[pmmail-list] Spam -- your definition

[Paul Hodges]

You'll never get an agreement on the definition of spam, nor on the
place of HTML in email.

I see hundreds of spam messages a day, as I write the filter rules
for the email for this company and so also have to check for false
positives.  

Most of the spam is obviously spam (interminable messages about
Viagra, MLM schemes, bust enlargement, porn sites, mortgages, life
insurance), and much of that is not only to people who didn't ask for
it, but to addresses which have never existed as email addresses at
all - they just throw their shit to the winds in the hope that a bit
will stick somewhere.  Most, but far from all, is HTML.

Some is from the suppliers we deal with - who often appear to
mailbomb every address they have ever dealt with here, including the
ones for people they have been told no longer work here.  Several of
them use a third-party mass-mailing service that I have decided to
block unconditionally.  Is this spam?  I think so, but I suppose they
don't; the information is genuine and relevant, but the method of
delivery is inappropriate.

But then again, our business is selling to software developers.  We
email tens of thousands of them monthly (with full unsubscribe
instructions as well).  We only email people who have given this
company their address, and ticked a box to say we can email them. 
Even so some of them report us to SpamCop.  We once emailed the
addresses that were collected before it was an issue to ask
permission and asked them (people who had previously given us their
email address, remember) if they were interested in receiving news
from us by email in the future - some of them regarded even this as
spam, but was it an unreasonable request to make just once?

We now send an HTML version of our newsletter.  I have managed to
ensure that its size is kept in check, and it is only sent to those
who request it (about 1/3 of our customers have done so - is it spam
if we send it to them by request?).

These things are hard to decide if you are actively involved.  I try
to keep my colleagues aware of the ramifications of what they are
doing, but their perspective isn't always the same as mine.  I hope
we keep an appropriate balance, but someone will always disagree!

Paul Hodges
QBS Software Ltd

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