Thread: Mailing List Issues (Spam like behavior)

I like to put myself on the mailing lists of dancers and event promoters who I respect and admire. I want to know more about what they are doing, projects they are involved with, general information and mailing lists are a great way to stay up-to-date.

Recently I have started receiving emails (mailing list emails) from multiple people who I have never signed up with. Not only have I never signed up for these emails, I have never done any business (workshops, shows, ect..) where I would give my email to them. This is starting to irk me just a little bit. I'm all for mailing lists, I see them as effective and useful tools for dancers and promoters, but something strikes me as odd when I start receiving things unsolicited. I know the economy is bad and people are struggling to drum up business, but inundating me with emails is not going to make me want to come to your show, event, workshop...

I have unsubscribed from a few of these lists, only to find myself re-signed up, or I guess never removed. It's annoying and unprofessional, I consider it Belly-spam. ,m::

I know this is a rant that has no true resolution, but I guess this is my plea to those who have yet to use this tactic, please don't.

This happened to me recently, but not to this extent. I was at a workshop and noticed a dancer by her less than positive attributes. I have no idea how I got on her mailing list. I replied "take me off your list" to an email and received an ugly message back.

On the other hand, I don't care how far you are away from me, if I respect you, I want to know what you are doing!!!

I'd be okay with receiving email announcements from event sponsors whose events I have attended in the past. And I'd be okay with receiving announcements from people within a 2-hour drive of me even if I haven't previously attended their event.

Any farther than that, and I'd want the person to ASK MY PERMISSION before adding me to their lists. I might say yes. I might not. But I'd want to be asked.

I dislike vendors with web shops who think that just because I bought merchandise from their store, I now want to receive their newsletters about workshops they are teaching hundreds of miles away from me. (Nourhan Sharif, are you listening? Just because I bought a cute top from you doesn't mean I want to be automatically added to your mailing list about workshops you're teaching an 8-hour drive from me.)

I also get really annoyed with people who automatically add the email addresses of anyone that contacts them to their mailing lists. Just because I sent you an email letting you know I've finished processing your request to be added to my teacher / performer directory doesn't mean I want to get your spam.

I feel like some of the mailing lists I've been "signed up for" have been cases of people going to my website and adding my email to their list, it makes me want to take down my email and force people to use the contact form embedded in the website.

I've been getting some too. Mostly from people/vendors in GA who I do not know (I'm in NC).

I try to be paitent because when I first set up my mailing list, I messed up and people had a hard time subscribing and unsubscribing.

Check the privacy policy for the vendors/performers who are doing this. They probably have a disclaimer that if you do X, Y or Z, you will be added to their mailing list. Also be aware that people buy, sell and rent mailing lists. They may have bought it from someone. That doesn't excuse not removing you when you opt-out, but it can give you some idea as to how they got your info and how they plan to use it. I am writing a privacy policy today for a Web site I manage. It's essential.

Ah, Im actually the total opposite way... I dont put anyone on our mailinglist unless they are taking classes, attended a workshop or specifically request being put on our list....

I find it annoying too - but I sign up on some dancers' and event organizers' lists to stay updated on what's going on so I can avoid booking my (larger) events around the same dates as theirs.

Frankly, I've given up on replying to people that add me to their mailinglist to ask them to take me off .... I just put them on my spam list and that way I wont even see the emails I'd actually like to see from those people...

It's just rude to add people to your mailinglist without asking for permission/them requesting it. I'm like, I DONT want to come take your weekly beginner class in Brazil, Korea, Australia or wherever you are...

I was added to a mailing list once by a dancer whom I saw pick up my card at a workshop. She never said a word to me or asked if I wanted her info and yet her e-mails promoting herself showed up in my inbox. That kind of behavior really just makes me want to deal with someone even less. If you want me on your list, then make some sort of personal contact first and ASK - I'll sign up if I actually want to know.

Ugh...I know what you mean--I've noticed an uptick in the "I never even heard of you much less asked to be on your mailing list" messages. I think the previous poster is right--some people are trolling websites and boards to collect email addresses.

Another thing...please, please, PLEASE--if you have an email list, ALWAYS use BCC--never let people on the email list see everyone else's address. This is another way unscrupulous people collect email addresses for spam. I recently had two friends in another city complain to me that they were getting workshop emails from another dancer in *my* city (several hours away) They don't know her, didn't ask to be on her list, and the emails have been about relatively small local events in SPAM dancer's local area (not near them). They had figured out the problem came from a person in *their* town who had sent an email without using BCC (her list had mostly dancers local to her area, but had a few regional contacts including this other dancer.) So now they feel a bit frustrated about the woman who didn't hide their emails, AND irritated about the inconsiderate woman who snagged them without asking.

I ditto that there are folks trolling the internet. If I'm not mistaken, all advertising mailings are supposed to have directions on how to unsubscribe from the list so the recipient can do so automatically. It gets old having to do it over and over, but most people keep you off the list at that point...at least for a while.

It's a sad thing that useful tools... directories such as Shira.net and others... could be used in this way. I will say I've contacted dancers in my area from directories to send them a one-time announcement about stuff, but like David, I don't add anyone to my mailing list who has not given me their email address of their own volition, either by taking my classes, attending my events, or straight-up signing up for my mailing list.

My bugaboo right now is that I'm receiving emails as often as twice a week from one person who is trying to sell one product. This person is using their gmail account to spam everyone instead of spending a little money on a newsletter service like Express Email Marketing or Constant Contact. Because it's being done through their gmail account, there's no unsubscribe. I've never heard of this person nor this product so I can only assume they got my email address by trolling. I have asked to be taken off of their lists numerous times and they say they don't have me on their list. I have several email addys that can forward to my main account but since it's all BCC (which of course, is better than NOT being BCC), I can't see which of my addys they sent it to. I emailed them back with all of my addys and they said they took all of them off.

The next day I got the same spam for the same product from them. I've reported them to gmail.

But yes... please... everyone out there with a mailing list account, don't add folks without their permission or at least having some kind of relationship with them (student, customer, etc). When they ask to be unsubscribed, respect their wishes.... permanently.

I would also recommend that anyone wishing to use email lists consider creating multiple lists.

In other words:

• Create one list for promoting your routine weekly classes. This list should contain only people that you have reason to believe would want to attend your classes, such as people who have emailed you in the past asking about them.
• Create a second list for promoting events of the sort that are likely to interest only local and semi-local dancers. (Say, those within an hour's travel of you.) Stuff like haflas, video parties, local workshops taught by regional instructors who are respected but not enough of a draw to bring attendees in from out of town, etc. This could contain other teachers in the area, students of other teachers who have attended past events that you hosted, etc. I think it's okay to troll directories such as the one on my site and the one on bhuz for names to add to this list, so long as you are conscientious about removing people after they have asked to be removed.
• People who have purchased products such as DVD's from you. This list would be used to notify your stakeholders when you release similar products, run special sales, etc. Optimally, it would be nice to further segregate such a list by product type and region.

And so on - you get the idea. "Narrowcast" or "targeted" direct marketing tends to be much more respected than "broadcast" or "spam" marketing, because you start with the prior assumption that the people you're selling to have some kind of reason to be interested in what you're selling.