# OPS-032 — A help request containing a stop-word is not an opt-out

> An inbound message whose intent is a question must not be treated as a revocation merely because it contains a stop-word.

- **Rule ID:** OPS-032
- **Layer:** Operational (`OPERATIONAL`)
- **Checks:** `inbound message intent classification`
- **Severity:** MEDIUM — Usually survives review, but lowers your trust score or invites manual review.
- **When it bites:** Falls due after approval, once you are live and sending
- **How it is detected:** Not knowable before submission — reported with its deadline
- **Fix type:** Wait on an external system or a required interval
- **Required by:** T-Mobile
- **Applies:** Applies to every 10DLC registration.
- **Canonical URL:** https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/operational/ops-032/

## Why this rule exists

This is the false-positive edge of the previous rule, and it is worth its own line because over-correcting is its own harm: "I cannot get my device to stop buzzing, can you help?" is a customer asking for support, and silently unsubscribing them loses the notifications they wanted and answers nothing. Teams tune aggressively for recall after a complaint and create this second failure a month later.

## How to fix it

Where the intent check is uncertain, prefer the interpretation the consumer can correct: answer the question and ask whether they also want to stop, rather than suppressing silently. Done when a support question containing the word "stop" produces a reply rather than a silent unsubscribe.

## Example of a compliant value

```text
Inbound "how do I stop the duplicate texts, is something broken?" → question, not revocation → HELP response plus an explicit offer to unsubscribe.
```

## Check this yourself

**Does a support question containing the word "stop" produce a reply rather than a silent unsubscribe?**

1. Send "I can't get my device to stop buzzing, can you help?" to your own programme.
2. Confirm it is answered. Where the intent check is uncertain, the safe design is to act and say so — answer the question and ask whether they also want to stop.

*What wrong looks like:* A team tunes aggressively for recall after a complaint and creates the opposite failure a month later: customers silently unsubscribed from notifications they wanted, and their question unanswered.

## Notes

The judgement lives in a classifier we cannot see. What the user has to decide is which way their handler errs and whether the consumer is told — a silent suppression is invisible to everyone, so the safe design is to act and say so.