> What is the problem with keeping their whitelists and offering the option
> of a Goodmail alternative for potential marketers with budgets

The problem is that I think most people will not pay if given the choice. If
the fee for L-Soft is $10,000 to $40,000 per day and the only thing I am
getting for this money is a "trusted" icon in AOL inboxes, I am simply not
going to sign up for the service. At this price level, the service makes
sense for banks, brokerage firms, etc. It does not make sense for your
average customer newsletter and even less for discussion lists. Of course,
they could have different price levels for different types of customers, but
the bottom line is that if the only thing you get is a little "trusted" icon
in AOL inboxes, in most cases the value you receive is just not very high,
so you are not going to be able to charge much money. Not only will you have
less volume, you will also have to charge less than if the whitelist goes
away.

I guess you can compare this to SSL certificates. The only thing you get
with an SSL certificate is encryption and the little "secure" icon in the
user's browser. The certificate costs a few hundred dollars, maybe a
thousand dollars for the fancier ones, flat fee. If you run an online store,
this is a must. Consumers have been trained not to input their credit card
number unless they see the "secure" icon. But if you just run a typical
corporate web site with product information, the "secure" icon is not worth
the hassle and performance impact. Most sites do not have the "secure" icon
because they do not need it. This is exactly what is going to happen if the
whitelist remains (unless they reduce its effectiveness).

I don't know why AOL cannot settle for selling the trust icon only to people
who need it, and leave the rest of us alone. Obviously there is a lot more
money to make if everyone could be made to buy the trust icon, but this is
just wishful thinking on their part. It is the kind of story that we used to
hear during the dot-boom. "If we could just collect a fee for every click on
the web," etc.

  Eric