List-Unsub header

laura
February 6, 2018
Industry

Benjamin asked in the comments where in the interface the “unsubscribe” or “block” popup appeared. This is the dialog box Microsoft uses when the add the “unsubscribe here” link at the top of a message. Screenshots taken today from my Hotmail account:
At this point we have 3 of the major webmail providers (Yahoo, Microsoft, Gmail) using List-Unsubscribe headers and at least one mobile client (Apple Mail). 20 years on it seems List-Unsubscribe is finally gaining traction.
Notice, too, that ISPs hold their own mail to the same standards as outside mail. This really is Microsoft offering to let me block everything from MSN News.

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Microsoft using the List-Unsubscribe header

laura
Feb 1, 2018

Industry

An interesting observation from Brian Curry about how Microsoft is using the List Unsubscribe header in their interface. The short version is that Microsoft is only supporting mailto: links. They’re ignoring any List-Unsubscribe links that are a URL.
Here are some screenshots. When the sender is using a List-Unsubscribe <http://> header, Microsoft states that there is no information on how to help the user unsubscribe, so the offer to block the sender instead. Like in these two messages.
When the List-Unsubscribe header uses a mailto: link, Microsoft uses completely different language in the popup and does let the user know any future mail will go to the junk folder.