The Desperation of NYTimes

《纽约时报》的绝望

I recently got suckered into subscribing to NYTimes because I wanted to read an article behind a paywall and I couldn’t find an easy and quick alternative. I didn’t mind the $2.00 a month. But I took offense to what happened after I paid. 最近，我因为想读一篇付费墙后的文章，又找不到简单快捷的替代方案，于是“上钩”订阅了《纽约时报》。我并不介意每月 2 美元的费用，但我对付费后发生的事情感到冒犯。

Over the course of the next 5 days, they sent me 5 onboarding marketing emails and I could not opt out of any of them. What’s worse is their message in the footer. 在接下来的 5 天里，他们给我发送了 5 封入职营销邮件，而且我无法退订其中任何一封。更糟糕的是他们页脚里的那段话。

You are receiving this one-time series of onboarding messages over a 14-day period because they provide essential information about your new subscription. Because the messages are about your relationship with The Times, you are receiving them regardless of whether you are opted in to receive marketing emails from The New York Times. “您之所以在 14 天内收到这一系列一次性的入职信息，是因为它们提供了有关您新订阅的重要信息。由于这些信息涉及您与《时报》的关系，无论您是否选择接收《纽约时报》的营销邮件，您都会收到这些信息。”

They probably think it’s a clever marketing copy. It’s not. It made me feel powerless. It put a sour taste in my mouth. It made them reek of desperation. It made me go out of my way to check that my subscription does not auto-renew. 他们可能觉得这是一段聪明的营销文案。其实不然。它让我感到无力，让我心里很不舒服，更让我闻到了他们身上散发出的绝望气息。这促使我特意去检查并关闭了订阅的自动续费功能。

The irony is that had they included a simple unsubscribe link or not sent me anything at all, I probably wouldn’t have bothered to check. Their copy makes it seem like they know they’re being coy. And still they choose to not follow CAN-SPAM best practices. And for what? A few more eyeballs and clicks. 讽刺的是，如果他们提供一个简单的退订链接，或者干脆什么都不发，我可能根本不会去检查。他们的文案让人觉得他们明知自己在耍花招，却依然选择不遵守《反垃圾邮件法》（CAN-SPAM）的最佳实践。而这一切是为了什么？仅仅是为了多一点曝光和点击量。

I’m aware media and journalism sites have been getting hit hard over the last few years, but is it this bad? It makes me wonder if NYTimes is unique in employing these tactics. 我了解媒体和新闻网站在过去几年里遭受了沉重打击，但情况真的糟糕到这种地步了吗？我不禁怀疑，是否只有《纽约时报》才会采用这种策略。

Email is near and dear to my heart. My own business uses email as a key growth channel, so I understand its importance. But I make sure every marketing email has an unsubscribe link at the bottom. Gmail users also see a one-click unsubscribe button at the top. 电子邮件对我来说至关重要。我自己的业务将电子邮件作为关键的增长渠道，所以我深知其重要性。但我确保每一封营销邮件的底部都有退订链接。Gmail 用户甚至能在邮件顶部看到“一键退订”按钮。

I also provide a link which recipients can click to initiate the off-boarding flow in case they wish to permanently close their account. I add this on some transactional emails too. I don’t consider these things to be anti-growth. On the contrary, I consider them to be growth drivers. 我还提供了一个链接，收件人如果想永久注销账户，可以点击该链接启动离职流程。我甚至在一些交易类邮件中也加入了这个链接。我不认为这些做法会阻碍增长，相反，我认为它们是增长的驱动力。

They help keep my email sending reputation high and my email list clean. Customers feel like they’re in the driver’s seat, which is ever more important in today’s climate and probably helps my brand. Customers who wish to discontinue their relationship with my business can do so without fuss, so they’re less likely to badmouth me. 它们有助于保持我的邮件发送信誉，并确保邮件列表的纯净。客户会感到自己掌握着主动权，这在当今环境下尤为重要，也可能对我的品牌有所助益。那些希望终止与我业务关系的客户可以轻松地完成操作，因此他们不太可能在背后说我的坏话。

I earn a small fraction of what NYTimes earns. If I’m not desperate, why are they? 我的收入只是《纽约时报》的一小部分。如果我都不感到绝望，他们又为何如此？