KB 432

Do you have any rules regarding running mailing lists?

 Article ID: 432
 Created: Feb-23-2006

Question or Symptoms

   Do you have a maximum number of members on the list? Maximum mail size? 
   Any other policy issues I need to be aware of?

Resolution

   Max number of members
   ---------------------
   We don't strictly monitor the size of lists, but if your list has more than 
   4000 members there may be additional fees. If you send out more than 100
   messages in a month there may be additional fee for high-volume. This is weighed
   against the size of the messages and load it puts on our mailing list server.
   It's not an exact science. We recommend against sending messages larger than 
   10MB. Sending HTML messages is often tricky and we recommend testing their
   arrival on a number of different email clients and OS platforms to insure what
   you're sending is arriving as you intend.

   Policy issues
   -------------
   Mailing lists can be tricky for us. We absolutely do not and can not allow 
   mailing lists to send bulk unsolicited email (spam). We can't because of the
   consequences to all our other customers. Having said that the next question is
   how do you decide if a list is being used that way.

   We pay careful attention to all reports that a mailing list is sending spam.
   We discourage any mailing list owner from purchasing lists of email addresses
   unless they know for sure these lists were created with the permission of the
   email address owners. We strongly discourage email address harvesting.

   If someone asks to be removed from a mailing list it is important that you 
   grant that request in a timely manner.

   Mailing lists for the purpose of advertising are fine as long as the people
   on the list requested to be on the list and are allowed to leave the list
   when desired.

   Bulk unsolicited email is not limited to commercial ventures, political 
   announcements, group recruitments, or just about anything can be spam. If
   they didn't request it they're likely to complain when they receive it, and
   not likely to view your group with favor. Spam really doesn't work.