I don't know that I'm generally against the idea but I'd like to add a
to Rich's list, not unique or new, but since I do this sort of thing
for a living...
I don't see the problem as users being "stupid", sometimes we all are
of course.
I just think they quickly re-purpose something like a spam button to
their own wishes.
Practically all the spam-button reports we get from AOL are just
attempts to unsubscribe to some mailing list they subscribed to.
Aside: Most of the rest are just misfires or who knows what, why
do people hit the spam button to a mail from someone with the same
last name as theirs informing them that Uncle Albert is out of the
hospital? Happens a lot, not sure why, an emotional spasm? They
hate their uncle or their sister sending the mail? Anybody's
guess.
Anyhow, they've repurposed the spam button to mean the "stuff I don't
want" button, for whatever whim of "I don't want" which suits them.
And why not?
There's no feedback on the feedback.
No one has the time or inclination to say "that wasn't spam, you're
just trying to unsub a list, you're abusing the anti-abuse feature!"
No, you just manually unsub them when it happens or else they'll hit
the AOL spam button over and over, sometimes many times for each
message (I don't think AOL filters that very well) clearly getting
more annoyed I guess that they're not being serviced quickly enough.
And the ridiculous ones you ignore.
I'd characterize the problem with the design as one of wishful
thinking, imagining people will get with the program and use it as you
hope, with no feedback to nudge them back on the path.
911 dispatchers complain about people calling for inappropriate
reasons.
And they can actually arrest you or fine you for abusing 911!
In summary, the idea has all the problems of the system it intends to
fix.
That is, how about we just give them email, but encourage them to use
it appropriately! Oops, or did I mean a spam button?
And then they don't.
And we can't do much about it.
--
-Barry Shein
The World | bzs(_at_)TheWorld(_dot_)com |
http://www.TheWorld.com
Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: 800-THE-WRLD | Dial-Up: US, PR, Canada
Software Tool & Die | Public Access Internet | SINCE 1989 *oo*
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