Trouble unsubscribing: Difference between revisions

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Occasionally you get a member who is having trouble unsubscribing, by the time they've got round to contacting the mods team they may be quite irate as a result of numerous unsuccessful attempts to unsubscribe. They'll probably be on individual messages and be completly swamped with posts. They almost certainly won't grasp that unsubscribing from a yahoo group is an automated process that doesn't in any way require input from the moderators.
Occasionally you'll get a member having trouble unsubscribing. By the time they contact the mod team, they may be quite irate after several failed attempts - be sympathetic.


The best way to unsubscribe someone is via Modtools if you use this, and search on approved members, then when you delete a membership it will remove any associated ones with it. When you have removed it you can sync the membership lists to clear it throughout the sytem. 
== Why members struggle to unsubscribe (and how to help) ==


If you use Yahoo only here are Yahoo's very comprehensive instructions on how to unsubscribe:
* They genuinely can't figure out how to do it.
* They've set up two accounts and only unsubscribed from one.
* They've unsubscribed from Offer and Wanted posts, but not other notifications.


http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/groups/original/members/manage/manage-26.html
First, look for them on your membership list - in the situations above, they should show up in a member search. You can either remove them yourself or send them [[Unsubscribe: help a member to leave|instructions on how to do it]].


==Some reasons a member may be having trouble unsubscribing (and some solutions)==
To leave a community, a member logs in, goes to Settings, and clicks '''Unsubscribe or leave communities''' (which opens [https://www.ilovefreegle.org/unsubscribe the Unsubscribe page]), then picks the community to leave. They confirm, and they're removed.
http://i610.photobucket.com/albums/tt181/dorothyjeanquinn/Unsubscribechart.png


Members sometimes get confused between leaving a community and just stopping certain emails or notifications, even after clicking an email from your community. To unsubscribe completely from a community, they must log in (so other people can't accidentally or deliberately unsubscribe them) - this happens automatically when they click the leave link. See "Erasing an account by mistake" below for the "limbo period" when members delete their account.


*They just really can't figure out how to do it (Yahoo isn't the most intuitive interface)
== Erasing all personal information ==


*They've set up two accounts with the same email address and have only unsubscribed from one
Members are entitled under data protection law to "be forgotten". To do this, they need to log in, go to [https://www.ilovefreegle.org/settings Settings], and use the Unsubscribe button (also reachable via the three-line menu button top right, or Terms/Privacy at the bottom left).


The first thing to do when a member is having trouble unsubscribing is to have a look for them on your membership list. In the above situations, when you do search in members you should see them. In which case you can either remove them yourself or send them Unsubscribe|instructions on how to do it.  
This lets a member unsubscribe from individual communities, or unsubscribe altogether and delete their account.


If they don't appear in your members list, it could be for a number of reasons:
== Erasing an account by mistake ==


* they've managed to unsubscribe from ''your'' Freegle group but are still subscribed to others
Sometimes members delete their whole account when they only meant to leave one community, or just wanted to stop certain notifications.


* they've subscribed with an email address other than the one they're emailing you with
Since January 2024, there's a grace period allowing members to reinstate their account by mistake - see [https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/change-to-unsubscribe/7026 this Discourse thread] for background.


* they are unaware of, or haven't accounted for Yahoo's delays (It can take up to three days for Yahoo group posts to stop arriving but usually its pretty instant)
While a member is in this "limbo" period before their account is fully removed:
* Their posts no longer show on the web or app, so they shouldn't get replies that way.
* They might still get replies from emails already sent out.
* Those replies go into the chat for the deleted user, but aren't sent to them.
* If the member reactivates their account, they'll see those replies then, and any pending notifications will go out at that point.
* Once the grace period expires and the account is fully deleted, their posts are marked as withdrawn.


* It's a Yahoo glitch (these are surprisingly common actually)
== Nothing works? ==


So if you can't see them on your members list, first of all ask them if they are emailing you from the email account that gets the Freegle posts, and then ask them to forward you one or even some of the posts. This will enable you to eliminate the first two options.  
Contact the Support Team (support@ilovefreegle.org) to ask them to investigate, providing all the details you've gathered so far.


To find out if an email address has ever been subscribed to a Yahoo group you need to  
See also:
*look in 'management'
* [[Unsubscribe: help a member to leave]]
*and then under 'group activity'
* [[Freegle Direct]]
*enter some or all of the email address/Yahoo ID in 'search logs' on the 'memberships' page.


'''screen shots for stuff above'''
[[Category:Members, Discourse & App]]
 
Unfortunately, Yahoo groups have been known to continue sending members emails well after they've unsubscribed. As a moderator there is one trick that does tend to sort this out, you can pre-ban a member for a period of about 24 hours and then unban again. This usually stops emails.
 
If pre-banning doesn't work the member will need to contact Yahoo but as a short term solution here is some instructions on [[Filtering Emails]] for some of the more common email clients
 
[[category:How To]]

Latest revision as of 12:00, 17 July 2026

Occasionally you'll get a member having trouble unsubscribing. By the time they contact the mod team, they may be quite irate after several failed attempts - be sympathetic.

Why members struggle to unsubscribe (and how to help)

  • They genuinely can't figure out how to do it.
  • They've set up two accounts and only unsubscribed from one.
  • They've unsubscribed from Offer and Wanted posts, but not other notifications.

First, look for them on your membership list - in the situations above, they should show up in a member search. You can either remove them yourself or send them instructions on how to do it.

To leave a community, a member logs in, goes to Settings, and clicks Unsubscribe or leave communities (which opens the Unsubscribe page), then picks the community to leave. They confirm, and they're removed.

Members sometimes get confused between leaving a community and just stopping certain emails or notifications, even after clicking an email from your community. To unsubscribe completely from a community, they must log in (so other people can't accidentally or deliberately unsubscribe them) - this happens automatically when they click the leave link. See "Erasing an account by mistake" below for the "limbo period" when members delete their account.

Erasing all personal information

Members are entitled under data protection law to "be forgotten". To do this, they need to log in, go to Settings, and use the Unsubscribe button (also reachable via the three-line menu button top right, or Terms/Privacy at the bottom left).

This lets a member unsubscribe from individual communities, or unsubscribe altogether and delete their account.

Erasing an account by mistake

Sometimes members delete their whole account when they only meant to leave one community, or just wanted to stop certain notifications.

Since January 2024, there's a grace period allowing members to reinstate their account by mistake - see this Discourse thread for background.

While a member is in this "limbo" period before their account is fully removed:

  • Their posts no longer show on the web or app, so they shouldn't get replies that way.
  • They might still get replies from emails already sent out.
  • Those replies go into the chat for the deleted user, but aren't sent to them.
  • If the member reactivates their account, they'll see those replies then, and any pending notifications will go out at that point.
  • Once the grace period expires and the account is fully deleted, their posts are marked as withdrawn.

Nothing works?

Contact the Support Team (support@ilovefreegle.org) to ask them to investigate, providing all the details you've gathered so far.

See also:

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