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Anti-Spam Policy

Table of Contents

The Definition of Spam

Spam is:

  • Unsolicited, Bulk Email ( Unsolicited + Bulk Email = Spam )
  • A matter of consent, not content (however, we do regulate content in our "AUP Policy")
  • Solicited, Bulk Email + the lack of Record Keeping = Treated as Spam

To better understand what Spam is and isn’t we have generally adopted "The Spamhaus Project’s – The Definition of Spam" as our understanding. However, GPowerHost shall be the sole decider of what is Spam as it relates to any communications transmitted via its servers. In the event of any inconsistencies between this Policy and the AUP, the terms of the AUP shall govern.

Violation and Consequence

Violation of any of the following policies is strictly prohibited and shall result in:

  • Immediate suspension or termination of all accounts
  • The assessment of additional fees (see: Denied Service Policy)
  • Possible forfeiture of any account balances to pay fees
  • Paying of an Account Email Deposit or Bond to cover potential future violations or complaints
  • Immediate suspension or deletion of websites, lists, and databases
  • Reporting of Violation activities to blacklisting, abuse and reputation reporting agencies
  • Reporting of Violation activities to future hosting and network providers
  • Reporting of Violation activities to the general public e.g. the hosting community etc.
  • Notification of suspected or illegal activities to the relevant authorities e.g. the Police etc.
  • Possible Civil Action

GPowerHost Assisted Mail Management

Unless a customer has a knowledgeable, dedicated email management staff, GPowerHost requires that the customer allow GPowerHost to setup a sound email management system for them. Some tasks and duties are required to be completed by the customer. The customer may additionally purchase email management support if their needs are excessive or they can’t take the time to manage some required aspects. Failure to have a sound email management system is a violation of our terms. The alternative is not to send email from our servers.

Email Reputation and the Vetting Process

Gone are the days when an email could be sent and one could reasonably be assured of its unfettered delivery to the recipient. Today there is an ever increasing effort (justly or unjustly) to police and control the actual content of mail that is delivered to users. Customer controlled Spam filters are now common place and they work with spotty effectiveness at best. Network controlled Spam filters are also common, though some might be surprised to learn how much they actually affect all of us! Email reputations are measured constantly and nearly everything sent affects the senders reputation. Send out some Spam and the sender begins to become blacklisted quickly. Suddenly an avalanche of mail servers will block the sender and return their emails. Make a simple "mistake" and one will have to go through a clearing process to regain trust. This process can take days to resolve, involve affidavits, and evidentiary proof–all very costly!

Without trust, sender emails are not effective, because the end user never sees them. Unless a sender has a professional email manager on staff, they can’t know what kind of things can cause their emails to ruin their reputation, their host’s reputation, or the reputation of dozens of servers in their cluster. Commonly, reputations can be inaccurate, and senders are penalized just the same. If senders don’t have the resources, they can suffer because some algorithm has inappropriately targeted them.

To help customers we have setup a vetting process for EVERYTHING EMAIL RELATED.

What does vetting involve?

Generally, it is as simple as a customer opening a support request and telling us what they are doing. We then respond and say "Hold on… blah, blah" or "OK, you are Good to Go". Once a script, list and process is vetted, we simply need to quickly vet each bulk email draft during the first year. After a year of good standing, it is possible for customers to operate more autonomously. However, if a customer makes changes to their process we always need to vet the changes and sometimes the whole process again.

While this seems cumbersome at first, it really does help eliminate problems and ensure that emails are as effective as possible; especially for those operating without a large dedicated email support staff. In addition, it is a sort of training mechanism. We cheerfully guide customers through the steps to become savvy, responsible and effective emailers. We want customers to succeed in their campaigns and efforts, we think the best way to do that is to review their email related activities.

General Conduct

  1. Customers may send individually human-typed, original content email to anyone. This is known as general email. This may not be bulk mail, where the content is sent as part of a larger collection of messages and the content is substantively identical.
  2. Customers may send computer generated transactional emails to any customer, user, member or subscriber as reasonably required resulting from a direct request or transaction (order processing, subscription, support request, etc.) for the primary purpose of fulfilling that request.
  3. Customers may not send any kind of Unsolicited, Bulk Email EVER.
  4. Customers many not transfer, borrow, rent or purchase lists that are already opt-in verified. All subscribers must give written (including digital) permission to the customer, and the customer must additionally confirm with them by an active click to confirm email means (approved by us).
  5. Customers must have written signed records (including digital) documenting the original subscription request, the active confirmation, all bounce events, and all other communications between the customer and the subscriber or their host.
  6. Customers must honor all opt-out, remove requests or other signals to stop sending mail. This includes honoring server (hard bounce) messages such as 5.X.X with immediate removal (or permanent blacklisting).
  7. Confirmation shall be deemed as expired when 3 consecutive server (soft bounce) messages have been received such as 4.X.X. Subscribers must re-confirm to reset this threshold.
  8. Any list not mailed to within 18 months shall be deemed as expired. Subscribers must re-confirm to renew trust.
  9. Any list not mailed to within 6 months must be professionally cleaned prior to resumed mailing.
  10. During the first year of operation as a new customer or if an existing customer begins to send bulk email for the first time, all emails must be vetted (approved) by GPowerHost Email Support prior to mailing. To do this customers must open a support request and send a sample of the email draft to abuse@GPowerHost.com. Support will approve or reject the message typically within 1-4 hours; and in no case longer than 72 hours. Failure to get any bulk mail message vetted is a violation.
  11. All new lists (or lists new to our servers) must be vetted by GPowerHost Email Support prior to any bulk mailing. To get a new list vetted, open a support ticket with GPowerHost Email Support clearly documenting the entire subscription, confirmation, bounce handling, abuse support and removal request process; providing links to all subscription pages, their privacy policy, their trackable abuse complaint mechanism and the database name for the list on our server. The new list vetting process can take from 24 hours to 1 week depending on the thoroughness of the initial request and the size and scope of any existing subscriber base present. If insufficient history and bounce records exist, we may require their list to be cleaned.
  12. The procedure to confirm offline subscriptions (those obtained on paper), entered into the system by list managers, is the same as if the subscriber signed up via an online form. The subscriber must actively confirm any subscription obtained, regardless of the subscription mechanism. Customers that fake confirmations, or lack the proper digital signature in an online database format are in violation of this policy.
  13. Email "Campaigns" refer to email content sent to groups of subscribers. No Campaign shall be sent to a subscriber more than once. Campaigns must be novel, original content, with newly written text, newly created images, unique subjects etc. In no event, shall a Campaign share substantially the same content as any other Campaign. Sending duplicate content to the same email address is considered Content Spam and is prohibited. Content Spamming is a sure way to trigger Spam filters and get a Campaign delivered directly into the Spam folder, cause reputation damage or worse.
  14. Email Campaign "Subject lines" must not be misleading, must accurately indicate the content of the message, must not contain ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, exclamation marks, nor typical Spam terms like ‘Free’ or ‘Special offer’.
  15. We are happy for our customers when their lists get bigger! However, any list that grows substantially in size over a short period of time must be vetted prior to mailing. For instance, if it took a customer two years to grow a list to 800 subscribers, and suddenly they have 900 subscribers, we want to know why. Customers should open a support request explaining how the new subscribers were obtained. Explain what changed to cause so many more subscribers than usual. If there are any new or additional subscription mechanisms, or substantially changed processes (even if for the better), customers need to have those processes vetted again/additionally.
  16. Customers must allow GPowerHost to setup email rate limiting mechanisms to help prevent flooding of their messages to other servers at a rate that they might object to, and customers must not alter those settings.
  17. Customers must not hide, ignore or avoid any abuse complaint or removal request; they must completely resolve all complaints within 24 hours OR bring the complaint to GPowerHost’s attention IMMEDIATELY, despite whether they agree the complaint is just or well founded. Customers must retain complaint resolution records as long as they are a customer of GPowerHost. If an upset subscriber claims that they are being Spammed, we rely on customer maintained database records and signatures to determine if our terms were violated. We seek to resolve complaints and uncover any underlying issues. Mismanaging complaints is a violation.
  18. All emails must have an uniquely trackable opt-out link that automatically removes subscribers, list an abuse email address and a link to the customer’s privacy policy. In addition, the customer must identify who they are, give their address, and contact details in every communication.
  19. All subscription pages must clearly describe the nature of emails to be sent, the scope of the mailings, additionally list an unsubscribe link, a link to the customer’s privacy policy and contain a trackable abuse complaint mechanism.
  20. Customers must have well trained and knowledgeable staff to manage the list and mailings. Customers must identify and make known to GPowerHost any lack of staff, training or capabilities or lapses in same and arrange for GPowerHost to assume or aid in those responsibilities, possibly for a fee.
  21. Customers agree to either have dedicated, knowledgeable email management staff to setup and operate their emailing operations or allow GPowerHost to set it all up for them. If we setup a mailing system, the customer agrees not to make adjustments or changes to the system settings, or otherwise alter the process we detail to them, without GPowerHost’s prior written approval. Sending bulk email carries responsibility and customers will meet those responsibilities squarely, or stop mailing all together.

This is a guideline, in the event of a conflict in statements, concepts, policies or rules the GPowerHost Terms of Service and AUP apply.