Dogbark.com >> about us >> Policies >> Specifics of Spam

• What is Spam?

So you may be thinking so really what is this spam I keep hearing about? Well you asked for it, so here are the juicy details, no pun intended.

Spam falls into three categories: unsolicited commercial email (UCE), unsolicited bulk email (UBE) and junk mail.

UCE can be many things: a blatant advertisement for lower mortages, or something more subtle, like a "newsletter" that links back to a commercial site, or an "public service announcement" that informs you about some internet fad, marketing scheme, or online portfolio. The key is that it is an email whose goal is to make money, and is unrequested by it's recipients.

UBE can also have a variety of content. Generally, it is also commercial in nature, but does not have to be. The distinguishing characteristic is that it is sent out in large numbers.

Junk mail can be anything from weekly promo mailers from a computer supply store, to garbage spewed from someone's virus-infected computer, and everything in between. Generally, junk mail falls into one of the previous two categories, so the discussion below will assume junk mail is also UCE or UBE.

• So who determines what is UCE/UBE?

A large part of this process is actually done by the public. There are a number of third parties involved, including the Federal Communication Commission and a number of websites, such as SpamCop. Many UCE/UBE recipients report such activity to these third parties, whose action may range from simply collecting information, to adding a domain to a "spam filter" used by various ISP's and corporations, to actively blocking email from that domain's host, either by that host's domain name or IP address block.

What this means to us is that if one of the domains we host is reported as a source of UCE/UBE, then that jeopardizes our entire client base's ability to send and receive email. In other words, when we take such a strong stance against UCE/UBE, it is to protect not only you, the specific customer, but ourselves and our other customers. We do not make the judgement call of what is or is not UCE/UBE; we merely obey the guidelines set out before us.

• I get junk mail all the time through the postal mail. What's so bad about UCE/UBE?

We don't know about you, but we're not that fond of a mailbox full of pizza coupons, grocery store flyers, "preapproved" credit card applications and political campaign letters. Aside from the environmental impact, it's not that fun to have to sort through all of the junk to pull out the important stuff, like the gas bill, or the birthday card from Aunt Susie. Especially when you only receive 5-10 legitimate pieces of mail per week.

Add to that the disparate burden of distribution costs. With postal mail, the sender has to pay for the distribution of their propaganda, which, along with the rather stern Federal regulations and punishment of mail fraud, keeps n'ere-do-wells out of the loop. With UCE/UBE, the distribution costs are paid for, for the most part, by corporations and ISPs delivering and distributing the email. According to some studies, the estimated costs of delivering UCE/UBE runs into the billions of dollars (USD) per year, and continues to rise.

• What about buying mailing lists? Aren't they legitimate?

Although they market themselves as an opt-in list supplier, companies use a method known as "double opt-in", which is, in effect, an opt-out list.

Here's how it works. The company collects, via various means, a database of potential target addresses. Then, they send (spam) an email to each address, asking if the recipient would like to receive information from companies related to the recipient's industry. The recipient then has to respond in the negative (opt-out) to be taken off the list. Anyone that does not respond is added to the "verified" list. Some companies even compile a list of the negative responses to sell to other UCE'rs as working addresses.

• So, how do I know if my promotion is UCE/UBE?

The first question to ask is "Have these people/companies requested information about my talent/products?" If they have not, then guess what? You've joined the ranks of larger-mortages-in-30-days-guaranteed!

• Then how do I promote myself?

The safest, and most productive, route will be a combination of media:
Buy (postal) mailing lists from companies such as AdBase, Workbook, etc., and send out creative, eye-catching postcards or letters that point to a sign-up page on your site -- that gets them to your site, and gets legitimate requests for information!