Thanks Byron, for sharing your experience. I believe this is not an
uncommon experience for mailing list operators, and the bots are, to
put it mildly, a major nuisance indeed.
I suspect that some of the bots may be trying to detect patterns in
the confirmation codes that cmoe back through the eMail addresses
that they actually do monitor, most likely with the intention of
faking subscription confirmations with future subscribers that they
nefariously add to the list.
> We've required confirmed-opt-in for years. But a few months ago, I noticed
> that our servers were sending out hundreds of 'confirmation required'
> messages every day. They were going to obviously-bogus addresses, likely
> submitted to our submission forms by bots. Without opt-in, all those bogus
> addresses would be on our lists, inflating subscriber count, increasing
> bounces, lowering server reputation, etc. As it was, even just the hundreds
> of confirmation messages were beginning to impact server reputation, to the
> point that I added simple 'captcha' tests which require a human response,
> just to eliminate the bogus confirmation messages. Even after THAT, I find
> that maybe 25-50% of the folks who ask to subscribe never respond to the
> confirmation email.
>
> A list of 100 validated and interested folks is worth far more than a list
> of 1000 "average users".
>
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 27, 2023 at 11:46AM Randolf Richardson, Postmaster via mailop <
> mailop@mailop.org> wrote:
>
> > What have you found to be some of the best approaches to convince
> > clients that the confirmed opt-in process is necessary for operating
> > eMail lists? (The ethical aspects are pretty straight-forward.)
> >
> > Many marketing people seem to be terrified of the idea of users
> > having to confirm their consent when subscribing to a mailing list
> > (e.g., by following a unique link in an eMail message to complete the
> > process). The marketers almost always say "it will be too
> > complicated for the average user," and want to eliminate the
> > confirmation step altogether (which is not an ethical approach from
> > my perspective).
> >
> > Presenting legal aspects is quite convenient here in Canada
> > (because
> > of our anti-spam laws), and preventing inclusion in blacklists is
> > another helpful motivator, but I'd prefer to find a ways that get
> > mailing list operators to want to ensure that "every eMail recipient
> > consented" without the begrudging "we do this because we have to"
> > perspective.
> >
> > Thank you for your thoughts and ideas.
> >
> > Postmaster - postmas...@inter-corporate.com
> > Randolf Richardson - rand...@inter-corporate.com
> > Inter-Corporate Computer & Network Services, Inc.
> > Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
> > https://www.inter-corporate.com/
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > mailop mailing list
> > mailop@mailop.org
> > https://list.mailop.org/listinfo/mailop
> >
>
Postmaster - postmas...@inter-corporate.com
Randolf Richardson - rand...@inter-corporate.com
Inter-Corporate Computer & Network Services, Inc.
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
https://www.inter-corporate.com/
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