Best of the ISP-Lists

Pity My Poor Spammer

Members of the ISP-Bandwidth list discuss the methods and deceptions of spammers and anti-spammers. Whatever you do, resist the temptation to sign a "pink" contract for double the going rate.

[August 1, 2001]

On the ISP-Bandwidth list in July, TB queried,

"I have a customer that advertises on the Internet. He says that even though he follows strict guidelines and and removes anyone who requests to be removed, that he is the victim of anti-spammers that send bogus spam with no sender listed, and then demand that the bandwidth provider unplug him. Has anyone heard of this?"

A number of respondents didn't buy the 'victim' story:

[BL contended] "He's a spammer. The only victims here are the recipients of his mailings. I've already heard most of the spammers whining about some or other conspiracy against them; this is merely another one. Of course, this is just my gut feeling; maybe he isn't a spammer. And maybe I'll win the lottery tomorrow."

[ML asked] "How does he obtain his lists? If he buys lists, it's spam, regardless of how conscientiously he removes those who request it. We have a strict policy that requires our customers to compile their own lists from people who've responded to web forms or sent e-mail in response to non-Internet marketing. I've turned down potential dedicated access customers who've offered to pay more than twice our price for what they called a 'bulk-friendly contract.'"

DK advised simply clarifying the rules regarding opt-in mailing lists:

"Many providers require what the spammers call 'double opt-in,' where before you're subscribed, they send you an e-mail containing a unique key, which you then must use at their web site to confirm the subscription. This is a very safe way to subscribe people to your mailing lists. Just make sure to log the time you sent them the 'subscribe' e-mail they requested, and the web hit that confirmed it, and you're set. Bulk-friendly contracts are called 'pink' contracts in the anti-spam world. Providers who offer such deals get (and deserve) much grief for hosting the spammers."

KS, on the other hand, suggested that the 'victim' story might actually carry some weight:

"I used to work support for an e-commerce provider with our servers located in-house. Some of our clients were very aggressive in their e-mail blasters, and had little or no understanding of how the Internet works. One client went over the line and drew the attention of a group of anti-spammers. They used their expertise to create a bogus spam clone, and administrators across the Internet started getting complaints and blocking our IP addresses where all our customers' sites and e-mail accounts resided, even though we could prove the blast did not originate from our location. The anti-spammers are very good at what they do, and we never were able to catch them."

— End