Gmail Spam Recipes - no thanks!

For Gmail users you sometimes get these creepy links just above your inbox for Spam recipes - you know spam tortillas, spam primavera, spam remoulade, it's really creepy and I might add nauseating.

I think that the fix is Gmail Settings | Web Clips and find the entry that says "101 Cookbooks" and nuke it. (It's been a few days now and no more recipes - w00t!)

Sigh.

Guess not.

Spam recipes came back this time with Spam Burritos. So turning off the display of Web Clips permanently turned off. That should definitely do it.

As one of the below comments indicates Google has "Grandfathered" us in to either Web Clips or No Web Clips depending on what our settings were at the time of the "Grandfathering".  So if they're there now there's apparently no way to turn them off now. Great.

Comments

R. D. Rittenberg said…
Such a simple fix...this has been annoying me for soooo long....Perhaps I should spend a little time in the "settings" folder to see all the ins and outs of gmail. In the meanwhile - thanks so very much.
May 9, 2011 at 4:19 PM
John Glotzer said…
Thanks R,D. This one has to go in the category of "what were they thinking?" - Spam is called "Spam" for a reason - because it's nasty!
June 5, 2011 at 10:19 AM
Matt said…
I just noticed this but only when I access the "Spam" folder, then it replaces my regular headline links to links to the spam recipes. It's a pretty clever trick IMO.
November 29, 2011 at 1:46 PM
AnnaZed said…
Alas, even this fix no longer exists. I go to 'Web Clips' and I get this message:

'Due to low usage we've removed customization of web clips in Gmail. Your current setting will be maintained and you can still see your feeds below. To follow updates to your favorite sites, try Google Reader.'

I have to check my spam every now and then because a fair amount of stuff that is not spam ends up there. Then those recipes pop up and I actually have a gag reflex reaction to them. I actually have a visceral aversion to doing the task of checking the spam folder; I get slightly grossed out before I even start, and I put it off. Really, what on earth were they thinking?

Anyway, thanks John for at least making me feel that I am not crazy; that someone else out there hates this totally weird and thoroughly unnecessarily gross thing.
June 14, 2012 at 11:42 PM
John Glotzer said…
That does suck Anna - so we're all "grandfathered in" to either see these disgusting spam recipes or not. I think it's disgusting as well.
June 18, 2012 at 12:54 PM
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