Listserv Protocol

[jgbull]

Greetings,

I have a mailing list through which I've distributed quarterly updates to via a Outlook Mail Merge for the past two years. All the members of the list (~250) voluntarily (indeed I would hope willingly) receive these updates.

Can I manually input these addresses into the ezlm without violating the TOS? I don't want to be labeled a spammer. I'm concerned that if I do another mail merge asking people to subscribe via the web, my subscriber base will shrink (these are old people (researchers) who are generally confounded by anything beyond an email).

Some clarity would be much appreciated.

JB

[sheila]

From your description you have never done the Confirmed Opt-In process, as explained here:
http://www.aota.net/Mailing_Lists/Confirmed-Opt-In.php4

Therefore, in orer to be in compliance with the TOS you would need to do this. (This is regardless of whether you migrate the list to ezmlm or not...)

I understand that this process could cause loss of subscriber base...
Probably the best thing to do is to create your ezmlm list with no subscribers, customize the text on the confirmation message
(see this Knowledgebase article:
http://service.futurequest.net/index.php?_a=knowledgebase&_j=questiondetails&_i=141 )
so that when they receive the confirmation message, they recognize that it is regarding your mailing list, and explain in that message near the top that in order to continue on the list they must reply and confirm their subscription.

[sheila]

By the way, I meant to add that there is a batch-subscribe script that can help you with this:
http://service.FutureQuest.net/kb528

[jgbull]

Many thanks for your reply.

A possible scenario then:

Could I send out one iteration of the newsletter that begins with:

"In order to continue to receive these emails, please visit this page and confirm your membership in this list."

And then have the rest of our regular content... Therefore the email has more substance than a simple request for confirmation, thus increasing the chance that people will "opt-in."

I could bulk-upload the list of users (it stands around 120) and then remove them all. OR I could send out a final iteration of the newsletter via Outlook mail-merge with the confirmation request above.

Reading over the confirmation protocol, and to reiterate, there is not a single email address on this list that 1) isn't an individual who is directly in contact with our organization and 2) didn't provide their email address through contact with us or through a business-card, at a meeting/workshop/conference etc.

It would seem most onerous that I would need to provide evidence of these contacts.

[Evoir]

I would be inclined to have a really well worded email that gets sent out using the script above, but not including the regular email text. People will not pay attention even if it is at the top of an email...

Something to the effect of:

Hi, we are scrubbing our email list to make certain we comply with industry standards, and we want to be absolutely certain that each of you actually want to receive these email updates from us. Please simply click the link below (or whatever procedure you will ask them to follow) to confirm you still want to get these emails from us. (note: I use Webscriber, which allows you to have them click a link, instead of reply to this email address)

Doing nothing will result in your removal from our email list. So, please go ahead an take a second to reply to tis request and you will continue to get (whatever benefit they get from being on the list).

Thanks!
your signature

[sheila]

Many thanks for your reply.

A possible scenario then:

Could I send out one iteration of the newsletter that begins with:

"In order to continue to receive these emails, please visit this page and confirm your membership in this list."

And then have the rest of our regular content... Therefore the email has more substance than a simple request for confirmation, thus increasing the chance that people will "opt-in."
Technically, this is not in compliance with the TOS.

Reading over the confirmation protocol, and to reiterate, there is not a single email address on this list that 1) isn't an individual who is directly in contact with our organization and 2) didn't provide their email address through contact with us or through a business-card, at a meeting/workshop/conference etc.

It would seem most onerous that I would need to provide evidence of these contacts.
I understand. Your situation is not that unusual or uncommon. Nevertheless, the TOS does require this "onerous" process. The reason is to prevent our mail servers from being blacklisted, which would prevent your emails as well as others from going through.

In the past when we have made exceptions to the TOS for individuals, it has come back to bite us in most cases. Therefore we adopted a "no exceptions" policy. This has worked much more smoothly for us the last few years and avoided problems that we used to have.

I think Evie gave a good example of one way to handle the matter (she has had to do this herself for clients of her own... so she does speak from experience).