This has been a common problem with AOL's delivery of list-based mail since
even before Steve Case vocally pretended to care about kids' safety online.
I've never seen a clear explanation of what you term spotty delivery, nor do
I expect one.  It may have something to do with queues getting jammed up and
some mail getting held and released at off-peak times while other mail goes
right through to final delivery, but I'm not certain. It may have something
to do with the service's spam-filtering heuristic (please don't laugh) or
both of these. Or maybe neither. Perhaps it's sunspots. Yeah, that's the
ticket.

Dave Phillips


----------
>From: "Thaxton, Dennis" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Spotty AOL Distribution
>Date: Fri, Jul 7, 2000, 4:54 PM
>

>         I've been receiving reports from AOL subscribers for about two
> months now that their receipt of our weekly list is either spotty or totally
> nonexistent.  I selected a random sampling of about 25% of our AOL
> subscribers, announced the potential problem and requested an email from
> those subscribers not receiving the subscription to their AOL account.
> While the majority reporting thus far have reported delivery problems, I
> have received a few messages stating that they aren't having any delivery
> problems at all, which I find strange.  I would have expected an all or
> nothing response.  Other than the idea that some AOL user's mail controls
> are actually blocking receipt, are there any other reasons why delivery
> might make it to some AOL users and not others?  Someone suggested I contact
> AOL directly and have our list added to the "approved newsletters" list, but
> I would think this would only be a problem if no one were receiving it.
> Suggestions???