I iterate that I generally like Apple the company and Apple’s products, but sometimes Apple frustrates me all the same.

For example… 

Apple has a nifty feature called Hide My Email that allows the user (i.e., meaning me) to do exactly what it says. I can create an account at a site that requires that I supply my email address, but I can (now get this) hide my email address from that site.

It does this by creating a unique email address that automatically forwards the mail to my real email address. It’s a great feature, and it works just as described.

So when I created an account sometime back at the GoodReads site, to test out the feature, I tried using it and it worked. I was delighted. 

The only problem was that after I had asked my question at GoodReads and satisfied my curiosity, and thus I felt that I no longer had any need for their site, I closed my account there. But Goodreads continued to send nagging emails to that hidden email address which Apple continued to forward to my real address. I kept hitting the unsubscribe button, and GoodReads said that I was unsubscribed but they lied, as the following month they sent the same nagging email again.

So I started marking the emails as Spam and after a month or two they began to go into my Spam folder, but they were still coming.

Then this morning, I noticed that the Hide My Email system allows the user (i.e., yes that’s me again) to actually delete the hidden email. That sounded like something that I wanted to do.

So I looked up Apple’s support page and found the instructions.

Except their instructions didn’t jibe with their iCloud site, probably because the instructions were out of date. Where the instructions said that one first had to Deactivate an email address before it could be deleted, there was no button to actually deactivate. But there was a button to Turn off forwarding. I eventually decided that that was the new way to Deactivate.

Then where the instructions talked about clicking the Delete address button, once again, no such button could be found. But there was a Stop using Sign in with Apple. For some reason that sounded scarier that Delete, but apparently that was Apple’s new way of deleting a hidden address.

Just wish they’d update their instructions when they change things. It would’ve save me a few minutes of scratching my head. 

And I’m very glad I used that feature on GoodReads as otherwise I would have never been able to stop their blasted emails. GoodReads has now officially been added to my informal shit list.