ietf-asrg
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [Asrg] Teaching my boss to email politely

2010-01-29 23:22:34
Erik Hollensbe wrote:

I don't know where most of you come from culture-wise in this industry; but in my world it's still very much about teaching people how to fish instead of handing them the finished product. It would be beneficial to both him and us (as mail administrators) to have this information centrally available.

This may be the wrong place, but, some of the information below becomes useful upon occasion:

There's a couple of different levels to this, season to suit. Level 3 and above gets you into progressively more severe damage to the bottom-line. That tends to get attention paid.

Level 1: for those who are "instructable" and non-tech:

http://www.mail-abuse.com/an_listmgntgdlines.html is a recent version of a highly regarded document of best practices (and why) at a general/conceptual level. Been around for a very long time. Many people quote it in situations like this.

Level 2: for those who are instructable and want tech details: see the MAAWG Sender Best Practices document at http://www.maawg.org.

Level 3: for those who need a stick: you'll get blocked by the sites that you care most about, if not a significant chunk of the Internet. Big sites are good at it. If a big site notices you, you always lose.
So don't go there.

Level 4: bigger stick: It is becoming illegal in increasing numbers of jurisdictions (eg: EU or AU) to send unsolicited email.

Level 5: for those who need a very large stick: If Bill C-27 passes (it's damn close), every time he sends unsolicited email to a Canadian (and how can you tell whether a .com is a American or Canadian?), he could be on the hook for a fine of up to $250K _apiece_. And no, he can't assume that the three branches of the Canadian government responsible for C-27 will be too busy to go after him. Bill C-27 means he can get PRA/class action suits on his head _too_.

To paraphrase Clint:  "Does he feel lucky?"

I never have to go no further than "don't do that, or spamhaus will block us" (level 3). That always ends it. Not that I have to do that often. Our marketers don't need me to tell them that spam is bad. They just occasionally need me to point out who the fraudsters are.
_______________________________________________
Asrg mailing list
Asrg(_at_)irtf(_dot_)org
http://www.irtf.org/mailman/listinfo/asrg

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>