Doc Searls Weblog

Lately I’ve been patching the roofs of my email inboxes, which leak a torrent of unwanted messages — in addition to the usual spam. I do this mainly by opting out of mailings, most of which I never requested. That’s why, when I received an automated mailing wishing me “a blessed 2014 from the AlwaysOn family,” I thought now would be a good time to opt out of  the large number of mailings I get from AlwaysOn. So I looked down to the bottom of the email, and found this:

	Marketing automation is powered by our sponsor Marketo
	You are receiving this email because you are a member of the AO Network, or are included in the Jigsaw or Venture Source database. To manage your subscription preferences click here.

I clicked on that last link (which I’ve depersonalized) and was delivered to a page that says this:

• Receive the AlwaysOn Weekly Rap (Free e-newsletter with AO’s most popular posts)
• Receive event discounts and program updates to the events checked below:
• AlwaysOn Summit at Stanford—Meet the New Captains of Innovation
• OnMedia at NYU – Where Silicon Valley Meets Madison Avenue
• OnHollywood at USC – Where Innovation Disrupts Entertainment
• OnDemand at HP’s World Headquarters- Where the Internet meets the Enterprise
• Venture Summit Silicon Valley—Where the Big Money Meets the Big Ideas
• Venture Summit East at Harvard Business School
• Venture Summit Mid-Atlantic at George Mason University
• GoingGreen East in Boston—Where Green Entrepreneurs Take On Big Business
• GoingGreen Silicon Valley—Where Green Entrepreneurs Take on Big Business
• Invites to cool AlwaysOn breakfasts, parties, and other insider events
• Unsubscribe me from AlwaysOn—I have no interest in the Global Silicon Valley

I wouldn’t be writing this if it weren’t for that last item. I hate having words put in my mouth.

Here’s the deal: I’m unsubscribing because I’m getting too many emails, and I have other ways of finding out what’s going on. That’s it.

I wish a blessed new year for the AlwaysOn family too. I hope they take this feedback as the positive kind I mean it to be.

And, if I want to get automated emailings from them again, I’ll opt back in.

Merry, Happy, etc.