https://itch.io/t/2666522/how-to-stop-emails-from-games-purchased-in-a-bundle#po...
The old post got archived so I am reposting this in hopes of finding a solution, as I am still plagued by the emails. I unsubscribe each time I get a new one, but there are so many that they keep coming.
I don’t believe we pushed out any new features with regards to those emails other than what is already written in your original thread. Just to confirm, did you run any scripts or anything on your account to force all the games to appear in your library? Accessing a game from a bundle purchase marks it as “active”, which means you are then eligible for emails. Generally we recommend that people do not try to run a third-party script to activate every game at once, for reasons like this.
It should be possible for us to “deactivate” all the entries on your account that you didn’t actually access if that’s something you want. (This would be determined by download count)
Hey there. Yes I did run a script to "activate" all of the games from the bundle. I can't remember exactly but I think at the time I just thought that was what I was supposed to do. Before activating them in that way there was something about it that made it more difficult to browse through the games. Perhaps in the official Itch application, or something like that? I just remember whatever I was doing I couldn't see things properly, then after activating them with the script I could browse everything in a way that made more sense. I didn't realize at the time that there were implications about subscribing to mailing lists for each activated game.
Yes, please, if it is possible to deactivate entries in my account that I haven't accessed yet, that would be great. :)
It is about this below option, is it? If you activate this, you get emails for all updates of your bundle purchases.
But unlike following, you cannot de-activate purchase-notifications preemptivly per case basis.
At least you do can deactivate it per case, when getting the mail. But I wonder, how would you re-activate the mails for a project? I only ever saw the follow button and that is for accounts and not for projects.
So maybe I misunderstand something?
This setting only affects the sending of automatically generated emails that come from updates and blog posts published on game pages.
The emails you are having an issue with are manually created emails by the game publishers sent to their mailing list of people who have bought and activated their games.
Ohhh. This is about this link and the fact that having a gazillion purchases with a bundle ... is a gazillion devs that could send one of those mails.
https://itch.io/docs/creators/interact
Yeah, preemtivly opting out of such lists or requiring to opt in, might be an idea. I can unfollow, but I can not unpurchase. Or block those mails in settings.
Is there reasons to even have this mechanism (still) available? Sounds to me, like this became obsolete with introduction of devlogs and the general following mechanism wich people would use, if they want to hear from that dev and that is a definite opt in and controllabe before the fact in settings and not after the fact by opting out of what might look like some spam mail. From the description those mails were intended for update notifications (to make sure they can easily access any files you may have updated)
Is there reasons to even have this mechanism (still) available?
Devlogs are designed to create a public space to share updates about your game. The email feature is for a creator to directly contact the people who have purchased their work. Generally we advise creators use the tool for intentional communication and avoid unsolicited advertising or spammy behavior.
Even so, that mechanism is basically subscribing people to a mailing list without consent and no ability or even information beforehand. The information that is given is the setting about notifications of bought items, but this setting does not apply to these emails.
There should at least be a button on the individual purchase page to unsubscribe and information about this mail subscription on the purchase page and in the purchase confirmation mail. Since you do can unsubscribe from those lists, they are obviously not deemed important anyways.
On the purchase page is only the follow button. But no trace of a hint, that you are also subscribed to such a mailing list.
I would like to point out this portion of the faq.
https://itch.io/docs/creators/faq#can-share-the-information-itchio-collects-abou...
Do not automatically sign up people for mailing lists. If you'd like your buyers to sign up for your list then you must get explicit consent from them.
Yet itch does sign people up automatic, with no consent, no information.
While you do try to clarify...
The email address that itch.io provides, along with the email tool, are made available if you need to contact buyers with news related specifically to their transaction.
... I wonder what % of the mails OP received were of that nature. The way the complain was made, I dare say, near zero.
Maybe this is translation issue, but "need" implies urgent matters and not trying to share news. That should read "want" instead, if it were meant for the use case mentioned elsewhere in the faq, about informing about updates and suggesting to me, that this feature is obsolete mechanism of early itch days.
You should seriously overthink how this feature is implemented and communicated to buyers. Currently it comes out of the blue. OP did not even realize why those mails come.
Also, how would you re-subscribe to an unsubscribed mailing list?
... I wonder what % of the mails OP received were of that nature. The way the complain was made, I dare say, near zero.
The emails I was getting seemed to typically involve the creator of one of the games in the bundle sending out notifications that they had a new game / product available (something that was not in the bundle). I can’t speak to how often specific developers used this feature because I would always unsubscribe right away.
So basically using the mailing list instead of the follow mechanism, that would inform you about those projects if you indeed made the choice to follow them.
There is conflicting information in the faq about those lists.
In one section it is implied as such a promotion tool and devs are told they can only send one per day. In the other section it is said, the mail has to be specific to the transaction. It can't be both true!
If you have a page for sale, you can send an email to all your buyers via itch.io. Do so via the Interact tab, in the email section. You can include the buyer’s purchase URL at the bottom of any email you send to make sure they can easily access any files you may have updated.
Every email has an easy access unsubscribe link, avoid spamming your fans or you might lose access to them.
I see a contradition with that other statement in the other part of the faq.
The email address that itch.io provides, along with the email tool, are made available if you need to contact buyers with news related specifically to their transaction.
Great points! I didn’t even think that the “Follow” feature on the website already provides that method of seeing new content from a developer. It does seem that in general most developers that I have encountered using this feature are not using it as intended. Though I’m still not sure it’s necessary at all because you can subscribe to Feed updates from a specific game on the website already.
I have simply blocked postmaster@itch.io address and marked as spam. I will keep looking at when they introduce a proper system, until then it stays blocked.
They ignore the core issue and always try to blame these "Automatic scripts" or whatever. These folks think it is logical to punish those "script" users.
Guess what, nobody would need any scripts if your stupid bundle system wasn't built around exploiting the purchasers.
We bought a bundle, of course we would want to see the items in our libraries. However I don't remember opting in for those spam e-mails even when putting them to my library manually.
If you check the previous posts about the same issue, they go into radio silence whenever the users say "I have not used a script, I put them to my library one by one".
Ever wondered why people pick Steam or Epic over these third-rate publishing platforms with trash policies when they can? Wonder no more.
Unfortunately this approach doesn't work for me, otherwise I would just tick the box that says "Never send me any email" (if that option even works?). I do want to get emails from the games I care about, I just don't want to be subscribed to emails for hundreds of other games that I haven't looked at yet.
Thanks for your input!
I live in Europe, please explain the exact terms and conditions point which lead to me losing my account. And please explain how I shouldn't report your charade to the authorities, threatening me with an account removal just because I don't want to see your spam.
You are to touch nothing in my account without my express consent. Me not replying to an email does not equal to me giving you consent.
In the event that you are courageous enough to actually remove my account due to me marking your spam as spam, this goes on social media with all the screenshots I took.
first of all, itch is in US and does not give much for any perceived rights you seem to think you have. The tos quite clearly states which law is applicable. And that ain't European law. This is their site, they can remove you for "If you misbehave we may terminate your account."
And second and most important, you mistunderstand something essential. Your losing your account has nothing to to with itch terminating your account. But everything with you not responding to critical mails that might save your account, like password recovery. Read againt what leafo wrote. You might lose ACCESS to your account, not that the account would be terminated or banned. How would itch even know that you blocked their mails in the first place?!
Anyways, leafo does skirt around/ignore the real problem, namely that there is a mechanism for unsolicited mails. No consent is given when purchasing somehting that you end up on a mailing list. Internet 101 says, this is bad practice. They do not even automatically make you follow the publisher, they only recommend this. Why not the same for the mailing lists?!
