Re: [PLUG] Fwd: [Sc-Ir] FW: The AOL - Good Mail TAX !!!

["Adam C. Greenfield" <adam.greenfield@gmail.com>]

On 2/6/06, Toby DiPasquale <toby@cbcg.net> wrote:
> As for Goodmail, yes the system is proprietary, yes its not open source
> and yes it costs money. But it won't cost anybody on this list a dime to
> send to AOL since you're not a bulk mailer that wants to get their mail
> through so badly that they are willing to pay Goodmail for the privilege.
> The Goodmail system is being used as a whitelist, same as the old one.
> Nothing more. No mail is going to be rejected b/c it doesn't have a
> Goodmail seal on it.

My largest concern when this news first broke was that early reports
indicated that this system was some how going to be used in
replacement for their existing enhanced white list service. However,
it appears that either early reports were wrong or the decision was
reversed as a result of the backlash.

> If you send AOL more than 10,000 messages per day, then you should be
> worried about this announcement. If not, its a non-issue. Cut down on the
> /., huh fellas?

Just to be clear, I've worked for several hosting firms that push this
volume of e-mail to AOL. As a hosting firm this sort of thing would
concern me if AOL offered no good recourse for companies that have a
legitimate reason to push e-mail in this quantity to them. In this
situation, at least at this point, that does not seem to be the case.

I agree with Toby in that I hardly expect AOL to take any action that
doesn't (in a very direct way) benefit their bottom line (and as a
result, the customers they cater to). However if you are legitimately
pushing e-mail in this kind of quantity to AOL, you generally won't
have much problem getting bad automated decisions reversed.

Based on the available data, most people indicate this change will
really only effect direct mailers and newsletters (containing links
and images). If AOL's approach ends up blocking too much e-mail that
people want to receive, they will hear about it from their customers.
If there is one universal truth about providing e-mail service,
especially to most AOL clients, it is that if your customers aren't
happy you will hear from them in mass, and frequently. Few things will
drive clients away faster than if their e-mail becomes unusable or
unreliable.

I also think that this story has generated quite a bit of FUD. In
reality, no-one will know the full extent of how these changes will
effect things until they are rolled out, but if anyone has a vested
interest in making sure AOL customers all the mail they want to
receive, it is AOL.
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