Legitimate email being marked as spam

[plightbo]

My company, Spoke Software (www.spoke.com), has had one of our servers identified by SpamCop as spam several times now. Currently we aren't on the blacklist, but you can see some sample emails here:

http://www.spamcop.net/w3m?action=checkblo...=205.217.153.99

Those emails are invitation emails from one member of our system to someone who is not a member of Spoke. All emails include links to opt-out from receiving any other emails. We're open to adding more messaging around this so that people don't confuse it with spam, but are there any other options? It seems that no matter what we do, once in a while someone gets upset and reports us as spam.

Any ideas would be very helpful. Thanks!

Patrick

[StevenUnderwood]

There is nothing you can add to a spam message to make it not spam. spam is not about CONTENT, it is about CONSENT.

If your member does not have the consent of the receiving party, it is spam and should be reported. This looks like a contact update business. I get these type of mesages all the time for people who I have never met. My CEO gets them from people who attended a speech he made. All of them are reported as spam.

If the message headers do not clearly identify the member sending the invitation, it will likely be seen as spam and reported. I only look at the sender, subject and first couple lines of the message (as viewed in webmail) to determine the bulk of my spam. Anything questionable, I do a closer look.

[Miss Betsy]

It looks as though you are using "email a friend" promotion. Actually, before spam, this is a perfectly good way of expanding your email list, but the spammers have spoiled it.

To many people *any* email that does not come from a known source is not going to opened. I occasionally get such emails from friends. I never open them and I never respond because, frankly, I don't trust those particular friends to be discriminating about who they give email addresses to. I don't report them, however.

I don't know if spamassassin or other filters identify your emails as spam, but they might. In that case, not only are they unknown, but they are grouped with spam so that even if a person might not report them if they came from a friend, s/he might not notice them among all the other spam. Or your email return path may not be among the recipient's whitelisted addresses and get reported.

It is also possible for people to maliciously enter email addresses for people who are not their friends.

The only way IMHO that a responsible emailer would do this is to have people who want to tell their friends is to have them email their friends from their email address and direct them to your site.

Sorry. Unless you stop using this function, you are going to get reported regularly.

Blame the spammers for ruining the internet for the rest of us.

Miss Betsy

PS Confirmation emails do not contain advertising and also, if not replied to, stop the subscription. There is no opt out. Most people will not use opt outs because the FTC and even some ISP's recommend not to. Again, blame the spammers for harvesting addresses from opt out links.

[Spambo]

My company, Spoke Software (www.spoke.com), has had one of our servers identified by SpamCop as spam several times now. Currently we aren't on the blacklist, but you can see some sample emails here:

http://www.spamcop.net/w3m?action=checkblo...=205.217.153.99

Those emails are invitation emails from one member of our system to someone who is not a member of Spoke. All emails include links to opt-out from receiving any other emails. We're open to adding more messaging around this so that people don't confuse it with spam, but are there any other options? It seems that no matter what we do, once in a while someone gets upset and reports us as spam.

Any ideas would be very helpful. Thanks!

Patrick

If the emails are "unsolicited" and either "bulk" or "commercial" in nature then they ARE "spam" and fully deserve to be reported as such.

The presence or lack of presence of an 0pt-0ut method does not change the definition of "spam", and recipients receiving unsolicited commercial or bulk emails are under no obligation to follow removal instructions dictated by the sender.

[Wazoo]

I have to tell you, looking at just one of your testimonials, it's apparent to me that you are going to keep roght on having issues. For those that won't go there, here's what caught my eye;

Results – One network had 62,000 contacts in the system and 5,000 companies after only three months in operation.

The sample spams noted by your own reference, coupled with your "explanation" that your "members" are sending out invitations to "non-members" is just too close to what is generally called "affiliate spamming" ... Basically the scenario where the company that "profits" claims that it "can't control its users" and the "stuff" they send out.

The fact that you "include an opt-out" doesn't excuse or protect you from anything. If the recipient of one of these determines that it's unsolicited, unwanted, unnecessary, etc., etc. ... I don't see the problem with them considering it nothing more than run-of-the-mill spam ... sorry.

There are sites that suggest "best practices" .. but let's be honest and up-front ... the key words start with "opt-in" .... and you started your query with suggesting that you see no problem with advising people that they can "opt-out" ... You've got it all wrong from the the git-go ...

[turetzsr]

<snip>

There are sites that suggest "best practices"

<snip>

... and here's where you may find some of them:

• Basic Mailing List Management Guidelines for Preventing Abuse
  
• Mailing Lists -vs- spam Lists
  
• Best Practices for Mailing List Management
  
• How Can I Manage My Mailing List Responsibly?