Proliferation
Many people believe that the proliferation of spam (unsolicited commercial email
or 'UCE') is leading to a future where email will become virtually unusable. Some think this
is a gross exaggeration and that spam is nothing more than a minor irritation. Should
newsletter publishers who distribute their tomes by email be concerned about what people
think about the issue? Of course! Because ezine readers are those people.
An Average Day
I get, on average, about 200 spam emails a day. They attempt to market everything from
'stop smoking' cures to job opportunities that promise you'll be a millionaire within 3
months for doing practically nothing. Do you get as much? Maybe you get even more. If not,
just wait a while. It's only a matter of time before your email address will appear on a
mailing list that's available for sale. No-one will tell you it's been included. The first
you'll know about it is when you start getting dozens of messages from complete strangers
making outrageous claims about things you're not interested in and wouldn't buy off them
even if you were. The longer you've been online, the more lists your email address(es)
appear on. And the more junk mail you get.
Scams
Scams abound. In fact, the terms 'spam' and 'scam' are virtually synonymous. Many are sex
related, like body part enlargement pills and other quite laughable wares. Not all are so
amusing though. Some unsolicited emails I've received included actual pictures of such
things as bestiality and child sex. I'm a man of the world and shrug off such intrusions but
I'd hate to have had such images presented to my children when they were young.
Nuisance Value
But isn't it all just a nuisance really? After all, shouldn't parents be ultimately
responsible for what their children view on the Internet? And besides, what's all this got
to do with newsletters?
Spam And Your Readers
The answer to the first question (isn't it all just a nuisance...), from the average
reader's point of view, is obviously "yes" but without the prefix 'just'. It's an
awful time-wasting nuisance and a major intrusion for many people. The answer to the second
(shouldn't parents be ultimately responsible...), in my opinion, is also "yes",
but therein lies the heart of the problem. The answer to the third, (what's it got to do
with newsletters...), is "a lot", if you use email for distribution. It's the way
the general public (in other words, your readers) deal with the problem that counts.
You need to know what measures they are taking to combat it and how that affects your mailings.
The Popular Solution
By its very nature, spam is unsolicited and unasked for. Therefore the only way to
prevent it completely is to stop using email altogether. Obviously, this is far too radical
a solution for the vast majority of people, which is why they opt for the slightly less
radical alternative of spam filtering. This is a process whereby software is used to scan
incoming mail for common spam words and phrases, such as "$$$", "!!!",
"Special Offer", "porn" etc., and blocks any emails containing them.
This is by far the most popular way of handling the problem and the chances are that a large
and growing proportion of your readers are using this type of software.
ISP Filtering
It's not just individuals, though. Some people's mail is being filtered before it even
gets to them. In an attempt to reduce the number of complaints they have to deal with, an
increasing number of ISPs (Internet Service Providers) are also using such software on all
incoming email in the hope that spam never even reaches their customers' Inboxes.
Spam Filter Flaws
Spam filters have already gone well past the point of blocking legitimate emails from
delivery, especially in the case of newsletters. This is because such ordinary things as
'opt-out' (unsubscribe) instructions, and many common phrases used by ezine publishers, are
now designated 'spam-like' by a lot of filtering software. If you've been wondering why so
many of your mailings bounce, even on first dispatch, this is very likely the reason. If
bouncing doesn't seem to have been a problem for you so far, you've just been lucky. It's
only a matter of time before you begin having the same problem.
The Vicious Circle
Spammers retaliate against spam filtering software by employing counter techniques such
as 'funky punctuation', as Janet Roberts of List-News calls it. This attempts to disguise
words, as in "p*rn". You will, I'm sure, have seen many similar examples. This is
where the tit-for-tat merry-go-round starts. Eventually, of course, so many words, phrases
and possible permutations of funky punctuation will be filtered that the language itself
will be called into question. You, as an ezine publisher, will find yourself spending
increasing amounts of precious time trying to figure out how to get past filters that were
meant to stop spam, not you. And every time you succeed you know that the spammers will too.
It's a vicious circle.
Spam Checkers
One solution that has appeared recently is a spam filter flagging tool. There are now
several available online that let you check your ezine for spam 'triggers', thereby allowing
you to make amendments so that they get through. These are an excellent short-term solution
but, in the long term they are going to diminish in usefulness as the number of potential
triggers increase. After all, what's the use of fine detail when you already know that half
the words and phrases in the English language are going to ring an alarm? And never forget
that these will be popular tools for spammers as well.
Lesser Evil
As long as spammers emulate genuine emails, and they always will, any measures aimed at
weeding them out, especially by keyword filtering, will also kill off messages that
potential recipients would have preferred to receive. Unfortunately this doesn't seem to
deter people from using them. It seems that losing the occasional message is considered the
lesser evil.
My Solution
As an addition to providing the option of plain text and HTML formats, why not provide an
onsite version as well? This is simply the HTML version on a static webpage. All
recipients whose email bounces can then get a short email containing 'bare bones'
information with links to the content where it appears on this site. This is the method I'll
be using for the 101 Newsletter Answers ezine from now on.
© Mike Alexander 2003
|
Mike Alexander is the creator and owner of '101 Newsletter Answers', the 'How-To'
place where the focus is on 'Power Communicating' with newsletters. http://www.101newsletteranswers.com
|
|
Permission to publish this article is granted at no charge
provided it remains unaltered including the author's 'bio' (shown immediately above
this). To receive a plain text version, send a message from your regular
email address to <archives> (without the brackets) at the domain
<101newsletteranswers.com>. In the Subject field, put <arciv31> if
you would like it formatted to 60 characters a line plus underlined headings etc, or
<uarciv31> if you would prefer a 'ready-to-format' version with no line breaks.
Whenever possible, the author would also appreciate an
electronic copy of the publication in which it appeared. Please send any such messages
to <articleinc> at the domain <101newsletteranswers.com> with the ezine or
website title as the message Subject.
To return to where you came from, close this
window or use the menu bar at the bottom of the page.
|
Important Email Information
To lessen the chances of email addresses falling prey to address harvesting software (as
used by spammers) we avoid showing them in full. Instead, we only show prefixes (what
comes before '@'). Please be sure to add the @ and (usually) 101newsletteranswers.com.
Subscribe To Our Ezine
|
