[SC-Help] Re: Getting balcklisted

[Mike Easter]

Iain wrote:
> Obviously there is no way to not send the first welcome message and
> this may go to the wrong person.

Not 'welcome'.  Confirm.

The concept is that someone visits your website and reads the
information about getting on the list;  ie receiving wanted information
from you.  They respond to that by putting in their email address.  When
they do that, they are *not* subscribed.  That email address may be a
bogus one to cause trouble.  It may be a spamtrap address to cause
trouble.  Think of yourself as being surrounded by enemies to your
mailing list who are also enemies of antispam activities, blocklists and
such as that.  Devious plotters out to get you.

So, now you have an email address which might be real or it might be
poison.  Handle it carefully.

You email the address a confirmation.  In order to get any more
information from you, the recipient of the email has to confirm that
they received the email you sent and that they indeed /do/ want to get
more mail from you regarding the issue in question.  That confirmatory
mail contains some way to indicate its uniqueness.  Either in the
content of the mail which they will be returning with their Reply
function, or by clicking on a unique link in the email to trip a
confirmatory website visit which only a recipient of the email could
perform.

If all of that [either the unique email reply or the unique website
visit] doesn't happen in confirmation, then the email addy which was
initially entered at the website isn't subscribed.  The initial email
addy only becomes subscribed by the process described.

If and only if, when and only when, all of the above has already taken
place is such an address a valid subscriber.  If all of that, only then
does that subscribed email address need to unsub [or be invalid] to
become unsubbed.  And, they should be able to unsub by email or website
visit;  either one.



-- 
Mike Easter
kibitzer, not SC admin