unsubscribathon

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un.sub.scrib.athon
pr-nunciation: &n-s&b-‘skrib-&-“tha:n
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1 : a sequence of list removal requests sent to an unmoderated,
over-subscribed email list, rather than to the owners of the
list; specif: such an event in which each removal request
encourages another to be sent by the next most irate subscriber;
a situation embodying both dramatic irony and a tragedy of the
commons: marked by both incongruity between the actual result of
a sequence of events and the intended result, and by the abuse
and consequent destruction of a non-excludable public good.
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etymology: english, un- + subscribe + marathon, from un-, middle
english, from old english; akin to old high german un- un-,
latin in-, greek a-, an-, old english ne not; subscribe, middle
english, from latin subscribere, literally, to write beneath,
from sub- + scribere to write, marathon, greece, site of a
victory of greeks over persians in 490 b.c., the news of which
was carried to athens by a long-distance runner.
date: 2002
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after the first email, it was a total unsubscribathon