It gets worse, all the tracking in emails and the providers (not just Mailchimp) using alternative domain names. It makes it harder to be sure that the other domain names being used are legitimate. These days, I won't click on any links that cannot be easily verified in an email ... even if it is from a "trusted" sender. If there are specials in an email, those specials are usually found directly on the website. If it is a "special" special, i.e. one that needs the special link to redeem, then I usually forgo the offer unless it is too good to refuse (it usually is not too good to refuse and if it is too good to refuse, then it is more likely a phishing attempt). Specials usually come time and time again anyway, so those "marketing" emails that say about limited time offers, I'm quite happy to ignore them. Oh and I turned off javascript processing in Thunderbird too, so it helps make emails I receive more safe and doesn't send signals (via javascript) when I open emails -- and images.... I am selective as to which images are allowed to be shown.