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Comment by tzs | Hacker News Reader

Users definitely click "report spam" in large numbers on things that are not spam. At work we've long had problems of getting reported for spam when the only things we send are:

• A receipt when a person comes to our site and purchases something.

• Their license key if what they purchased requires a license key.

• Replies if they send email to customer support.

• If they have purchased an automatically renewing subscription we email a receipt after it renews or a notice that it was declined if the charge does not go through. This is required by the major credit card companies.

• If they have an automatically renewing subscription and they are on a plan other than monthly we send a reminder before it tries to renew. This is required by the major credit card companies and by the consumer protection laws in many jurisdictions.

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> If they have purchased an automatically renewing subscription we email a receipt after it renews (..) This is required by the major credit card companies.

The problem here is that "we are legally required to send it" and "our customers want to receive it" aren't necessarily the same thing. I'd probably be pretty annoyed by those if I had more than a few subscriptions!

> I'd probably be pretty annoyed by those if I had more than a few subscriptions!

That's what email filters are supposed to be for. They aren't "spam".

if you are a big Google adwords customer you ask them to let you spam users

that is the idea of the Gmail business. it's not complicated.

I have a really simple algorithm to reporting something as spam:

> Was this email solicited by me?

The author describes unsolicited emails and somehow misses the point that spam is a term for unsolicited emails.

The reminder email in your list sounds unsolicited, so I'd probably report that one as spam as well. I wasn't aware it was mandatory, probably because it's not where I live.

My transactional inboxes are mostly clean as a result. My "spam" inbox, however, is full of crap (the email I use to sign up to freemium services).

You don’t want people reminding you that their about to charge you money and give you an opportunity to cancel the subscription?

Surely that’s a lot less hassle for all involved than having to get your bank to issue chargebacks on subscription renewals you forgot about?

I would describe myself as strict and dogmatic about email etiquette and consent as they come, but I am with avianlyric about the subscription reminders.

Legal requirements aside — when I have an ongoing business relationship with a company, "we are about to take money from you again" is an expected, useful and welcome message.

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