Re: Making Email Spam Free and Opt-in Emails Opened & CTR

From: Randall Rensch <randy_at_rensch.com>
Date: Wed 15 Nov 2000 11:02:07 -0500

Observations regarding a couple of unrelated posts, and
one thought in common for both of them.

JOHN GASKILL <gm_at_info-central-usa.com> WROTE:
> The easiest way to "Spam Proof" your email In Basket
> is to forward complete spam messages to the company
> that supplies your internet access.

As it happens, I've been doing that for the past week.
I use Outlook Express. What with navigating to the
source code (to get the header), cutting and pasting it
into a new mail, looking at the spam closely enough to
determine what domains are mentioned (e.g., sender,
fraudulent opt-out addresses, etc.), and addressing
them to my ISP, CAUCE (whose blanket anti-UCE policy I
disagree with, BTW) and the involved domains
addressing is the easiest part, thanks to auto-finish),
it's cost me an average of half an hour per day.

Even if I were just to forward the spam (as an
attachment, otherwise it would not include the header),
it would take significant time. Clearly, this is not a
long-term solution. For the same reason, neither is
dependence on any sort of user filters except for
people in need of a hobby. And even if we were to
grant that forwarding to one's ISP is simple, much of
the spam was actually sent to my domain, and my domain
hosting service (Verio) is pretty clearly not
interested in pursuing spammers as aggressively as
major ISPs are. Actually, that's not all bad, since
I'd end up paying for whatever time and facilities that
would require. But should my ISP be responsible for
tracking down the spammers just because that's where my
domain autoforwards my mail? Hardly, although I'm
pleased that they seem to.

So what's the REAL solution? 99% of the garbage I
forwarded did not contain a "remove" reply-to opt-out
procedure I could have faith in, were fraudulently
addressed, did not fully identify the sender, and/or
violated the terms of a public mailbox address --
always the first, usually the next two, and frequently
all four. Severe legal penalties for sending such mail
(not just shutting down the mailbox, and certainly not
relying on users or ISPs to bring expensive lawsuits)
would go a long way to solving the problem at its
source. I have trouble seeing why there is even cause
for further debate on that aspect of the issue.

JIM REARDON <jim_at_amusive.com> WROTE:
> Where each user's email is put at the end of that URL.
> By loading that image, it tells the server the email
> address opened (not that they READ, but OPENED)
> that email.

As some of my associates know, I enjoy discovering
innovative ways of collecting and improving data. But
no logos, gratuitous images, or web bugs in my emails
please.

Try this convenient way of working: Configure your
system to auto-dial on demand, set up OE to include a
preview pane, and retrieve your email using "Send and
Receive". Come back a little later when you have time
to sort through your mail. (For this example, don't
bother to change your File menu setting to "Work
Offline" -- that's extra work, but more importantly,
you'll often forget to do it anyway, and most people
don't know about that setting in the first place.) If
your system's like mine, when you highlight a message
in your in-box (even if by accident or because you want
to move or delete it), that email will appear in the
preview pane. Any HTML image or web bug in it will
autodial the modem. In fact, if there are a number of
images, the email will try to dial the modem separately
for each of them, generating a bunch of error message
boxes requiring action -- general mayhem. You won't be
able to shut down the connection in time, so there will
indeed be a hit on the web bug.

When this happens to me, does it mean I read your
message? Well, yes, but only far enough to learn and
curse your name.

I gather that many people don't have this problem.
Maybe so, since there are an infinite number of ways to
put all programs and configurations together. But, as
any member of this forum should know, it's dangerous to
assume something works well on all systems just because
it works well on most of them.

Assume your solution works the same for everyone, and
you may not have much of a solution at all. Assume
your innovation works the same for everyone, and you
risk learning about exceptions the hard way.

Randall Rensch
marketing communication creative concepts
440 E 62 St 11A, NY NY 10021 +1 (212) 223-2679
randy_at_rennospamsch.com www.nospamrensch.com





Received on Wed Nov 15 2000 - 10:02:07 CST