Q Interactive: Spam definitions need an overhaul

Comments

This is what happens when you ask Internet novices or 'first-timers' what "Spam" is, many will of course say it's "Junk emails I don't like". Try asking Internet veterans and professionals instead and they'll all tell you Spam is "Unsolicited Bulk Email". Even though every ISP, every dictionary, every consumer organization and every anti-spam organization defines "Spam" as "Unsolicited Bulk Email", Direct Email Marketers are forever looking for a chance to redefine "Spam" to mean "The other junk not sent by us Direct Marketers". The definition of "Spam", as defined by anti-spam organizations, the ISP industry worldwide and industry Best Practices documents, is published here: http://www.spamhaus.org/definition.html If the Direct Marketing industry thinks consumers are not clear on what the definition of "Spam" is when pressing a 'report as spam' button, the solution to this problem is to simply inform users what pressing the button does and when its appropriate to do so, rather that the Direct Marketing industry attempting to amend the existing definition to suit a rather obvious agenda.

Posted by: Steve Linford, CEO, Spamhaus on March 26, 2008 13:53

If you have a decent mail filter, most of the real spam is stopped these days. Filters are generally pretty good at identifying spam (if that's not your experience, look for a new spam filter!) Because people (especially newbies and non-techies) clearly don't know what spam is, we need to be able to capture peoples response more intelligently. If email client developers (i.e. Microsoft) created a universal opt out system, your mail client could unsubscribe you from email marketing messages from genuine opt-in providers that you no longer want rather than reporting them as spam. Your email client could replace the "report this as spam" option with 2 options: I didn't ask for this (spam / hard response) I don't want it anymore (opt out / soft response) Participation in a program like this could enhance the email service providers reputation. We run an email marketing service and participate in the Hotmail Junk Mail Reporting service. In 99% of cases, the messages that are reported in Hotmail as spam were opt-in. So that demonstrates your point that users do not discriminate between real spam, and emails that they just don't want anymore. One of the big problems is that users have been educated to not use the unsubscribe link in emails, so they have no other choice but to put you on their spam list.

Posted by: Brett Gilbertson on March 26, 2008 14:35

I would agree with Mr. Linford of Spamhaus that redefining SPAM is not the answer, but more clearly communicating what that definition is and creating a useful and differentiated feedback loop is the key. Unfortunately, the average consumer has no idea who Spamhaus is or their definition of SPAM - although it is widely known in the industry. Rather, as the survey shows, the majority of consumers believe that SPAM is a term that can be used for email they specifically requested and opted-in for - which clearly would fall outside of Spamhaus' definition. The only agenda we have at Q is allowing the consumer's intent to be better understood - we have no interest nor do we earn any money off of sending mail to people who have no interest in receiving it. To help reach this end we would like the ISP’s to “Replace the broken "report spam" button with buttons that more clearly indicate consumers' intentions such as an "unsubscribe" button and an "undesired" button”.

Posted by: Matt Wise, CEO, Q Interactive on March 26, 2008 16:13