My latest rant - this time it's Earthlink and Mindspring

Date: Tuesday, August 15, 2006 10:33 PM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1538 -- 08/15/2006 >>>>>

It appears that Earthlink and Mindspring, and several other stupid ISPs are
embarking on a new campaign to annoy email newsletter publishers like me.
Recently I started getting loads of bounced emails from ISPs that require
me to click a link and answer a few dumb questions in order to be on their
"approved senders" list. At some point you, the receiver, is expected to
answer back that I, the sender, should be on their "white list" in order to
be able to send you emails.

I have been getting these types of challenge/response emails before but
never in this quantity. I was under the understanding that the customers of
the ISPs decided when they wanted to be on this challenge/response system,
but now it appears that unwitting victims of this corporate censorship may
be getting put on the system by default or automatically.

I am usually willing to spend my personal time to click on the link, fill
out whatever stupid questions are asked, and then wait until you, the
subscriber, feel like telling your ISP that I'm one of your honored guests.
For me, putting up with this is always a contest by how much trouble it is
to remove you from my mailing list versus how much time it takes to fill
out the online questionnaire.

Besides the fact that I am required to do this for each individual that
uses these ISPs, there are other reasons I'm getting fed up. Some people
procrastinate on putting me on the "approved list" so I receive bounces for
weeks on end, or even worse they don't understand that they must also go
online to do something. Sometimes the ISP has a buggy challenge/response
setup so that neither you nor I can clear up the problem, and what's worse
we can't even email each other to discuss the problem.

WHAT REALLY BURNS MY BUTT IS WHEN I DUTIFULLY GO TO THE MINDSPRING OR
EARTHLINK WEBSITE, FILL OUT THE FORM, AND THEN THE WEBPAGE CRASHES WHEN I
HIT THE SEND BUTTON! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARG!

Allow me now to ask and answer a rhetorical question:

Just how often am I supposed to keep going back for each of the hundreds of
people on this website when the thing crashes?

I have decided the answer will be never! Furthermore I will have to remove
all of you that don't put me on your ISP white list after I fill out your
ISP web form one time. You might get one or two newsletters depending on my
mood of the moment, and depending on how many more times these ISPs decide
to harass me. All of you that haven't corrected the problem after today
will be removed from my mailing list until you do correct it. If you read
the newsletter so rarely that you didn't even know about my request to be
on your VIP list, then why don't you use the archive to read past issues
instead?

The three worst offenders seem to be the following, but I'm sure this is an
unfortunate trend that's spreading:
earthlink.net
mindspring.com
netcom.com

Don't make the mistake of thinking I'm the only one complaining. To read
more, click these links:

http://blogs.chron.com/techblog/archives/2005/08/i_hate_challeng.html

http://emailuniverse.com/ezine-tips/?Is-EarthLink-Dropping-Your-Permission-Based-List-Members?&id=1348

http://www.thepilot.com/stories/20060725/edit/opinion/072606Bouser.html

http://www.guppylog.com/story/2006/4/13/8614/19666

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This is a typical example from of
the challenge/response
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I apologize for this automatic reply to your email.

To control spam, I now allow incoming messages only from senders I have
approved beforehand.

If you would like to be added to my list of approved senders, please fill
out the short request form (see link below). Once I approve you, I will
receive your original message in my inbox. You do not need to resend your
message. I apologize for this one-time inconvenience.

Click the link below to fill out the request:
https://webmail.pas.earthlink.net/

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www.zazona.com/Donations.htm

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