Used to be that I reported things as spam. The past few months I have been using the "Unsubscribe & Report Spam" feature which I now suspect just validates my email address for the spammers since I hit their unsubscribe URL. I believe it's just better to click Report Spam and skip the unsubscribe part. But it forces me inspect the mail and make a considered decision.

I also suspect that because of auto image loading (despite caching), spammers now have better intel into open rates and validating email addresses. There have been submission on HN before on how you can bypass Google's caching proxy by using a unique identifier--doesn't this make it easier for spammers? It used to be that for suspect mails, the images didn't load until you whitelisted it. Marketing companies now also have better intel not only into open rates but also repeat open rates, I imagine, by using cache-busting. I have now turned off auto image-loading as well but I have noticed images in mails have become more common, possibly because of GMail's change and it degrades the mail reading experience if images are off. This makes sense become images open from a remote URL and allow the marketer to show dynamic content that can change over time, which means it is a feature for them but has privacy implications for readers.

I'll find out in a few months if both the measures taken above reduce the spam though my mail viewing habits have already been harvested sufficiently by marketers/spammers by now.