address matching
(AKA address
appending) |
If you're an advertiser, you can provide an address-matching service with a name and street address. They'll check their database of millions of consumers and give you an email address for that person. This practice is not evil in and of itself, but combined with opt-out spam, it serves to increase the amount of garbage in your mailbox. |
auto-reply
(AKA auto-ack) |
An automated reply email sent by an ISP/host/mailer/etc. that acknowledges receipt of your spam complaint. Just because you got a reply, that doesn't mean a human has read or will read your mail; it may have been automatically read by a computer and forwarded to a Clueless Mailer. |
| bit bucket |
The Round File. The Black Hole. Purgatory. Nowheresville. The Incinerator. The Bridge to Nowhere. The Trash. — see also /dev/null/ |
closed-loop
opt-in
confirmation |
Part of the best-practice process for assuring that a recipient chooses to be placed on a mailing list. The recipient must initiate the subscription process, and actively indicate that they want to receive mail — for example, by entering their address in a form on a website. The list manager must record this request along with a unique token generated by the list-server system, then send an opt-in confirmation request to the subscribed address. To complete the subscription process, the subscriber must reply to the request, including the unique token. If the request is not replied to, or there is no matching token on record for that address, the subscription is canceled. In this way, no one but the person who controls the address can subscribe it to a mailing list. |
| Clueless Mailer |
A company that sends email on behalf of others, but manages to send a lot of spam while doing it, and doesn't understand why anybody could possibly be unhappy with them. See the Offense Codes for the kind of stupid things these mailers do to qualify themselves as "Clueless." |
confirmed
opt-in |
The best-practice process for proving that a user chooses to be placed on a mailing list. The user must initiate the process, and actively indicate that they want to receive mail. The user's subscription can then only be completed if the user replies to an opt-in confirmation request. This request email, sent to the subscribed address, should contain no advertising. Opt-in confirmation requests that arrive unrequested, and contain advertising, can be considered spam. See also closed-loop opt-in confirmation... the only way to truly confirm opt-in status for an address. |
incentive
marketer |
A company that promotes products and services on behalf of other companies, by giving away cash or prizes in exchange for the completion of an advertised offer. For example, "Sign up for cellular service, and we'll enter you in our gazillion-dollar giveaway!" Not intrinsically evil. |
| ISP |
Internet Service Provider. Provides connections from homes and businesses to the Internet. This includes providers of services like dial-up accounts, DSL, or cable modem service. |
| Joe Job |
The impersonation of an innocent victim by a spammer. In an attempt to retaliate against those who report them for their abuse, spammers have been known to impersonate the spam reporter, trying to get the victim's Internet service terminated... even going so far as to send out millions of fictional, forged emails. Believe me— I know from personal experience that the results can be hellish. This kind of attack is a violation of virtually all Internet service providers' contracts, and can even be illegal. This is one reason why giving your address to the spammer for "removal" can be dangerous... especially if the spammer can associate your removal request with an abuse report that you previously filed. This is also one reason why spam-reporting services like SpamCop remove your address from ("munge") spam reports you send through it. See also mail bomb. |
| list washing |
The practice of removing the addresses of unwilling recipients from a spamming list. It works like this: A spammer buys a list of unconfirmed addresses, then sends mail to those addresses, including a "removal" link. The spammer removes addresses of unwilling recipients from the list, and continues sending mail to the other addresses. The problem with this is that the initial email should never have been sent in the first place, since it was unsolicited. The spammer should be disciplined by their ISP, host or upstream, and the list should be destroyed. Services that allow the spammer to get away with sending that first email are considered to be allowing "list washing". Some services will actually help the spammer wash their list, by demanding that you hand over your email address in order to stop the abuse. This practice can earn them a mention on the Clueless Mailers website. |
| mail bomb |
A "Denial of Service" (DoS) attack that entails flooding the victim's mailbox with a large volume of email, in an attempt to disrupt the victim's service. This kind of attack is a violation of virtually all Internet service providers' contracts, and can even be illegal. Spammers will sometimes use this tactic in retaliation against someone who reports them for their abuse. This is one reason why giving your address to the spammer for "removal" can be dangerous... especially if the spammer can associate your removal request with an abuse report that you previously filed. This is also one reason why spam-reporting services like SpamCop remove your address from ("munge") spam reports you send through it. See also Joe Job. |
| mailer |
A service that sends email on behalf of others. Clueful Mailers serve a valuable function, and perform due diligence in qualifying address lists that are provided by their customers, making sure that the recipients actually want the email. Clueless Mailers allow spamming, due to a lack of awareness, incompetence, or channelling the spirit of Klatharn the Barbarian, an ancient, evil warrior-emperor bent on ruling the world and enslaving its populace to serve his nefarious lust for wealth and power. |
| marketer |
In the context of this site, a service that advertises products and services on behalf of others. Clueful Marketers perform due diligence in qualifying address lists that are provided by their customers, making sure that the recipients actually want the email. Clueless Marketers allow spamming, due to a lack of awareness, incompetence, or being co-opted by a body-snatching space alien — a member of the advance guard of an invading fleet of spacecraft from the planet Zghsffbflb-12. |
network
marketer |
This type of company invites "members" to contribute addresses to a central database to which all members may send email. So, if a spammer becomes a member and contributes unconfirmed addresses, those addresses will receive not only spam from the member, but also from other members. This type of system is intrinsically abusive, since the business model depends on a high volume of members and addresses, and the company is likely unable to verify the opt-in status of addresses that are contributed. Thus... spamming ensues. FFA ("Free For All") websites often follow a form of this model, making them a frequent source of spam. |
| opt in |
The process a user goes through when they choose to be placed on a mailing list. When referring to an initial contact between a user and an online company, an "opt-in policy" means that the user must actively indicate that they want to receive mail. To maintain best practices, the user's subscription should only be completed if the user returns a closed-loop opt-in confirmation. This is confirmed opt-in. Some mailers/advertisers will say that their mail is "100% opt-in" but if they did not get a closed-loop opt-in confirmation reply message from you, they are, in reality, sending opt-out spam. |
| opt out |
The process a user goes through when they choose not to be placed on a mailing list, or choose to discontinue receiving email from a list. When referring to an initial contact between a user and an online company, an "opt-out policy" means that the user must actively indicate that they do not want to receive mail. That's not good. Users should have to actively indicate that they they choose to receive mail, and then their subscription should only be completed if the user returns a closed-loop opt-in confirmation. |
opt-out
extortion |
A policy adopted by some spammers, mailers, marjeters, ISPs and hosts that states that the spam victim must surrender their email address to the spammer in order for the abuse to stop. Why is revealing your address bad? It leaves you open to retaliation by the spammer, in the form of Joe Jobs (see also), mail bombing (see also), or worse. It also allows the spammer to confirm that your address is "hot," and the spammer can then resell your address to other spammers, which only serves to increase the amount of spam you receive. |
| opt-out spam |
Unsolicited Commercial Email that is sent to an address without having first performed a closed-loop opt-in confirmation, and which the spammer won't stop sending until the recipient surrenders their email address for "removal". Some mailers/advertisers will say that their mail is "100% opt-in" but if you didn't originally ask for the email, and they didn't get a closed-loop opt-in confirmation reply message from you, they are, in reality, sending opt-out spam. Opt-out spam — and the clowns who send it — is the central focus of this website. |
| spam |
Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE), or Unsolicited Bulk Email (UBE). Opinions about the definition of "spam" vary, but in short, if you didn't ask for it, it's spam. Somebody who sends the ugly stuff is called a spammer. Regardless of what the content of the message is, if it is unsolicited, and it's commercial in nature, and it's email, it's spam. Even if the spam contains verbiage about some supposed "federal law" (which isn't even a law, and says nothing about what spam is), it's spam. And remember the rule: Spammers Lie. So if an email says "this is not spam" — it probably is spam. |
| spamhaus |
A mailer or marketer that knowingly sends Unsolicited Commercial Email on behalf of others, or an Internet service that provides webhosting or connectivity to spammers, and/or spamware sellers, and takes no action against those offenders. |
spamvertizer
(AKA spamvertiser) |
A company or individual who uses spam to advertise their product, service... or scam. |
| UBE |
See Unsolicited Bulk Email |
| UCE |
See Unsolicited Commercial Email |
| unsolicited bulk email |
Unsolicited Bulk Email is just what it sounds like — email that's sent in large numbers, and which the recipient did not ask for. The common slang term for Unsolicited Bulk Email (UBE) is "spam." See also Unsolicited Commercial Email. |
| unsolicited commercial email |
Unsolicited Commercial Email is just that— email that's commercial in nature that the recipient did not ask for. The common slang term for Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE) is "spam." See also Unsolicited Bulk Email. |
| unique token |
A "confirmation code" generated by a subscription system as part of a confirmed opt-in process. This code must be created and recorded when a subscription is requested, must be included in a confirmation request email sent to the subscribed address, then must be returned by the subscriber and matched against the token recorded for the original subscription request. This code is usually generated automatically by the subscription system. The subscribed address along with a secret key are often encrypted together into this code. If the token is unguessable, and is only sent to the subscribed address, no one else can know it and subscribe the address owner against their will. Using a unique token is the only way to assure a "closed loop" confirmed opt-in subscription. |
| upstream |
The company that provides Internet connectivity and/or web hosting to an ISP or web host. If a mailer will not cooperate in stopping spamming, their upstream provider must be contacted. Unfortunately, as the info on this site shows, many upstream providers are no longer enforcing their anti-spam policies, allowing their customers (the Clueless Mailers) to send spam on behalf of their own customers. |
| /dev/null |
A specific destination for items to be deleted or ignored, found on many computers (specifically, unix-style machines). If you set your mail server to send incoming spam to /dev/null, it disappears without ever being seen (and there is great rejoicing). Unfortunately, there's no foolproof way to do this without possibly deleting some legitimate mail as well, so some review is usually necessary. |
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