Who's Authorized to Hit 'Send'?

I’ve wiped myself off another e-mail list. And because the organization offers no RSS feeds, consider us permanently incommunicado.

For years I’ve subscribed to newsletters and breaking news alerts from a non-profit community environmental organization. Problem is, their e-mails are increasingly sent by one particular officer who’s treating the medium more like her personal blog than as a communications channel for the non-profit’s members and the local community.

Recent dispatches have centered around Internet security, online privacy (a topic I consider myself a bit of an authority on), and yesterday, a missive about how this individual read a great article on “good pills, bad pills” (along with an invitation to contact her for a copy).

My unsubscribe request was accompanied by an explanation of why I no longer wish to receive the group’s communications (no response since I sent it last night). The wildly off-topic messages from that one individual began to outnumber communications related to the group’s mission.

Worse, they seriously damage the group’s credibility.

Who’s authorized to hit ‘send’ in your organization? Can they do so with no additional approval process?

You might want to rethink that.