Unsubscribing from a mail list.

Hey all, i've got a mail list going, which sends e-mail to people that sign up, from that e-mai, you can reply and if you have the word "remove" in your subject line, I have an automated watcher that will remove you from the list.

My question is, how can I accomplish the same thing by clicking a link in the e-mail?

You see it all the time "To unsubscribe please click here" I thought of a few ways to do it, but I don't think they are the smartest ways.

Any suggestions to put me on the right path would be great. Thanks!

It depends on how you're storing your list of users.
If they're in a database, it's just a DELETE query.
If they're in a text file, it will be a more complicated.

That's not what I mean, they are in a database, so i'm just changing the active field from 1 to 0, this is what i'm thinking...

If I put a link to a page that runs coldfusion code, so let's say, something like...

<a href="emailremove.cfm?portID=#id#>click here to be removed</a>

what would stop somebody from just hitting that page with numbers to remove everyone from the e-mail list?

So, how can I make a link, that automatically removes them, and secure the page, so people can't abuse it?

And yeah, I have security working, so you need to enter a username/password to get into any sensitive pages, but if I add a username/password into the e-mail link so it passes that problem, then whoever gets the e-mail will know the username and password...see my problem?

Hmm, nevermind I suppose...a better/easier way is to use the link to direct them to a page they can unsubscribe from, other then trying to do it in one motion in the e-mail

Nothing. That's why you can't use this method.
I had an app like this on a site I ran at my last job, except there was a table with the people who didn't want the email.
Instead of providing a direct link to remove themselves, link them to an unsubscribe page with a form. That form will have an input field where they can input their email address. The post data will populate the query with their email in the WHERE clause.
To be really nice, you could also run a SELECT first to see if they're actually on your list (in case they type their own email wrong, which actually happens all the time), then warn them if they're not.

Hope that helps.

Instead of having someone add their email address, you could have them log in using a user name and password they created prior (assuming there is one). If I know other suscribers' email addresses, there's nothing to stop me from adding their email addresses into the form and unsubscribing everyone. Of course, the likelihood of this happening depends on your audience--if they know each other.

I used the "send them to an unsubscribe page" method, which I still don't particularly like, since somebody could enter any e-mail address and it'll be removed, but I suppose the internet is filled with stuff like that.

You could sign anyone up to anything as a gag.

And yeah, I could do the login thing for users, but i'm trying to make this as simple as possible being that most of the users aren't particularly computer savvy

Thanks though, for all your hints/comments