Since he spammed, I would let the complaint stand, just to keep
things accurate and indicate that spamming is not tolerated.
Since he's still online nad operating, he's not in serious
trouble. We must pay for our sins, and this one has a cheap
price for this "maybe" unintentional spammer.
As Monty Python said, spam, spam, spam, ... .
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
| First of all, I apologize for the length of this message. I
have tried to
| make it as readable as possible.
|
| Several days ago I reported to SpamCop an unsolicited
commercial email
| message from a real estate professional addressed to me as if I
were a real
| estate professional, which I am not. He replied to the report.
I am
| including direct quotations from our correspondence,
eliminating references
| to both his name/email address and mine.
|
| Here is his reply to the Spamcop Report:
|
| "I am very sorry that a message got to you and that it may have
caused you
| concern or inconvenience. The email being sent has been
compiled solely by
| myself and has been selected only on the basis of people who
have listed
| properties for sale or lease on the internet or people who have
registered
| themselves as real estate brokers or real estate sales persons
who are
| using the internet for marketing properties for sale or for
lease. If you
| are neither, I am sorry for the mistake."
|
| I replied to the above with "I have not listed properties for
sale or lease
| on the Internet or anyplace else. Nor have I registered as a
real estate
| broker or real estate sales person. I am in no way involved in
the real
| estate business."
|
| In this same email message, he asked my opinion about doing an
opt-in list.
| He asked it this way: "Due to the fact I have been very
careful to select
| people that are truly interested in real estate to receive
notices from me,
| I would like to make a suggestion to you. I propose to send an
email that
| will only ask if the reader would like to continue to receive
information,
| news and mail from RealtyInvestor.com. They will have to
respond "Yes" in
| order to stay any future mail from me. If they do not respond,
they are
| automatically off the list. Therefore they have to take action
to get
| further information from me, they have to do nothing to never
get an email
| from me again. Please let me know your thought on this."
|
| I replied to the above point with "I applaud your plan to do an
opt-in list
| as you have suggested and asked my opinion about. When people
must say
| "yes" in order to receive email, they are far more likely to
want it. They
| may later forget that they said yes, but you will find that you
are much
| less likely to have irate recipients. You will also want to
let people
| know the specific email address with which they are subscribed
as well as a
| dependable opt-out address. Some list service providers
facilitate this
| opt-in and opt-out process. This will clearly distinguish you
from
| spammers who have no integrity."
|
| He acknowledge and thanked me for my reply and then sent a
second message
| with this request: "My ISP asked me to ask you if you would
mind
| withdrawing the complaint against me with SpamCop. I along
with the ISP
| would greatly appreciate it."
|
| I can certainly understand that he would like to have the
complaint
| withdrawn; however, there were a few missing pieces for me, so
I replied
| with a series of questions: "Have you removed my email address
from your
| mailing list? I have lost track of the address to which the
original
| message was sent, but you should have no addresses
<@mydomainname.com>.
| Have you sold/given my address to anyone else? This morning, I
received an
| email message addressed to a real estate professional (about
termite
| control). Where did you originally get my address? You say
that you have
| personally collected the addresses, so you should not have any
trouble
| determining how you added mine. If you received my address
from someone, I
| would like to enlist your aid in getting my address off that
list."
|
| His reply to the above questions was: "Your email address has
been deleted
| already. The address I had for you is <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>.
Your
| address has not been sold, given or released to anyone. Please
take a look
| at the privacy statement on my website. I will not and would
not ever give
| out email addresses or sell mailing lists. As to where I got
your address,
| I begin collecting addresses last summer when my site was being
programmed.
| I collected them from real estate newsgroups, broker registries
where real
| estate brokers list their name and contact information so that
they can be
| contacted and from real estate sites where property is listed.
I am sorry
| but can not tell you exactly where your address came from
because I don't
| know from which of the above sources it came from. I did not
buy any
| mailing lists, as I said before, I collect them myself. Given
the volume
| of junk mail you are getting, your email address may have been
spread
| around by someone at some time and that is how you got onto
some list
| causing me to think you were in real estate."
|
| So, my conclusion is that this is a well-intentioned naive
person who is
| spamming. Certainly not the low-life spammer that most of us
are dealing
| with, but still he is sending unsolicited commercial email
messages. I
| have never participated in any of the newsgroups he mentions.
I don't want
| to punish this man; I do want to do the right thing. I could
really use
| suggestions from this group.
|
| How should I respond to his latest email message?
|
| Thanks,
| A SpamCop Member
|
|
|
|
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