How can I successfully block Nancy Pelosi from texting my phone?

[RealityChuck]

@Joey_P

@RealityChuck

Politicians and legitimate companies will do this because there’s no reason to piss off a voter/customer

You say this, but they continue to do it knowing full well people don’t like it. Was it Pelosi that said she was going to crack down on the FCC to figure out a solution to all the unwanted texts and calls? If it was her, she must know how much people dislike them so why does her team use that method? Even if they’re (politicians) legally allowed to, it doesn’t mean we like it.
I’d be thrilled to get through an election season without feeling like I want to change my number.

It’s always worked for me. Also, when you donate, they let you opt out of text messages.

Have you tried it?

[Joey_P]

@Dewey_Finn

Continue to do what? As said, legitimate politicians and organizations will stop when asked to.

Even if they did stop, the thing is, I didn’t want the first one either. I don’t want any spam text messages, whether it’s for boner pills or a politician. If we can’t go to ‘opt-IN’, then I think politicians, charities, pollsters etc should be required to respect the nearly useless do not call list.
My number is on that list because I don’t want unsolicited calls or texts from anyone, not because I don’t want them from anyone except Purple Heart and the local political office.

[Joey_P]

@RealityChuck

It’s always worked for me. Also, when you donate, they let you opt out of text messages.

Have you tried it?

I have, I even mentioned it upthread:

@Joey_P

Something that’s been going on for a few elections now is each volunteer will send out texts one by one from their own number. This side steps rules against robocalls/texts AND makes it so you can tell them not to text/call you anymore, but there’s a dozen other people in the office and you haven’t told them not to text/call you yet.

Many, many times I’d respond with “STOP”, only to get another message within a day or so from a different number, but from the same place.

[JRDelirious]

These may not be actually coming from the individual campaign staff of Pelosi or whoever the name on the text is, though (and similarly raised funds may not go to their individual campaign). Party/PAC/individual candidate (at either federal or State level) operations get the Big Name Leader to make a pitch for Issue X and it’s them who post/send from their shared phone/mailing lists. It’s not that Pelosi has 50 numbers spamming, it’s that she has 20 and her allied candidates and PACs have 30.

This is for example why in the last couple of years I got repetitive texts and e-mails from widely assorted figures including Biden/Harris/Buttegieg while candidates, Pelosi, Hoyer, Schumer, Gaby Giffords and Mark Kelly, the Obamas, the Clintons, Carville, Stacey Abrams, etc., over whatever is the same issue-of-the-month.

Oh, and signaling STOP to one call/mail list, is not crosslinked to every other one that contains your address/number. You dropped from one today, but tonight they’ll download a new one that has you in it again.

[Rick_Kitchen]

I got a text from Individual 1 supporters just yesterday, demanding (not asking) that I sign a petition drafting him to run for President. As if he needed any encouragement.

[Senegoid]

@Dewey_Finn

Some of the survey texts I get say to reply STOP if I no longer want to hear from them. Have you tried that?

Conventional wisdom dictates that you should NEVER do this, if you know or suspect it is a spammer or scammer. If you are satisfied that the text is at least legit, this MIGHT work. (The other common command is UNSUBSCRIBE.)

I got on some text mailing list a while ago, that seemed to have honest conversations going. I texted UNSUBSCRIBE and it got me off the list.

[BigT]

@Joey_P

Even if they did stop, the thing is, I didn’t want the first one either. I don’t want any spam text messages, whether it’s for boner pills or a politician. If we can’t go to ‘opt-IN’, then I think politicians, charities, pollsters etc should be required to respect the nearly useless do not call list.

I seriously doubt they’ll stop as long as voter participation is so bad. I suspect it is like advertisements, where people often hate them, but that hate doesn’t affect their behavior when it counts. We still buy the products, and we still vote for the people who do this. So the upsides take over.

As for the OP—my advice is to get a number that you never give out to anyone but friends. That’s what I’ve done. I personally still have a landline, and give out that number for any official stuff. But, if you don’t, it still would be good to get like a Google Voice number or something, and link it to your phone. Since you’ve already given out the cell number, you could keep the Google Voice number to yourself.

That’s how I handle it. You have your spam number and your real number. Same as I have my spam email and my real email.

[squeegee]

@Senegoid

@Dewey_Finn

Some of the survey texts I get say to reply STOP if I no longer want to hear from them. Have you tried that?

Conventional wisdom dictates that you should NEVER do this, if you know or suspect it is a spammer or scammer. If you are satisfied that the text is at least legit, this MIGHT work. (The other common command is UNSUBSCRIBE.)

Every single time I’ve texted STOP to Nancy or whoever – a legitimate fundraising pitch – it stopped. @Roderick_Femm: do it. Text STOP

If it’s someone trying sell you Dogecoin or New! Maintain Better Erections!, well yes, of course don’t reply.

[Roderick_Femm]

@BigT

As for the OP—my advice is to get a number that you never give out to anyone but friends.

I am not worried about spam, other people have voiced that concern. I get spam texts once in a while, and I block and delete them. I only posted about how to be spared the annoyance of getting texts after I had already blocked the number. A minor concern, yes, only an annoyance. Probably I should not have posted about it.