Deciding to spam their existing customers with information about products and services.

The address I have registered with linode is for alerting and reporting; it's not for unwanted advertising email. I don't want to get email about managed services or backup services at that address (or, indeed, at any address).

This is very disappointing.

_________________
Rgds
Stephen
(Linux user since kernel version 0.11)

It's not that bad - just hit that magic key on your keyboard an the bad email goes away.

_________________
Either provide enough details for people to help, or sit back and listen to the crickets chirp.
Security thru obscurity is a myth - and really really annoying.

Wrong. "The address I have registered with linode is for alerting and reporting". That means I get alerted whenever mail is sent to it (I want to know if the linode manager has had to do stuff on my machine; if support staff is answering a ticket, etc). So it's disruptive.

_________________
Rgds

Stephen

(Linux user since kernel version 0.11)

While perhaps some options in the Linode Manager would be nice, so we can choose what kinds of e-mail we'd like to receive, it's nothing major. The only time Linode mailed me for marketing was with Linode Managed, and that e-mail had an unsubscribe button. I'm assuming yours did as well, so you can easily unsubscribe and all is fixed

Yes, I got support to unsubscribe me (I'd deleted the email out of disgust).

Doesn't change the fact that linode decide to abuse their relationship and send unwanted advertising email.

_________________
Rgds

Stephen

(Linux user since kernel version 0.11)

I would like to refer you to the Terms of Service, pay special attention to clause #13. https://www.linode.com/tos.cfm

Perhaps the fine people at Linode will provide a way to opt-out of future mailings.

I was surprised to get the email, but not offended by it. But we all can feel differently about these things.

"It's not a problem; I'll stop punching you in the face if you ask".

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Rgds

Stephen

(Linux user since kernel version 0.11)

We didn't punch you in the face. We sent you an email. An email informing customers of a new service. We've sent only one or two of these in the past 10 years. We're hardly spamming you ... and things don't move that quickly around here that you should expect many more of these from us.

We want our company to succeed and grow and to be able to improve our offerings, and I would hope our customers do too. Getting the word out there is a pretty good way to do that. I am pretty proud of the work we've done towards Managed and I would hope this would be interesting to our customers, even if it wasn't applicable to you, to see a company that you're invested in making progress. Would you have been as mad if we notified you of the free upgrades we frequently give out?

How opting-out should currently work: if you don't want to be notified of future improvements and offerings then just unsubscribe from the first one that pisses you off. You should remain on that list and never get another email from us like this again (including ones announcing free upgrades).

I'm sorry that this was that upsetting to you.

-Chris

I've been a customer of yours for over 9 years. I've been a very happy linode customer and tell people about how good you are.

If you can't distinguish between marketing (look at what else we want to sell you!) and changes in service (upgrades, price changes, etc are changes in the service I already have) then you need to sit down and have a rethink.

I repeat, this is "worst decision linode has ever made". The email was marketing, pure and simple.

_________________
Rgds

Stephen

(Linux user since kernel version 0.11)

If this is "the worst decision linode has ever made" I'm pretty sure they're doing just fine. I don't see how the email was spam in any form.

All you have to do is click "unsubscribe" at the bottom of the link. I don't see how this constitutes spam. You're doing business with the company, you PROVIDED them an email address and gave them permission to contact you. They give you an easy opt out at the bottom of the message if you don't want to receive those emails.

It's really not that hard to filter out Linode Notifications and support tickets. Even if it's an email I use specifically for a certain service, I would never set it to page me or my team on every email received. That's just silly.

However, I will say it might be a good idea for linode to separate their notification email address from their advertising address. For example, notifications@linode.com for linode manager notifications instead of using noreply for everything. That and possibly have more detailed communication preferences in the manager.

Either way, I don't feel abused in any way by linode, and plan on continued use of their services for years to come.

I never even got this email! I feel left out! Not that I'd use Linode managed anyway but still...

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Paid support
How to ask for help
1. Give details of your problem
2. Post any errors
3. Post relevant logs.
4. Don't hide details i.e. your domain, it just makes things harder
5. Be polite or you'll be eaten by a grue

If one or two e-mails a year is your definition of "spam", then you're ridiculously oversensitive.

I have been with linode for almost two years and this is the first email that even closely resembles marketing, that i have had from them in that time.

if you consider linode has been spamming you, you have a very strange interpretation of spam. As other posters have commented, if you dont want emails from them, simply unsubscribe.

linode have been by far the best server company i have ever been with and provide great service. I would love to see them prosper even more and provide an even more stable and reliable service. by notifying customers of an extra service, i hope they increase their business.

I won't be using this particular service at this time (although i may in future), but i certainly did not mind the email which i read as simply a notification of an additional service.

over the past few months there have been plenty of upgrades which have cost us nothing, and yet a simple email counts as a "punch in the face" or the "worst decision linode ever made".

come back down to planet earth folks, paleease!

Wow this must definitely be a troll thread. That being said My previous host constantly send emails of that sort (and still do! despite leaving them two years ago), offered no free upgrades... well actually scratch that!

EVERY business sends out mails of that sort on a regular basis. As long as there's an unsubscribe button and they honor that, i see no problem.