Here at Seattle Bindery, we found it ironic that the very newsletter we just sent out, the one discussing junk email (#97) was bounced by the filtering software of eight readers at six different businesses. That fact, and several recent incidents, including the horrific new Sobig.F virus that has me deleting hundreds of infected emails, compelled us to write a special "email only" edition of our bi-weekly newsletter. I feel like we are in a convergence of email and fax newsletter issues and I wanted to address them directly. The spam issue cuts both ways for us. We don't want to receive spam, but we do want our own informational email newsletters to reach recipients. There has to be some balance out there, and so we decided to address the situation head-on.
Please visit http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.sobig.f@mm.html to download virus protection against the Sobig.F virus.

1. One Guy Begs. I received an email newsletter this week from a colleague and it said, "We are running into a number of problems with spam software blocking the newsletter...My request is that you make the necessary [software] entry so this email is accepted by your spam software." The fellow didn't explain how to do this.

2. One Guy Gives Up. One of my good friends in another email said: "With all the crap going on about broadcast faxes and the FCC etc., I am really re-thinking my company's fax position...We're not going to send out any sign up forms and we're going to phase out the fax thing over the next couple of months, maybe even the email thing. I don't feel right about asking my customers and potential customers to sign up so I can send them more fax and email junk."

3. An Industry Guru Speaks. Dick Gorelick addressed the email topic this week, too. He says in the August 20, 2003 version of Graphic Arts Pulse: "The privacy controversy regarding email is driving many publishers of electronic newsletters and email marketers to re-examine their respective strategies." Gorelick cites Chris Pirillo, founder of  Lockergnome.com, who has given up on the medium. Pirillo says, "I'm spending my days fighting to get off blacklists and trying to figure out why a paying subscriber never got his newsletter. It's one headache after another."
http://enews.primediabusiness.com/enews/americanprinter/graphic_ars_pulse/current

4. Hope For Direct Mail. For me, the Email, Spam, and FCC "Do Not Fax" tidal wave has reached a frustrating peak. And if I feel a bit overwhelmed, I'm sure many other folks do too. So, for those of us still providing printing to be used in direct mail, this whole mess may be encouraging a return to the printed piece. I'm hoping this is the good news amidst all the clutter.

5. Our Own Housekeeping. If you're receiving this email, it's because you've previously opted in, or we added you to our list after working with you. In each issue of our newsletter, we remind readers to please feel free to unsubscribe if they do not find this newsletter informative or useful. You can email me personally if you wish to unsubscribe:  miltvine@seattlebindery.com. We try to follow all the rules and protocol that govern e-marketing. So please consider this our good faith effort to confirm your commitment to the newsletter. We'll take your non-response to this notice as confirmation of your wish to continue receiving our email newsletter.

6. Tell A Friend. If you do wish to continue receiving our newsletters, we encourage you to forward this email to colleagues and associates, or let us know someone you think would want to subscribe.

7. The Fax Situation. Concurrent with this email debate, we'll devote part of our next issue (#98), to a discussion of impending FCC regulations (scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2004) that articulate a new "Do Not FAX" policy. We're still trying to figure how such regulations will impact the faxed version of this newsletter. 

8. Resources. Please check out these web sites for more information and discussion on spam, spam filters, and the new "Sobig.F" virus. I found them very informative. http://spamcop.net, with its newsgroup forum at: http://spamcop.net/forum.shtml   www.amikanow.com www.spamhaus.org www.senderbase.com www.amikanow.com/products/guardian_antispam.asp
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106140797740336000,00.html?mod=home_whats_news_us (may require registration)
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-E-mail-Virus.html (may require registration)