Dear Findings,
I see you have introduced some new email notifications. I have also noticed (via my newly-overstuffed inbox) that by default, these new email notifications are checked.
WHAT THE FSCK WERE YOU THINKING‽
Sorry. Sorry. I lost my temper for a moment there. And the question is rhetorical because I think I know exactly what you were thinking …“traction”, “retention”, “engagement”, yadda yadda.
I realise that many other sites also do this. That does not make it right. In fact, given the sites that already do this include such pillars of empathy as Facebook, I would say that this kind of behaviour probably has a one-to-one correlation with the douchebaggery of the site in question.
You’re better than this.
Stop. Think. Spare a thought for those of us who don’t suddenly—from one day to the next—want our inboxes spammed by emails we never opted into.
Didn’t anybody stop to think about just how intrusive this would be?
Also, doesn’t this flood of new emails directly contradict this section of your privacy policy?:
As part of the Services, you may occasionally receive email and other communications from us, such as communications relating to your Account. Communications relating to your Account will only be sent for purposes important to the Services, such as password recovery.
Contrary to appearances, I don’t want to be completely negative, so I’ve got a constructive suggestion.
How about this:
If you’re about to introduce new email notifications, and all my existing notification settings are set to “off”, perhaps you could set the new notifications to “off” as well?
Sound good?
All the best,
Jeremy