1 : A method for minimizing unsolicited marketing communications to a plurality of subscribers, comprising the steps of: establishing a subscription base of the plurality of subscribers; obtaining a contacting party identification for an incoming communication to a selected contact point of a subscriber in the subscription base before the incoming communication is allowed to pass through to the selected contact point; comparing the contacting party identification with a marketing database containing a plurality of marketing contacting party identifications to determine if there is a match between the contacting party identification and any of the plurality of marketing contacting party identifications, and then: if there is a match, either taking a preselected action other than completing the incoming communication to the selected contact point or completing the incoming communication if an override condition is set, or if there is no match, completing the incoming communication, keeping a record of the contacting party identification, allowing the subscriber to designate the incoming communication as a marketing communication, and adding the contacting party identification into the marketing database if a preselected criterion for addition is met once more than one subscriber identifies the contacting party identification as a potential marketing communication.