In the big picture, I would still call that the long tail, at least in terms of non-marketing emails. Marketing email, yeah, you'll have those problems.
----- Mike Hammett Intelligent Computing Solutions Midwest Internet Exchange The Brothers WISP ----- Original Message ----- From: "Al Iverson via mailop" <mailop@mailop.org> To: "mailop" <mailop@mailop.org> Sent: Monday, July 7, 2025 9:28:14 AM Subject: Re: [mailop] Mail Monitoring Service You've misidentified where the long tail is. Most people who reach out to me because they're having deliverability issues and who want advice, especially because of spam folder placement, it's because of reputation issues measured by internal black box systems at Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and Apple. Not externally queryable, nor determinable by reading headers. I literally could roll a die to guess what they're going to say, and I'd be right a lot more than half the time. "But I enabled DMARC!" "But it's passing DKIM!" "But I'm not on a blocklist!" Yeah, true, but.... Too many people think they have to be on a blocklist to have a deliverability issue. (This isn't 1999.) Too many people misunderstand the point of email authentication, believing that it somehow guarantees inbox placement. (No, it's the flip side that is true. Try to get inbox placement WITHOUT it -- it's very hard. But with it properly set, it doesn't protect you from reputation/engagement/complaint-related issues.) Even real IP reputation issues are often confused; the sender thinks that because their IP address is on UCE Protect Level 3 AND they're facing blocking at Microsoft, that these things must be connected. (They're not.) 99% of blocklists are barely used. In short, it just don't work that way. Cheers, Al Iverson On Sat, Jul 5, 2025 at 1:50 PM Mike Hammett via mailop <mailop@mailop.org> wrote: > > Well, no, but you can make a fairly educated guess. > > Did the SPF check out? > Did the DKIM check out? > Did the DMARC check out? > Did it pass through any servers on the way with a questionable IP reputation? > etc. > Do basic SPAM checks trip on anything? > > > My intent is to focus on the 90 or 95% of issues and not the long tail. > > > > > This is not for blind mass marketing email, which I think is what everyone > seems to care about anymore. > > > > > ----- > Mike Hammett > Intelligent Computing Solutions > > Midwest Internet Exchange > > The Brothers WISP > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Anne P. Mitchell, Esq. via mailop" <mailop@mailop.org> > To: "Mail Op" <mailop@mailop.org> > Sent: Saturday, July 5, 2025 1:29:10 PM > Subject: Re: [mailop] Mail Monitoring Service > > > > > On Jul 4, 2025, at 9:33 PM, Mike Hammett via mailop <mailop@mailop.org> > > wrote: > > > > "It also means that no external service can really do the job for you." > > > > Of course there is. Log in to my mail server and send an email as one of my > > users (of course, a dedicated user). Initiate an email send from the CRM. > > Initiate an email from... > > That only tells you that the email was sent and, maybe, depending on the > monitoring, that it was accepted at the other end. It does *not* tell you > what happened to the email once it was accepted. > > Anne > > -- > Anne P. Mitchell, Esq. > Email Law & Policy Attorney > Legislative Advisor > Author: Section 6 of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (the Federal email marketing > law) > CEO Institute for Social Internet Public Policy > Creator of the term 'deliverability'; Co-Founder of the deliverability > industry > Author: The Email Deliverability Handbook > Board of Directors, Denver Internet Exchange > Dean Emeritus, Cyberlaw & Cybersecurity, Lincoln Law School > Prof. Emeritus, Lincoln Law School > Chair Emeritus, Asilomar Microcomputer Workshop > Counsel Emeritus, eMail Abuse Prevention System (MAPS) > > > _______________________________________________ > mailop mailing list > mailop@mailop.org > https://list.mailop.org/listinfo/mailop > > _______________________________________________ > mailop mailing list > mailop@mailop.org > https://list.mailop.org/listinfo/mailop -- Al Iverson // 312-725-0130 // Chicago http://www.spamresource.com // Deliverability http://www.aliverson.com // All about me https://xnnd.com/calendar // Book my calendar _______________________________________________ mailop mailing list mailop@mailop.org https://list.mailop.org/listinfo/mailop _______________________________________________ mailop mailing list mailop@mailop.org https://list.mailop.org/listinfo/mailop
