Spam takes down legitimate sites

This is a worry. Found an article telling the story of how some sites are disconnected simply because sending a newsletter to opt-in users is sometimes seemed as spam, when the subscriber no longer wants it.

The story shows how users subscribe to newsletter, just to forget about it, or simply naming it "spam" when the newsletter is no longer needed. And when a user complains to a hosting service about being "spammed" the most likely result is a warning letter to the website owner or disconnection.

It's very unfair, and brings site admins to a point where publishing a newsletter can be dangerous business, invalidating a long work to make a name.

We publish a weekly newsletter with a summary of stories shown during the week, current promotions and site news. Quite a few bounce back, some back the destination server has a list of authorised senders, or simply because the address is not valid, or the mailbox is a spam drop mailbox and it's full.

Some users even send me e-mail to suggest something, and when the newsletter goes out to the same e-mail address, it bounces back. Obviously the user prefers to use an anti-spam tool like Mailwasher instead of simply unsubscribing.




SPAM is a registered trademark of Hormel Foods Corporation and it's used only as an internet name for unsolicited commercial e-mail.