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NetZero's Inactive Users Are Unexpected Costs to Other ISPs

Why is NetZero "returning" messages that have resided unread on its system for six months or more? Members of the ISP-Tech list discuss.

[October 30, 2000]

On the ISP-Tech list in October, JM asked,

"Has anyone else been getting 'stale mail' messages from NetZero? We have received about 300 so far, all like this:

Your mail sent on: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 11:35:34 -0600 is being returned to you. It sat unread in the mailbox beyond NetZero's 6 month limit.

If this is their practice, imagine having thousands and thousands of email messages bouncing from old NetZero accounts that went unread. Looks like it's time to IP block NetZero."

A number of respondents shared similar experiences:

[BL noted] "I've gotten lots of these too. It's easy to point a gun at NetZero but I don't think it's entirely their fault. The messages from NetZero are them simply returning messages unread for six months back to you."

[WXW observed] "There is no way these should have bounced to us personally; NetZero needs to fix their configuration."

Others complained that this policy is a huge waste of bandwidth on NetZero's part:

[JL offered] "Saving 'stale mail' for six months is preposterous; we've received several hundred of those things too. Returning un-retrieved mail after that period of time serves no purpose whatever; it should simply be deleted, as we do here. Quite obviously, this confirms a generally assumed truth about NetZero: most subscribers who sign up with them rarely return and seldom actively use their accounts there."

KS suggested it might be something even more insidious:

"They know exactly what they're doing. It is a cleverly disguised SPAM campaign. They're obviously not making any money off this guy's account, so they are taking his mail and returning it to the sender to show how great an ISP they are and how concerned they are about their customers. And if you like their service you can sign up at their web site, which is listed, along with their phone number, in the signature at the end of the email…"

—End