eCommerce is threatened as ISPs take control of email delivery

Jill Keogh, a high school alumni director in Lisle, Illinois, has written of her experiences in trying to send email newsletters to her alumni group. In her article Spam Filter's Collateral Damage, written for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, she tells a tale which is all too familiar to many of our Q Channel publishers. No matter how hard she tried to comply with all email rules and protocols, many of her messages did not reach their destination, because she unknowingly used one of the forbidden words, "free" in her copy. These wanted emails were blocked by the recipients ISPs, without their knowledge or permission, and she as the sender was never notified of the delivery failure.

Ms. Keogh writes:

It's a given: Spam is unpopular. But the response to that has been an erratic, error-riddled, no-protocol, unchallenged and unaccountable block to whatever the big ISPs think may be an ad.

Sometimes the ad is spam (unwelcome) and sometimes it is not. But if it looks like an ad and sounds like an ad, then it's an ad and therefore -- by the ISP's filter definition -- unwelcome. What gives them the right to block commerce?

She goes on to speculate what damaged is caused to eCommerce when ISPs block requested and wanted email messages, and ends with:

The network of big ISPs and mail services banding together and throwing out welcomed, confirmed opt-in e-mails and newsletters because their algorithm said it was probably spam is wrong. Period.

If you are tired of all of the aggravations associated with email publishing, why not treat yourself to the simplicity and efficiency of Quikonnex, the email-alternative? Take a look around, and if you have any questions, just click the Q Support link at the top right of the page.