Coping With Spam Accusations by Laurie Rogers Copyright July 2002
More and more publishers are consistently getting accused of
spamming. Whether there is any truth to some of these
accusations is yet to be seen, however in MOST instances these
accusations are nothing but a complete farce! We as publishers
seem to get picked on MORE so than anyone else online. I am not
certain as to WHY exactly that is, but we do.
All in all what it boils down to is ABSENT minded people who go
around signing up for "programs, products and services" and
don't bother to pay ATTENTION to what it is that they are
getting themselves into. Is this YOUR fault? NO it's not but,
for some reason these people like to think that it is. Instead
of them taking RESPONSIBILIY for their OWN actions, they bear
the grudge on to us -the publisher.
Almost EVERY single publisher I know (I know hundreds) has at
one point been FALSELY accused of spamming. I have seen
publishers lose their web hosts, their ISP's and their ENTIRE
businesses in a blink of an eye in the past 3 years. All of
which took place, because some "MORON" forgot they subscribed.
Today I am going to give a few tips on HOW to avoid this from
happening to you, but in some instances you MUST realize it's
absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to avoid.
1.) Make copies of EVERY subscription request that you receive.
Get into the routine of saving them to disk, every day before
you close up "shop" for the evening. There is currently NO
system that is absolutely, 100% "fool proof", always keep that
in mind. Every evening, I go directly to my listserver and copy
ALL of my subscription requests and unsubscription requests. I
put them into my text editor and copy it disc.
2.) As soon as someone cries "SPAM" send them a copy of their
request with FULL headers in tact. And if possible tell them
WHERE it was EXACTLY that they got on your list. It will save
YOU a lot of hassle in dealing with them.
3.) Record their IP Address, you do not have to tell them that
you are doing it, but do it. Although IP Adresses CAN be forged,
if they are not aware that you ARE doing it, the chances are it
will be REAL. If you do NOT know how to do this, just copy and
paste this code into your subscription form. Copy - input
type=hidden name="env_report" value= "Remote_host,Remote_Addr"
4.) Make all fields on your form REQUIRED and if someone has a
FISHY looking email address, don't add them to your list. Here
is the code necessary for making all of your fields required.
input type=hidden name="required" value="first
name,lastname,email"
5.) If they persist that your ezine is "SPAM", your best bet is
to contact your ISP and web host immediately. Make them aware of
the situation and also forward them a copy of the persons
subscription request (with full headers) and ALL correspondence
with the complainant (full headers). In most cases your ISP will
appreciate your honesty and nothing will come of it, even if the
person DOES complain.
6.) My last bit of advice is, try to maintain a good working
relationship with your ISP and web host. Both my ISP and web
hosts are all well aware of what I do online, they also know I
take ALL of the precautions that I can in respect to my
businesses. Over the past few years I have gotten to know them
on a "personal" level - which is nothing but a BENEFIT to me in
the long run, should a situation such as this should arise. And
I encourage you to do the same ;o)
If you have been falsely accused of spamming or are now being
blocked because of it, you CAN fight back! Go to:
http://www.e-crucible.org and file your complaint, as there is a
pending lawsuit against "Anti-Spammers", ISP's and hosts that
utilize these programs.
Article by Laurie Rogers Copyright 2002 All Rights Reserved
About the author:
Laurie Rogers is co-author of the Ezine Resource Guide, you can
check it out at: http://www.zineadz.com/erg.html She is the
owner of Optin Frenzy a list building program for ezine
publishers http://www.optinfrenzy.com You can also obtain
Laurie's articles at: mailto:ezinearticles@optinfrenzy.com
|
