>>We recently received a letter from Spam Cop. I have a few questions:
>>1. What type of power does spam cop have?
>>2. Our tech guy is telling us that they can completely shut down our
>>email and make it impossible for us to send or receive email ever again,
>>is this true?
Spamcop automatically sends abuse reports to your ISP and or webhost. This
alone would be cause for these service providers to terminate your service
for violating your terms of service. In addition, they also can/will list
your mail server IP address on a Internet wide "blacklist" used by many
service providers to block incoming email from you.
>>3. What effects does Spam Cop have when you are reported?
At first, they will temporarily blacklist your IP addresses
>>4. What are the ramifications of being complained about 3 times?
I've seen a few outfits who were listed/delisted several times in one week.
Spamcop is fairly resonable to work with. There are however many other
blacklists out there that are VERY difficult to deal with. Getting off of
these lists is sometimes near impossible and entirely up to their
discretion.
>>I am unsure of anything about the effects of being reported.
Its usually always bad news..
>>We are a niche business and we want to send out a one time mailing to
dentists to
describe a free service that we are providing to them.
Have you considered Direct Mail?
>>This is a free public service.
This actually does not matter in terms of SPAM. Chain letters about scams,
prayers etc have also been reported because mail server administrators don't
like their network clogged with what they see as unsolicited messages to
their users. It takes up bandwidth and computer space that they pay for.
If you have had complaints on the small list you have sent to before, you
should also consider how targeted your list really is. Have you accidently
collected addresses of individuals who would not be interested in your
service? (System Admins, Web Designers, etc)
Do you give the recipient an option to be removed from mailings? (easily)
Here is a link to some info on Permission Based Email ethics written by some
individuals who were involved with one of the first "Big" blacklisting
services (MAPS) Most of what is written here has been adopted by the
anti-spam community. Just for your info
http://www.junkbusters.com/emailing.html
Keith Turnage
PBG Marketing
Received on Thu Mar 13 2003 - 00:38:25 CST
