This posting made from the web-site. Please reply via email in addition to the group. Thanks. ------------------------------------------------------ Maybe someone will learn from this experience. On 04/17, we sent 2500 invitation to subscribe our new, free email eZine to what we believed was an opt-in list. People on that list were said to have requested such information. We started with a 13,000 email list, and cut out any that was in any way dubious: free email (HotMail, Bigfoot, etc), and all. All contact info was provided in the email, without any attempt at hiding either email or URL for our site, and an apology for those who may receive the message by mistake was included. We were in good faith, in that we honestly believe the destinations were to people who had an interest, and wanted to receive such news. It is obvious that we were wrong. On 04/18, our account was off the net. We were not contacted about this in any way. We found out when the email could not be picked up. My conclusions are: 1) List sellers will lie to you; 2) Opt-in requests-based lists mean nothing insomuch as users may forget they opted-in and see your message as SPAM, anyway; 3) The fact is, abusive SPAMMERs have killed the possibility of using email as a way to mass-transmit information that may be valid; While some may appreciate the news, many now have a zero-tolerance policy. The later is sad, but truly understandable. As someone who received over 20,000 personal email a year, I am the first to apply it. What is REALLY sad is that the real SPAMMERs, those with million-email raw lists and porn sites to promote, are rarely hit where it hurts, because they have developped stealthy methods. Needless to say we will not repeat the experience. To anyone else even considering something like this, a BIG NO as advice - no matter what your intentions may be. To those who may have seen our release as SPAM, let us repeat our most sincere apology. Pat St-Arnaud, CEO, Hellstone _______________________________________________ SpamCop-Help mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://news.spamcop.net/mailman/listinfo/spamcop-help
