The Online Guide to Spam Email!

Here you will find all the information you ever needed regarding spam email.  We have composed a 14 section guide below which you can browse page by page.

If you have any questions please contact our staff.

Quick Links to Our Anti Spam Features!
1. What is spam?	8. Isn't spam illegal?
2. When is spam spam?	9. How big a problem is it?
3. The term comes from?	10. What are DNS blacklists?
4. Why do people send spam?	11. What is an open relay?
5. Where did it come from?	12. How can I stop spam?
6. How did they get my email?	13. How do spam filters work?
7. Does unsubscribing work?	14. Send spam free bulk email?

 

2 of 14 - When is Spam Spam?

Exactly where to draw the line between Spam and legitimate email or spam free bulk email is not as obvious as it may seem.  To some, any and all emails that does not come from an approved souce is Spam.  According to Mail Abuse Prevention System (MAPS) www.mail.abuse.org :

An electronic message is 'spam' IF: (1) the recipient's personal identity and context are irrelevant because the message is equally applicable to many other potential recipients; AND (2) the recipient has not verifiably granted deliberate, explicit, and still-revocable permission for it to be sent; AND (3) the transmission and the reception of the message appears to the recipient to give a disproportionate benefit to the sender.

MAPS' definition of Spam goes on to say that whether the email is relevant, or whether the benefit of the sender is disproportionate is up to the recipient and not open to discussion.  If this is the case, then Spam isn't Spam until the recipient decides it is.  However, point (2) above really only makes sense when interpreted in the context of bulk email sent to subscribers.  As often as not, the first email you ever send to someone has not been 'authorized' since you have never exchanged emails.  Further, MAPS goes to considerable length to define "strong terms and conditions prohibiting [email users] from engaging in abusive email practices".  These terms and conditions deal exclusively with bulk email sent to lists of addresses.  In other words, they want their users to send spam free bulk email.  This underlines the generally accepted principle that for Spam to really be Spam, it has to be bulk email.  This definition is reinforced by Henry Neeman's "Why Spam Is Bad".  Mr. Neeman explains to a particularly dense group of spammers, entirely in single syllable words that 'Spam is the same thing lots and lots of times."

previous page  |  next page

View Our Anti Spam Solutions Now - CLICK HERE!