Stuff that occurs to me

All of my 'how to' posts are tagged here. The most popular posts are about blocking and private accounts on Twitter, also the science communication jobs list. None of the science or medical information I might post to this blog should be taken as medical advice (I'm not medically trained).

Think of this blog as a sort of nursery for my half-baked ideas hence 'stuff that occurs to me'.

Contact: @JoBrodie Email: jo DOT brodie AT gmail DOT com

Science in London: The 2018/19 scientific society talks in London blog post

Monday 15 October 2012

Wegohealth and other spammers

Having a public blog and email address means I occasionally get spam coming through. I'm a bit miffed with WEGO Heath or whatever they're called who've presumably scraped my email from somewhere and send me unwanted invites to attend various things suitable for health activists or bloggers, despite me being in the UK.

After the first email I asked them to stop, after the second I asked again a bit more miffedly (and they promised faithfully to stop sending me stuff too), this is the third spam so I've decided to blog in case others are receiving these emails and wonder about them. Probably the simplest thing is to set up a filter to automatically delete stuff from them. Bit annoying though.

I've also discussed this with them on Twitter so it's particularly annoying to have to revisit this - they asked me what they could do to appear less spammy. My problem with the first email was that it didn't introduce them to me, we started at Level Two with an invite to blog some event or whatever but I need the Level One 'Hello this is why we've started sending you emails', I assume others like this too. So possibly they're not spam, just not very good at engaging with bloggers. Grrr.

Or possibly I am just a bit quick to anger, I do get a bit stroppy with unwanted emails - I'd be the first to admit it.

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Edit 14 December 2012

I still appear to be subscribed... albeit via a different (academic) email address that I didn't use to sign up to any of their mailing lists. I give up and will see what JISC/ Janet can do, if anything.

Announcing the 2012 Health Activist Awards!
We're excited to share the 2012 WEGO Health Activist Awards Program. This year, we've extended the nominations period and added some exciting new award categories.  Now's your chance to recognize someone who has inspired you, helped you, or even changed your life this year - be sure to recognize all of your health heroes before the nomination period closes on December 31st!
 
Click to nominate a health activist [link redacted]
Not sure who to nominate but want to stay up to date on all the latest Health Activist Awards Information & News? Join the WEGO Health Network at www.wegohealth.com or sign up to be on our Judging Panels!  
Thanks for participating in the WEGO Health Activist Awards - and for helping us to empower those who make a difference every day.
Cheers,
[redacted]
[also redacted]

This email has been sent to: [redacted]
WEGO Health | 180 Lincoln St, Fifth Floor | Boston, MA 02111
To opt out of future WEGO Health mailings, please [redacted]

7 comments:

  1. Hi @JoBrodie,

    I saw your post this morning and wanted to make sure to reach out and apologize. It's no excuse but we've had a technical bug that has resulted in you not being opted out. We've got our technical department looking into it but again, I'm very sorry for the trouble and I know how annoying it must be - it's not being done purposefully or maliciously!

    I also wanted to let you know that our network is open to Health Activists in the UK and other countries, which is why we reached out in the first place. That said, an opt out is an opt out and you should not still be receiving emails from us!

    Susan M
    susanm@wegohealth.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jo, I am an American blogger, a cancer survivor and a healthcare clinician (physiotherapist). I blog about mostly breast cancer. About the same time you started getting spammed, so did I, along with dozens of others. I ignored all their emails until I received one telling me my blog had been nominated for an award. The 'endorsement' process & nomination process ended up being just another spam vehicle, really. But other issues lurked behind their 'health activist' cloak & I wanted to look into them. Long story short, here's my blog post on it all: http://accidentalamazon.com/blog/2012/12/12/overwhelmed-in-oz-how-healthy-is-social-media/

    BTW, love 'Geeky creative things in London.'

    Kathi

    ReplyDelete
  3. Guess what - it is still an issue - I am still being spammed by them!

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's now 2021 and I'm a blogger/wordpress website owner who is also being spammed by WEGO health. I initially thought they were legit, so emailed asking to be unsubscribed from their mailing list but surprise surprise my request was ignored. I've had to set up a filter to have their mails automatically deleted before they reach my inbox. I'm the UK. It's illegal here to send unsolicited mail, either in the post, via text or online so they're breaking the law. Fat chance of being able to do anything about it though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gosh that's amazing and annoying. I'm happy to say that my filters seem to be keeping them at bay, or they've just stopped emailing me. I had not thought about them until the previous commenter wrote about them. Wishing you a WEGO health-free inbox soon.

      Jo

      Delete
  5. I'm also a UK blogger who has been spammed for 3 years by WEGO health. I initially wrote and asked to be unsubscribed, but that only made them send me even more mail.

    As is said in a previous comment, it is illegal to send unsolicited mail in any form here in Britain but if the spammer is located abroad there seems to be little our authorities can do.

    I still don't even know if WEGO health are a legitimate company. If they are and they subscribe people without their knowledge or consent, then ignore unsubscribe requests it's appalling behaviour.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry to hear you're still blighted by WEGO health emailing. I can only suggest using your mail program to filter out all incoming messages containing 'wego health', or coming from *@wegohealth.com, and send them straight to the bin, then you'll never see one again. As far as I'm aware they did stop emailing me, though I'd never know as I set up a filter on Gmail so anything they send will just be wiped automatically and never darken my inbox :)

      Jo

      Delete

Comment policy: I enthusiastically welcome corrections and I entertain polite disagreement ;) Because of the nature of this blog it attracts a LOT - 5 a day at the moment - of spam comments (I write about spam practices,misleading marketing and unevidenced quackery) and so I'm more likely to post a pasted version of your comment, removing any hyperlinks.

Comments written in ALL CAPS LOCK will be deleted and I won't publish any pro-homeopathy comments, that ship has sailed I'm afraid (it's nonsense).