VIEWPOINT
Spam Wars
I am inundated with
spam. Every morning, the bulk of the messages in my
Outlook Inbox are spam.
It seems that almost
everyone has reached their limit on spam, and as a result,
we are seeing a growing will to address this
out-of-control problem.
The legislative
solutions being considered, such as in California, might
have the potential to stem the flow of these messages that
take their name from the mystery meat of years gone by. (I
know the canned luncheon meat is still available in
stores, but who is eating it!) However, the measures being
considered could seriously hamper the e-mailing activities
of associations.
Then there are the
various third party solutions that require senders to
authenticate their messages to subscribers of their spam
filtering service. No doubt these services have their
proponents, given the number of authentication processes I
have completed. However, I would be worried, as should
associations, about the messages that are never
received….but were wanted. In addition, I don’t like the
idea of having to pay monthly to protect myself from
spam.
At least the filtering
software at the server level eliminates that ongoing
payment issue. In addition, for many filtering products,
the message may be labeled as spam, but at least it gets
through until the recipient also labels it as spam
thereafter blocking it for all eternity…or until next week
when the spammers figure out a new method to get by the
filters. But do you really want to reply to a member’s
e-mail with the big SPAM tag added to the Subject line.
If the member’s e-mail is flagged as spam, at least make
sure you remove that ‘junk mail’ indictment before
responding to his or her question.
I haven’t tried the
desktop filtering solutions. I’m not sure what value they
bring. How do I benefit if spam is only moved to a
pending file awaiting my decision on whether messages are
legit or destined for permanent deletion? I could
probably accomplish the same result by using the Outlook
rules feature.
Given the less than
perfect solutions above, associations should be concerned
that their valuable e-mail messages are being relegated to
the cyber scrap heap without being viewed by the member.
For now, I’m content to
do my daily purging of spam, but I don’t know how long my
patience will last!
So….if you are one of
those who can’t do without that cheap Viagra or the
opportunity to make money from home, please stop. And for
those who are still into the canned version of Spam,
what are you thinking?
 Wayne Amundson is president of Association Xpertise
Inc., a consulting firm serving associations and
non-profits. He is also a writer and speaker on
association and non-profit management and governance,
and is editor of The Canadian Association e-zine and
co-author of the new “Primer for Directors of
Not-for-Profit Corporations” published by the Industry
Canada and three non-profit umbrella groups in Canada.
Phone: 403-374-1822 E-mail: admin@axi.ca
Website: www.axi.ca
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