The Unsubscribe Problem

When we get unwanted emails from companies wanting our business, we can often "unsubscribe." Is there a way to "unsubscribe" from unwanted temptation?

It's a reality of our digitized age that most anything we do online — book a trip, reserve a room, make a purchase, send a query or, in some cases, simply visit a website — often results in a steady stream of unsolicited emails from those sites.

Let's say you were just doing an online or digital version of "window shopping," but now you have emails showing up from Waterford Crystal Stemware, TripAdvisor, Cathay Pacific Airlines, HostelWorld, Marriott hotels and a gift shop specializing in lava lamps and scented candles.

The intent of these messages is to convert us into repeat customers by appealing to what they hope is our impulsive shopping habits or, in some cases, our greed and materialism.

With the more scrupulous of these online vendors, there's usually a way to stop the flow of emails. At the bottom of their messages, usually in small print, there is an "Unsubscribe" option. If you click on it and follow the steps where that link takes you, you can take yourself off...