Customers who put spam filters in their e-mail accounts

[robert young 2,897]

We are often faced with customers who wonder why they don't get replies to their e-mails. In most cases they have deliberately opted to put really silly spam filters on their accounts similar to this:----------------------"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:" etc etc etc.------------------------If someone has just requested support from a developer, and can't be bothered to lift his spam filter on them before sending, how does he expect to receive a reply? In addition, many developers use a different e-mail address for replies from the one the request is sent to. If everyone used this ridiculous form of filtering, developers would never get any work done and instead spend all day requesting "permission" to communicate. It is a total waste of time.How do they expect anyone to reply to them when they have done this? If everyone imposed this then no-one would ever get e-mail. Indeed to my mind it is somewhat arrogant to do this, because it assumes the sender has the right to filter everyone else, but also assumes the receiver DOESN'T, and hasn't filtered the sender, otherwise the sender would ALSO get one of these silly messages. It doesn't take much intelligence to see the absurdity of this.We all get spam, and it is very annoying, but this is not the way to solve it.I'm writing here as an individual as well as a kind of official request on behalf of RealAir. Sorry but it drives me nuts!Rob Young

[N400QW 205]

Here here Rob! We've had so many that we finally sent responses saying that you the customer will have to "lift the veil for us" if you expect support. :-)

[Guest Logan826]

Then what do you suggest we as end users do to kill spam but let you through. I receive tons of email that doesn't come across as spam from legit companys. Why does your email get tagged as spam ? Dan

[robert young 2,897]

Spam isn't limited to end users. Companies generally get even more spam than individuals. ALL e-mail will get tagged as spam using the silly system I described in the thread opener, unless the filtering user remembers to UN-filter before sending a support request. This system by default blocks ALL e-mail for which no "permission" has been sought. Why should I seek "permission" to reply to someone who has specifically asked me to reply in the first place?Spam is a big problem for everyone, but this solution ain't it!Rob Young

[Guest 2002cbr600f4i]

Rob,While I TOTALLY understand your frustration, and have experienced the problem on both sides of the fence, I hate to say that it's just the way it is. Blame the spammers more than anyone for forcing us to have to use such tools.The problem is, some of us use work e-mail accounts where we don't HAVE access to the "white list". For instance, if I use my work account, the company's server does some spam filtering LONG before it hits my desktop machine where my Thunderbird does it's own filtering. Heck sometimes it blocks e-mails from VALID people just because they attached a zip file or word document, etc.Likewise, my yahoo account gets SOOOO much spam that unless I check and empty the "spam" folder constantly I'd never be able to pick your e-mail out. And until I get something from you and mark it as NOT spam, I can't tell it to whitelist you!SPAM sucks, spam filters suck. Spammers and virus writers beserve to be hung by their fingernails and skinned alive and covered with salt... But that's life...But yeah, I feel your pain. I guess the big thing is to try to get your company added to the whitelists that tools like spamassassin use.--Mike

[nudata 10]

I have had a free Yahoo email account for many years. I find that their filtering is quite effective. I receive about 7 or 8 emails per week that get through and immediately tell Yahoo (point/click) it is spam.However, not having control is risky if you must sort through a thousand emails to check for errors. To avoid this I use my own spam filter that that is free and excellent and is on an account for serious mail. It is called POPfile. It flags messages with a key word of your choosing when something is believed to be spam. It begins with a loose filter and learns as it goes. In 6 months it has become VERY effective. The tagged/flagged messages are sorted to specific mail boxes by Outlook Express. I get the opportunity to always read/glance at stuff tagged spam and delete it. If it is really a good msg I adjust the filter. Same with spam that is marked good, there I can tag it as spam. The learning filter operates on word style "Bayesian" learning which may be a fascinating subject but I only want the results. The free program is called POPFILE.Finally, when people visit weird sites, fill out offers for free or low cost goodies, and use low browser filter settings they are open to more spam. The saying - curiosity killed cat - applies when you are sucked into going to sites, or getting downloads, whose primary purpose is to sell your id to spammers.We want Rob to work on flight models not managing email!Regards,Dick Boley

[robert young 2,897]

All good input, for which thanks. But I suppose my main point is that if person A writes to person B and wants a reply, you would have thought that it might occur to person A that lifting a spam filter on person B in anticipation of a reply might be a sensible thing to do.Invariably they forget to do this, and then tend to complain on public forums that they "did not get a reply". In a recent case, we asked permission according to the ISP's instructions but still had our replies blocked.It invariably results in completely unjustified complaints when in fact it was person A's negligence which caused the reply not to arrive in the first place.Rob Young

[Orlaam 306]

Spam ruins the fun for everyone. I have my Cox.net spam filter on through their support page and it seems to work very well. I still get a little bit, but I don't think I've ever missed a valid e-mail. In fact, before the Scout upgrade with smooth VC gauges I had lost my key to the old one and requested another from you and your mail came right through. Some people also use filters that only allow messages from their address book, so maybe that's happening too.

[N400QW 205]

>All good input, for which thanks. But I suppose my main point>is that if person A writes to person B and wants a reply, you>would have thought that it might occur to person A that>lifting a spam filter on person B in anticipation of a reply>might be a sensible thing to do.>>Invariably they forget to do this, and then tend to complain>on public forums that they "did not get a reply". In a recent>case, we asked permission according to the ISP's instructions>but still had our replies blocked.>>It invariably results in completely unjustified complaints>when in fact it was person A's negligence which caused the>reply not to arrive in the first place.>>Rob YoungAgain, couldn't agree more. You've hit the nail right on the head.:-)

[Guest Logan826]

"Invariably they forget to do this, and then tend to complainon public forums that they "did not get a reply". In a recentcase, we asked permission according to the ISP's instructionsbut still had our replies blocked." This case, Rob, I can fully understand your fustration. But in general, as a few people posted, we have no control over our options on spam as work does this for us. I'd like to get more information on this popfile or whatever it is, that "learns" your activity. If someone could post a link for this program, that may help several people. Thanks, Dan

[Palebushman 0]

As requested by you Dan, here is a link to a download site for the product and it has a good explaination of the features too.http://www.snapfiles.com/get/popfile.html

[Guest possum]

Then why not wait until you get home and use your personal email? I agree with Rob and Ron, if YOU want them to answer YOUR emails why should they have to spend time trying to get YOUR email to accept theirs. If the customer wants an answer then it is the customers place to make it so that the email from the company can reach them. Otherwise why waste your time sending for support in the first place? Plus there are plenty of free email providers out there.

[Guest iwantmydc3]

Well, what i've always done is I have my ISP email for people I want to hear from (like add on companies I buy FSX software from) and a couple of webmail accounts that I use for forums and usenet groups (e.g. mail that I more or less don't want to get. Now, for example if I sent a question to FSD or SWREG about a purchase or whatnot, before I send them a message for the first time, I add them to my "contacts" list (I use Outook 2003). It's easy only takes 10 seconds. If the message still goes to my "spam" folder, (I check it every time I send/receive just in case) I tell my PcCillin it's not spam. It's easy.

[Speedbyrd 0]

I don't know. It sure solves my spam problem. I wouldn't be without Spam Arrest. I just free up a particular domain or sender if I'm expecting a reply. No problem for me.