Email Whitelist

On Email Delivery Jedi, there is a very good article concerning a conversation between Mr. Stefan Pollard, of ClickZ, and Chris Lang entitled

Stefan Pollard Comments on the New Whitelist Email Generator. I found the discussion between the two men highly interesting, since email whitelisting is a new field for me, and I am looking forward to the discussion continuing and possibly being widened to include more aspects of Whitelisting.

To further my knowledge, I went to find out what exactly an email whitelist would be? I found that according to Webopedia:

“In Internet terminology, (A whitelist is) a generic name for a list of e-mail addresses or IP addresses that are considered to be spam free. Whitelists are used frequently with e-mail applications to allow users to compile lists of senders they wish to receive e-mail from. This list overrides any blacklists and spam filters, and allows the e-mails to be delivered to the users inbox instead of filtered out as spam.“.

I think that is a simple enough definition, a white list is basically the opposite of a blacklist. Where a blacklist would add information to the spam filter, the whitelist would take things out of the spam filter. That explanation is probably too simple, but for me it suffices at this time.

An interesting thing is that I also ran into an article called Email Whitelist Etiquette that stated:

“A little user education and Email Whitelist Etiquette is in order!

When signing up for an online newsletter, mailing list or Web site service, immediately add their email address or dot com to your approved or white list. This will ensure smooth communications with you and that emails will get through with the information you requested or confirmations necessary for you to acknowledge your request.

AOL: Place the domain name you just signed up for a service at in your address book.

HotMail: Place the domain name within your “safe list”. You can locate your safe list by clicking on the “Options” link next to the Main Menu tabs.

Yahoo!: If the email you requested ends up being filtered into your “bulk” folder, all you have to do is open the email and click on the link next to the “From” field.

Other ISPs and Providers: To prevent desired emails from being sent to trash, try adding the email’s “From” and “Reply to” address to your address book.

If you initiate the request, it is your responsibility to promptly add the other side’s email address or dot com information to your whitelist. This extra step will reflect that you are courteous and tech savvy! In addition, doing so will avoid those who you have requested information or services from, from having to follow verification email instructions just to get you the information you requested. Besides, you cannot count on everyone responding to those verification emails-many simply don’t or can’t (automated subscription systems).

Before getting upset because you perceive someone didn’t respond, check to see if their email was inadvertently deleted or sent to your Trash or Junk folder. Then, upon finding these emails in your Trash or Junk folders, add their information to your whitelist straight away. Too many onliners become belligerent about a supposed lack of response when in fact a response was sent and because they didn’t clear the way for the email to be accepted it was diverted to trash or not allowed through.

Web sites and newsletters should have a response or thank you page that clearly requests site visitors and subscribers to add the required email address to their whitelist right then and there. If onliners know the address to expect email from, it is much easier to expect that they will add that address to their whitelist and your email will get through.”

Perhaps Chris and those who get involved in the discussion over at Email Delivery Jedi will eventually work into topics such as these. It would be interesting to see how the experts would alter such an etiquette.