Getting on AOL's white list is a necessity for anyone planning to send any
volume for mail. Follow the process outlined in the line below and get on
the white list and your problems will be solved. It's not quick, but it'll
save a lot of trouble in the long run. Even companies on the white list can
be blocked temporarily if they attempt to delivery too much mail to
non-existent addresses or generate a large volume of customer complaints.

Keith Stone
EDS, Inc.

-----Original Message-----
From: LISTSERV give-and-take forum
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Murphy, Jim
Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2003 8:29 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: AOL blocking list


Jason,

It happened to us recently here as well. AOL has published some of the
best practices for sending e-mail to their customers.
http://postmaster.info.aol.com/whitelist.html. Once we could demonstrate
that we were following these guidelines and that we were communicating
with opt-in customers, they unblocked us immediately.

They have something called a "whitelist", where you establish yourself
as a responsible marketer. What are the perks? I am not totally sure of
that, but I can tell you that following their guidelines on every e-mail
piece will go a long way to helping your clients stay off blacklists,
and get removed easier when they do get placed on them.

Another item that will help you stay off AOL's bad side, and this is
real simple, try to make sure you are sending to valid AOL addresses. An
excessive # of bounces trips alarms with AOL. Something as simple as
suppressing poorly formed e-mail addresses may alleviate headaches when
sending to AOL.

I hope that helps.

Jim Murphy



-----Original Message-----
From: Jason Schellenberg [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2003 3:17 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: AOL blocking list


Hi all,

It appears that AOL is blocking one of our lists from distribution to
their members. Does anyone have any experience getting AOL to unblock a
list?

Thanks for any help.

Jason