Many people believe that the proliferation of spam (unsolicited commercial email or ‘UCE’) is leading to a future where email will become virtually unusable. Some think this is a gross exaggeration and that spam is nothing more than a minor irritation. Should newsletter publishers who distribute their tomes by email be concerned about what people think about the issue? Of course! Because newsletter readers are those people.
An Average Day
I get, on average, about 200 spam emails a day. They attempt to market everything from ‘stop smoking’ cures to job opportunities that promise you’ll be a millionaire within 3 months for doing practically nothing. Do you get as much? Maybe you get even more. If not, just wait a while. It’s only a matter of time before your email address will appear on a mailing list that’s available for sale. No-one will tell you it’s been included. The first you’ll know about it is when you start getting dozens of messages from complete strangers making outrageous claims about things you’re not interested in and wouldn’t buy off them even if you were. The longer you’ve been online, the more lists your email address(es) appear on. And the more junk mail you get.
Scams
Scams abound. In fact, the terms ‘spam’ and ‘scam‘ are virtually synonymous. Many are sex related, like body part enlargement pills and other quite laughable wares. Not all are so amusing though. Some unsolicited emails I’ve received included actual pictures of such things as bestiality and child sex. I’m a man of the world and shrug off such intrusions but I’d hate to have had such images presented to my children when they were young.
Nuisance Value
But isn’t it all just a nuisance really? After all, shouldn’t parents be ultimately responsible for what their children view on the Internet? And besides, what’s all this got to do with newsletters?
Spam And Your Readers
The answer to the first question (isn’t it all just a nuisance…), from the average reader’s point of view, is obviously “yes” but without the prefix ‘just’. It’s an awful time-wasting nuisance and a major intrusion for many people. The answer to the second (shouldn’t parents be ultimately responsible…), in my opinion, is also “yes”, but therein lies the heart of the problem. The answer to the third, (what’s it got to do with newsletters…), is “a lot”, if you use email for distribution. It’s the way the general public (in other words, your readers) deal with the problem that counts. You need to know what measures they are taking to combat it and how that affects your mailings.
The Popular Solution
By its very nature, spam is unsolicited and unasked for. Therefore the only way to prevent it completely is to stop using email altogether. Obviously, this is far too radical a solution for the vast majority of people, which is why they opt for the slightly less radical alternative of spam filtering. This is a process whereby software is used to scan incoming mail for common spam words and phrases, such as “$$$”, “!!!”, “Special Offer”, “porn” etc., and blocks any emails containing them. This is by far the most popular way of handling the problem and the chances are that a large and growing proportion of your readers are using this type of software.
ISP Filtering
It’s not just individuals, though. Some people’s mail is being filtered before it even gets to them. In an attempt to reduce the number of complaints they have to deal with, an increasing number of ISPs (Internet Service Providers) are also using such software on all incoming email in the hope that spam never even reaches their customers’ Inboxes.
Spam Filter Flaws
Spam filters have already gone well past the point of blocking legitimate emails from delivery, especially in the case of newsletters. This is because such ordinary things as ‘opt-out’ (unsubscribe) instructions, and many common phrases used by newsletter publishers, are now designated ‘spam-like’ by a lot of filtering software. If you’ve been wondering why so many of your mailings bounce, even on first dispatch, this is very likely the reason. If bouncing doesn’t seem to have been a problem for you so far, you’ve just been lucky. It’s only a matter of time before you begin having the same problem.
The Vicious Circle
Spammers retaliate against spam filtering software by employing counter techniques such as ‘funky punctuation’, as Janet Roberts of List-News calls it. This attempts to disguise words, as in “p*rn”. You will, I’m sure, have seen many similar examples. This is where the tit-for-tat merry-go-round starts. Eventually, of course, so many words, phrases and possible permutations of funky punctuation will be filtered that the language itself will be called into question. You, as an newsletter publisher, will find yourself spending increasing amounts of precious time trying to figure out how to get past filters that were meant to stop spam, not you. And every time you succeed you know that the spammers will too. It’s a vicious circle.
Spam Checkers
One solution that has appeared recently is a spam filter flagging tool. There are now several available online that let you check your newsletter for spam ‘triggers’, thereby allowing you to make amendments so that they get through. These are an excellent short-term solution but, in the long term they are going to diminish in usefulness as the number of potential triggers increase. After all, what’s the use of fine detail when you already know that half the words and phrases in the English language are going to ring an alarm? And never forget that these will be popular tools for spammers as well.
Lesser Evil
As long as spammers emulate genuine emails, and they always will, any measures aimed at weeding them out, especially by keyword filtering, will also kill off messages that potential recipients would have preferred to receive. Unfortunately this doesn’t seem to deter people from using them. It seems that losing the occasional message is considered the lesser evil.
My Solution
As an addition to providing the option of plain text and HTML formats, why not provide an onsite version as well? This is simply the HTML version on a static webpage. All recipients whose email bounces can then get a short email containing ‘bare bones’ information with links to the content where it appears on this site.