could either be the same quote filtered through several years of memory mis-management, or a quote from something else.

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