[thelist] RFI -- CommunityExplorer

[the head lemur]

> Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to get bogus crap like that in
your database or inbox?

Yes.

>Who says a form on a site will necessarily cause you to be spammed?

    7 years of Unsolicited Commercial Email.(SPAM)
    5 years of serious commercial web development.

There are a number of vectors of infection.

You.

You suggest to your clients that to reduce the cost of development, that
they sell this information. This give the appearance of a rapid Return on
Investment, which is a buzzword that in the short term may get you work, but
will in the long run, perform a disservice to your clients and will
ultimately have you pursuing a career in another field.

When your clients make these arrangments, they can get locked into
agreements that will cause more harm than good, as the upstream company is
refining and adding to their database and selling this information to third
parties, continuing the cycle of spam for products and services you have not
thought of, have any control over, and may actually be sent to your clients
competitors.

Your Clients

Your clients get the bright idea that they can create additional revenue
streams by selling outright, using a third party advertising company,
affiliate programs or joining a group that offers MILLIONS of leads for just
pennies a day. The end result is explained in the paragraph above.

Hosting Company "FREE" mail programs.

A lot of hosting companies in providing FREE Email service for your domain
will harvest and sell this information in exchange for reduced license fees
on the email software or will do a straight out  cash for names deal. If you
think that 14.95 for a bazillion MG's of space is a deal that sounds to good
to be true, it is.

You get what you pay for.

Your Hosting Company
Part of the too good to be true deal is usually technical support people who
are not very sophisticated in understanding what it takes to close mail
servers as open relays. Open relays are email servers that accept email from
anywhere and pass it along. This doesn't help either.

Email address harvesting spiders.(spambots)

Steve Champeon has an excellent article on spambots here;
http://www.webtechniques.com/archives/2001/08/champeon/

>How else is someone supposed to respond to a visitor's question or comment?

Using a hosting company that has a strict policy against spam and will take
action.
Using a hosting company that is not an open relay.

In the case of building association sites to generate leads for association
members, you will be sending multiple emails.

Your hosting company needs to understand this or your account will be
terminated for the appearance of spamming.

Creating and using forms that process form information on the server, rather
than in the webpage code.
In the case of multiple recipients, BCC from your form handler. This creates
multiple emails, but on the flip side gives spambots one address at a time.

Using email servers that are not open relays.
http://www.cauce.org/
is a good place to start to understand spam and to fight it.

If you really serious about providing service to your clients, you need to
share this information with them.

If you want to get serious about UCE and it's elimination, do not use
hosting companies that are open relays, sell their email addresses and
aliases, allow spambots, tell your legislators about your feelings and get
involved in anti-spam legislation.

Having you clients adopt a strict opt-in policy, with clear information on
the use of the information that visitors may provide.

Designing websites that are compelling and have a clear goal in providing
service to visitors will go a long way toward getting your clients the
results they are looking for.

the head lemur
Web Standards
http://www.webstandards.org
Evolt
http://www.evolt.org
lemurzone
http://www.lemurzone.com