Posted on 02/26/2006 1:10:52 PM PST by tang-soo
I apologize in advance for the vanity. I've been a member of FR since 1998 and I think this is the first time I've posted a vanity. However, I think it will be considered worthwhile.
My internet provider is sbc and my email domain name is sbcglobal.net. I wanted to share an observation with you concerning my email service.
Two weeks ago I sent a small email to about 125 people concerning the funeral arrangements for a fallen US soldier Jacob Spann. I had posted an article to FR about his death and explained that he was the son of a good friend of mine from church. The note spoke briefly about Jacob and inlcuded the information concerning his viewing and funeral arrangements. I also included a link to the FR story about Jacob.
As usual I copied myself on the bcc list of about 125 people (just to confirm the note actually was delivered). These 125 were from our church and a ministry that Jacob's father and I were both involved in. I did not get my copy and waited patiently, then noticed a note in my bulk mail box. This is a folder within sbc's interface to where "spam" notes are sent. Sure enough the note I had sent was there. I was a little miffed but thought nothing else about it other than think, wow, that was a pretty simple note, I wonder what triggered the spam marking.
A couple of days ago I sent another note to much of the same people. Again, it was a very short note about the autistic kid from NY that scored 20 points in 4 minutes the other day. Again, I included a link to a FR thread. Again, my copy ended up as spam.
I promise there was no mention in either note about Nigerian banking or viagra.
This started weighing on my mind. Under both circumstances I ran into sbc's limitation on the number of addresses you can include within an hour. This is another source of irritation but I do not neccessarily count it as a conspiracy. So both notes, I had to split into three separate emails of about fifty addresses each and submit the three notes over the course of two hours. SBC claims they enforce this rule in their attempt to fight spam. Also for each of these notes, I had to respond to their silly anti-spam tool where you get 4-5 squiggly characters shown and you have to repeat the characters in an input field to complete the transaction. More on this later.
I got to thinking this about this and tried a few experiments. I thought maybe my notes were triggered as spam because of the number of addresses used. I took my latest note and copied the text and made a new note that was identical but addressed it only to myself. Results - Squiggly interface - Spam!
Hmm, very simple note, the only thing out of the ordinary was that it included an external link (to FR). Okay, so I changed the portion of the link freerepublic to feerepublic - leaving the rest of the link alone. Guess what, no squiggly interface, the note went right away and NO SPAM. Starting to get a little hot now. But I thought well possibly since this was an invalid domain, it was not triggered as spam. So, I tried another experiment. I took the original link to FR and changed the freerepublic.com domain to cnn.com. Result - NO SQUIGGLY interface and NO SPAM.
Now I was really getting hot. Thoughts of switching service ... etc. Just to be sure, I tried one more experiment. I made a new email that was empty expect the line
http://www.freerepublic.com
and a subject heading of "test". No other text and no complete link to the thread just the domain name. Result - SQUIGGLY INTERFACE and SPAM!
Just to be complete, I repeated the last experiment but used
http://www.pbs.org
with a subject heading of "test". Result - NO SQUIGGLY INTERFACE and NO SPAM.
Who is your provider? Anyone with SBC care to try this experiment?
try one with the DU site, see what happens!
I definitely would too.
But I would get a written explanation from them first. It should be a tapdancing classic...
Just a hunch, but I think the word "Free" might be triggering it -- as in the "Free Offer!" I get two million times a day.
I can tell you it does NOt happen with Bellsouth (or at least not with my account). I email links back and forth to mself to and from both home and work.
See what happens whey you email a DU or KOS link. I'm very curious about this.
Before you drop them as your ISP, it would be nice to find some answers as for how FR endedup on their spam list.
Media Schadenfreude and and Media Shenanigans PING
Anyone care to assist in this experiment to see if SBC Global (sbcglobal.net) is diverting Free Republic related emails to a SPAM folder?
Freedom isn't free nor is it dumb. ;)
The word "free" is often associated with spam. Try some tests with "www.freemoney.com", "www.freemusic.com", etc.
That is your problem right there. You sent one e-mail to 125 people and the spam filter assumes it is spam. It has absolutely nothing to do with the content of your message.
We have the same problem when my son's Boy Scout Troop sends out one letter with 30 addressees on it. It ends up in the spam box.
DU works.
Very good!
Everything is trapped as spam now. It seems like that only thing that actually gets through with any regularity are the real spam messages themselves.
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