So, today, I got an email from iLinc. Unsolicited email. To an alias account. Say what?
You know, the guy you want to make sure doesn’t get spam is the ISP Relations Director for a more-or-less direct competitor. That’d be me. I know who I’ve handed that particular alias to (one company for a specific purpose). We also have an integrator relationship with your client’s much larger competitor.
But you don’t want to do this because I will, in fact, start digging around at your policies, and then if I think it might eventually gain me an advantage, I will blog about it.
So, back to the mailing. Here is the mailing suitably munged:
Received: from unknown [209.190.243.242] (EHLO ilinc.goldlasso.com) by p02c11m035.mxlogic.net (mxl_mta-5.2.0-1) over TLS secured channel with ESMTP id 46a02374.2705046448.26948.00-071.p02c11m035.mxlogic.net (envelope-from ); Wed, 07 Nov 2007 11:56:36 -0700 (MST)
Received: (qmail 11888 invoked from network); 7 Nov 2007 13:36:26 -0500
Received: from unknown (HELO web01) (192.168.0.9) by 192.168.0.11 with SMTP; 7 Nov 2007 13:36:26 -0500
Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2007 13:36:26 -0500 (EST)
From: iLinc
Reply-To: reply@ilinc.goldlasso.com
To:
Message-ID: <[redacted]@ilinc.goldlasso.com>
Subject: Fight the Web Conferencing Giants
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=”—-=_Part_1431127_4913823.1194460586302″
X-Mailer: Eloop Mailer
Importance: normal
X-Spam: exempt
X-MAIL-FROM:
X-SOURCE-IP: [(unknown)]
Return-Path: reply@ilinc.goldlasso.com
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 07 Nov 2007 18:56:36.0464 (UTC) FILETIME=[EC011700:01C8216F]
Save the Day: Switch to iLinc Web Conferencing
Does dealing with a Web conferencing giant make you feel overpowered and underserved? Does the giant growl at you when you ask for help – whether customer service or technical support?
iLinc is the customer-focused, reliable, economical alternative to the behemoths of the Web conferencing landscape. It’s the lesser-known solution with a loyal following that prefers a tool that works to a recognized name.
iLinc Gives You:
More reliable, more secure online collaboration technology with the industry’s simplest “joining” procedures
Domestic customer service and support from true product experts who care about your success
Better tools for gauging participation and keeping attendees engaged
Flexibility in whether you install iLinc behind your firewall or have us host it for you
Be a Hero. Fight the Giants » http://www.ilinc.goldlasso.com/util/link.jsp?[redacted] ———————————————————————————
This email was sent to isp_relations@dayjobdomain.com. To manage your account or request removal, please process those changes in your http://www.ilinc.goldlasso.com/util/opt_out.jsp?[redacted]
iLinc Communications | 2999 N 44th St. Suite #650 | Phoenix, AZ 85018 | USA | www.ilinc.com
So, I go to poke around on the Goldlasso website. Given the professionalism I’ve seen from its CEO, I don’t expect much.12
So, let’s start with the Gold Lasso Email Marketing – Anti-Spam Policy,3 shall we?
Oh, I’m sorry. That can’t be it. That’s not an anti-spam policy. It’s more like a declaration that “what we do isn’t spam.”
All Gold Lasso products and services are in complete compliance with the Federal CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.
Gold Lasso is committed to email marketing best practices and strongly discourages illegal or unethical marketing. Gold Lasso will not support clients engaged in “spoofing,” spamming, pyramid schemes, unauthorized or illegal contests, copyright infringement or any other practice we deem distasteful. Gold Lasso insists that our clients adopt best practices to receive permission from email recipients. Gold Lasso will never knowingly encourage spam. Our clients’ data is their property and is subject to use under their respective privacy and anti-spam policies.
What? They “strongly discourage illegal or unethical marketing“?!?! They “insist” that permission be gained before mailing. That’s an anti-spam policy?
Compare that to the one we have at my day job:
[The Company] strongly enforces sending email only to individuals who wish to receive it. Our software makes it easy for organizations to practice permission marketing. Our clients control their own email databases and make their own decisions on who to correspond. Our clients also sign binding agreements ensuring that their subscribers have opted-in to receive all of the email they are delivering. [The Company] reserves the right to cancel service of any client who does not follow our permission policy.
Our clients do control their lists, and sometimes they screw up. But they quickly get back on board precisely because there’s someone like me around who enforces our policies and who can (and will) shut off the mail flow until they find religion. Gold Lasso’s policy, on the other hand, reads like they may decide not to take you out for sushi and drinks on Friday unless you’re good.
No wonder iLinc signed up with them.
Footnotes
- Marc Nozell, Reply from Goldlasso.Com, Nozell, rhymes with Oh Hell (Aug. 16, 2006), https://web.archive.org/web/20060806170745/http://nozell.com/blog/2004/01/16/reply-from-goldlassocom/ (last visited Nov 7, 2007). ↩︎
- Elie Ashery, Email Service Providers Taking Hits for Their Clients, The From Line (Jul. 3, 2007), https://web.archive.org/web/20070714132539/http://fromline.com/2007/07/03/email-service-providers-taking-hits-for-their-clients.aspx (last visited Nov 7, 2007). ↩︎
- Anti-Spam Policy, (2007), https://web.archive.org/web/20071031201627/http://www.goldlasso.com/FooterItems/Footer_Items_Category/Anti-Spam_Policy/ (last visited Nov 7, 2007). ↩︎
