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Gmail already does this - if you have the List-Unsubscribe header set up, when someone clicks on the "Spam" button, it asks them whether they want to unsubscribe as well. If they say "yes", an email gets sent to the unsubscribe address with "Unsubscribe" as the subject.

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I think I've seen that once (not a big Gmail user yet).

Would love to see it in all mail clients, and useful for all subscriptions. A 1998 RFC and a basic attempt from one webmail provider is a bit depressing in 2010 when most of us get hammered by these sorts of messages.

The people who would comply with that header are the sort of people who probably already had a very easy to find unsubscribe link.

I take your point, but that link is still down the bottom of a long newsletter (that I already don't want to read), in small, faint type. And then half the time, the unsubscribe process will involve a password, verification of the email sent to (which often could be one of a few), or waiting for an 'are you sure' link to be emailed.

I don't think I'm alone in refusing to believe that the processes here (and all around email) couldn't be improved!

Yup, that's fair. I think best practice in email design is to put the unsubscribe at the top and bottom.

And I would point out that requiring a password or a verification email is almost certainly a violation of CAN-SPAM.

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