Ethical E-Mailing

Tutorial: Ethical E-Mailing Lists for Beginners
Or How to Avoid Becoming an E-mail Spammer
by,
Gailla

So, you’ve been wanting to create an e-mail list for business or pleasure. Before you fire up your mass-mailing program, you need to stop and think. Do you want to be a respected member of the Internet community whose missives are read and enjoyed, or do you want to be an unethical (redundancy alert) spammer? If you are reading this, I’d bet that you want to be respected member of the community. If that is true, you first need to educate yourself about the ethics of e-mailing lists.

What is an ethical e-mailing list? First, it is the kind of list that is referred to as opt-in. What does opt-in mean? Opt-in means that a person has to choose to join the mailing list. It requires that the person joining has to take action in order to sign up for the list. This action commonly includes filling out a form on a Web page and /or checking a box that clearly indicates that the person is signing up for an e-mailing list. Having to uncheck a pre-checked box on a form does not count as opt-in. Having to take action to stay off of or be removed from a list you never knowingly joined is called opt-out.

Second, a truly ethical e-mailing list takes opt-in one-step further. The true opt-in list requires that the person signing up for the list responds in some way before their e-mail address is actually added to the mailing list. This is often done by entering an individual password or code on a form on a special Web page, or by replying to a special confirmation e-mail.This response ensures that someone can’t just use someone else’s e-mail address to sign them up without their knowledge and consent. The formal name for this process is e-mail verification.

An ethical opt-in e-mailing list may include a list where the sign up is done via a pen and paper form, but only when it is made clear that it is a sign-up for an e-mail list. Those contest forms at the fair or flea market, where the contest sponsor doesn’t make it clear that your name, e-mail address and other personal information is being harvested for spamming, slamming (unauthorized phone service switching) and a bunch of other nasties, are decidedly unethical.

While most people define spam as unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE), non-commercial e-mail may also be spamlike if a person is added to that e-mailing list without their knowledge or consent. While many folks would not complain if their Aunt Susie (no relation to OCSue of OnComputers fame) unwittingly added them to her family newsletter mailing list, adding people to any kind of mailing list really should be done only with their knowledge and consent. If you are setting up your own informal mailing list, it only takes a few seconds of your time to ask your friends and relatives if they want to be included. You don’t necessarily need to use e-mail to ask them or have a Web page sign-up. You can ask them when you talk to them as well. Just be sure that however you invite them to join the list, they understand that they are consenting to be on your e-mailing list. Also, be sure to give them an easy way to get off of your “mass-mailing” list if they ever decide hey don’t want to be on it. And remember, while your mailing list may elicit personal replies to you, don’t expect them any more than you would expect personal replies to a newsletter that you mailed via the post office. The opt-in ethic should apply to club e-mailing lists, though the “spam-line” is gray in this area. It is often assumed that if you join a club, you have de facto opted-in to that club’s e-mailing list. However, the club should at least provide members with an easy way to opt-out. Even in the club setting, opt-in is the most clear and ethical method of adding members to the e-mailing list. Also, something like a club newsletter may not be a problem if is only opt-out; but a discussion list, where all club members can send mail to all list members at the push of a button, definitely should be opt-in. A discussion list for a large and active club may generate 10s to 100s of emails a day. Most folks do not appreciate being part of a discussion list that they did not choose to join. If you do decide to create an e-mail discussion list, make sure that only list members are allowed to e-mail via the list. If you don’t, you leave your list open to spamming and abuse.

While more a matter of practice than of ethics, it often helps to put a short but clear identifier in the SUBJECT: field of list e-mails. For our Aunt Susie example, it could be something like “Aunt Susie” or an unique abbreviation like “ANTSUE” – as long as it is part of every subject – preferably the first part. It is certainly considered a very nice thing to do and most people expect to be able to identify an e-mail from a list they’ ve opted-in to at a glance. It also allows people to easily route mail to a special folder or mailbox using the filters that most e-mail clients provide. The lack of this kind of an identifier does not turn you into a spammer. Using an identifier for list e-mails does show your knowledge and good Internet form.

Next, if you are using an e-mail client (program) to send to your e-mailing list (e.g. Outlook Express, Eudora, etc.), be sure to use the BCC: field (space) for your list. You do this by putting your own e-mail address in the TO: field and the e-mail a ddresses for your list in the BCC: field. If you don’t know where to find BCC in your e-mail client, look in the help file for instructions. While it is true that using BCC: does not ensure total privacy for your list members it helps and it is considered standard e-mail operating procedure.
Another good practice for e-mailing lists is to leave the attachments off.

If you want to share pictures, get an account at a free photo-hosting site or post them to your Web space. Then send the link to the picture(s) to your list members. If you need to send someone an attachment, do so individually with the prior consent and knowledge of the person you are sending the attachment to. Along the same lines, many list members may prefer plain text to html. If you want to make your list e-mails html, it is good practice to also give list members a plain text option. Remember, it is their bandwidth that you are using.

Here are some closing considerations. Ethical e-mailing lists do provide an easy and reliable way to be removed from the list. This will often be done often via a link or other instructions at the bottom of each list message. It may also be done via the same Web page members signed up from. Likewise, ethical e-mailing lists do clearly and accurately identify who owns them and how to contact the list owner (the person or entity that administers the list), preferably on each piece of e-mail. Finally, ethical e-mailing lists do protect the privacy of their members. They do not sell, give away, or otherwise use their member’s e-mail addresses or other information in any way for which each list member has not given explicit, informed consent.

I hope that this tutorial has helped to get you started on your ethical e-mailing career. There are many nuances to e-mailing list ethics, and there are other voices besides mine that speak to this subject. For additional information, enlightenment and all-around sage wisdom, I recommend the following:

· Brad Templeton – Origin of the term "spam" to mean net abuse
http://www.templetons.com/brad/spamterm.html

· CAUCE http://www.cauce.org/

· User Guidelines and Netiquette by Arlene Rinaldi
http://www.fau.edu/netiquette/net/elec.html

· Spamabuse.net – Help for marketers http://spam.abuse.net/marketerhelp/

· SpamCon Foundation – Help for e-mail marketers
http://www.spamcon.org/marketers/index.shtml