RE: [Declude.JunkMail] OT- Getting a URL de-listed on AOL

[Todd Holt]

“he'll probably use his AOL account to do his mailings (if they allow the volume)”   AOL will stop them from coming in, but not from going out!!   AOL and Earthlink are 2 of the biggest SPAM sources we see.  I wish they would practice what they preach!  ;)   Todd Holt Xidix Technologies, Inc Las Vegas, NV  USA www.xidix.com 702.319.4349   -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Matt Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2004 10:32 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Declude.JunkMail] OT- Getting a URL de-listed on AOL   My point was that commissioned individuals in businesses like this (real estate and auto dealerships) tend to look to bulk mailings as a way to enhance their business opportunities.  My neighbor for instance just got his license and he keeps telling me how he needs to set up an E-mail list.  He's definitely the type of guy that will do a poor job of preening his list following complaints, he'll probably use his AOL account to do his mailings (if they allow the volume), and he'll probably send out messages with little or no value.  Essentially, these people don't know better, and they need to be instructed by their business as to exactly what acceptable E-mail use is.  If his company is large enough to have several dozens of commissioned individuals taking upon themselves to become small-time spammers, then that can create problems for the company as a whole, as is likely indicated in Marc's situation. Now if I was the guy at AOL that made the determination as to whether or not to remove Marc's domain from my blacklist, my first question would be, "what have you done to limit the abuse/spam?"  This is why I recommended that he start there. As far as "We hate spam too" links on home pages go, they are highly indicative of companies with poor control, a lack of best practices, or even a front to fool E-mail administrators into not blacklisting them.  That would be a red flag in my book.  It's hardly any different from the disclaimers that you often see on spam coming from sources with 1,000 different domain names.  Not that the idea of being anti-spam is bad, but this has become too commonly used to trick people. If Marc wants to get off of AOL's list, he's probably going to have to work pretty hard to get it done.  Word is that they are notoriously non-responsive regardless.  If he finds the right person and the process turns out to be easy enough, it's still a good idea to get his ducks in order so that future problems might be prevented.  I'm quite sure that this is good advice. Matt Sanford Whiteman wrote: The  first  step  would be to put in place measures that stopped the unsolicited  mailings.       This  is  easy to say, but probably impossible to do. If they have not pruned  their lists of unwanted "memberships," that's probably because they  no  longer  have any idea which ones were solicited or opted-in, which ones were illegally scraped--or even which ones are bouncing.   So  the  only  way  to  stop the unsolicited mailings is to stop _all_ mailings  to  AOL and immediately send gentle "probe only" messages to "refresh"  members  at  other domains; you should also post a "We Hate Spam,  Too"  button  on  your  home page with a link for immediate and permanent removal to imply good faith.   And this needs to be taken to the executive level to set clear policy. I'd  consider  this  a  very  grave  problem  for  a consumer-oriented business  to  be  barred  from  the  leading  consumer ISP. But it's a *business*   problem,   and   as   a   technical   person,  your  only responsibility should be to explain it, not solve it.   --Sandy     ------------------------------------ Sanford Whiteman, Chief Technologist Broadleaf Systems, a division of Cypress Integrated Systems, Inc. e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]   SpamAssassin plugs into Declude!     http://www.mailmage.com/download/software/freeutils/SPAMC32/Release/   --- [This E-mail was scanned for viruses by Declude Virus (http://www.declude.com)]   --- This E-mail came from the Declude.JunkMail mailing list.  To unsubscribe, just send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], and type "unsubscribe Declude.JunkMail".  The archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com.       -- ===================================================== MailPure custom filters for Declude JunkMail Pro. http://www.mailpure.com/software/ =====================================================