I just started a newsletter in the new year and yesterday noticed about half a dozen questionable direct email signups. Sounds like they are ripe for culling.
Any other advice or thoughts on these spammy sign ups?
Hi Greg. There has been some spammy sign ups a lot of us have noticed. The addresses are a similar format. I just delete them. They never read the posts, and have no stars, so I just delete them when they appear. Thanks for reading.
We've all been conditioned to think more is better, but scrubbing your list of cold subscribers regularly is one of the best things you can do for your project's health.
This is one of the clearest and most actionable breakdowns I’ve seen on list hygiene. I especially appreciate how you framed scrubbing not as a loss, but as a way to protect the signal from the noise. It's easy to fall into the vanity metric trap of a big list, but your reminder that engagement > size really hits. Also loved the subtle humor (“Scrubby McScrubface” deserves its own segment). Thanks for showing how to do this without overcomplicating it — this is gold for anyone serious about building a real community.
I wondered about this today, and you commented on a post I just released. So naturally, I clicked over to Deplatformable and found this. Just what I needed!
Good stuff, Paul!
Thanks, James!
Paul, can you go over this on Friday?
...arrrghh...more work...but good work...ty...
I just started a newsletter in the new year and yesterday noticed about half a dozen questionable direct email signups. Sounds like they are ripe for culling.
Any other advice or thoughts on these spammy sign ups?
Hi Greg. There has been some spammy sign ups a lot of us have noticed. The addresses are a similar format. I just delete them. They never read the posts, and have no stars, so I just delete them when they appear. Thanks for reading.
Thanks-I’ve noticed that too. And my stats show no emails were delivered. Does that mean they read in the app?
App reads count from everywhere. So no stars, no reads. (As far as I know...)
We've all been conditioned to think more is better, but scrubbing your list of cold subscribers regularly is one of the best things you can do for your project's health.
This is really helpful. Thank you, Paul 🙂
Thanks for reading, Janette!
Enlightening, and love Mr. Scrubby too. Thank you Paul!!!
Scrubby loves you too :)
I never thought of these points but they make a lot of sense! Thanks for the great post, Paul!
Thanks for reading, Samantha!
I love your recommendation to segment the list and do a campaign to them. I hadn't thought you could do that within Substack so this is awesome!
‘Scrub email list’, now high on my marketing to do list, along with SEO and segmentation...
Thanks, Paul, for sharing.
This is one of the clearest and most actionable breakdowns I’ve seen on list hygiene. I especially appreciate how you framed scrubbing not as a loss, but as a way to protect the signal from the noise. It's easy to fall into the vanity metric trap of a big list, but your reminder that engagement > size really hits. Also loved the subtle humor (“Scrubby McScrubface” deserves its own segment). Thanks for showing how to do this without overcomplicating it — this is gold for anyone serious about building a real community.
I love this suggestion just as much as I love Scrubby McScrubface!
Hope you get all you wish for in 2025, Donna!
I wondered about this today, and you commented on a post I just released. So naturally, I clicked over to Deplatformable and found this. Just what I needed!
Gotta love serendipity!
I read this post based primarily on the photo that you selected--BRILLIANT! And brilliant, helpful suggestions as well. Thank you!
Thank you so much!
New subscriber, too! Woop, woop! Can't wait to pick your brain too!
What a priceless guide very enjoyable.
Thank you Michael!