"LISTSERV site administrators' forum" <[log in to unmask]> 
wrote on 03/29/2006 01:20:59 PM:

> Well if you would had read the flow of this conversation, I said that 1
> millions of email was a example and a worst case scenario and I agreed 
with
> you when you said "What the Hell do they have to say that 1 million 
people
> want to hear?", we never will send millions of email per day. And from 
my
> experience I often saw form where you can sign up in a list like Swiss
> Chalet for example, you sign up they send you a email right after to 
tell
> you thx you for registering, so I guess they are spamming Or not legist
> Because they never ask me to confirm? 

OK, maybe you wont start off with 1M addresses, but even if it's 10K, if 
the owner of the address is not the one the one filling out the form, you 
are spamming. The proper way to confirm that the address wants to receive 
your mail is to send a request for confirmation.  And as I said, even 
allowing too many requests for confirmation to the same address is 
annoying and can be considered a form of spam.


> Or like futurshop when you sign up to receive a email with they special 
of
> the month, I never had a email from them to ask me to confirm. And you 
can
> tell your *koff* *koff* "friends" that nothing is illegal in the project 
I'm
> working on or purpose , I'm sorry if my question sound like I'm a 
spammer
> wannabe but that's not my intention, I'm just trying to a good job and I
> need to know and understand these stuff because it's my first job as a
> programmer and I'm new whit that kind of stuff so my question can sound
> "Weird" sometime. But I can understand your suspicion, they are so many
> spammers these day it's horrible but like I said I'm new with this so I 
want
> to do stuff to right way. ;) 

I'm sorry if it sounds like I think you are a spammer.  I'm trying to help 
you not look like one in the eyes of the rest of the internet community. 
Follow your proposed actions and that is the likely result.  Just because 
FutureShop doesn't bother getting confirmation doesn't make them right. 
There are lots of sites that operate like that.  And many of them end up 
on spam lists.  If you want to do a good job, get confirmation, that's the 
right way.  I hope you're finding this diuscussion useful, even if it is a 
bit pointed.

The difference between spam and ham is only a matter of perception.  And 
perception defines reality for most people.