Definitely a good thread!
It truly does not matter very much if your list is opt-in or outright spam. Obviously, one that is opt-in will receive far less complaints but that is no protection.
Generally speaking, hosting companies have a certain threshold for spam complaints that go to their upstream bandwidth provider. The more bandwidth a host purchases, the more complaints a network might accept. When I say network I mean the actual connectivity from companies like Verio, Level3, Qwest, Sprint, Global Crossing, etc.
I know on Verio, the network that I am on, people used to be able to pay extra for the privledge of spamming. I have never been involved in it but have had friends that were spammers and they paid upwards of 10x the market rate for bandwidth so that they would be allowed to spam.
However, Verio and some other networks have cut off major spamming operations. Some of you might have noticed that a few adult hosting companies are no longer on their network and now you know why.
What I find totally obnoxious is SpamCop. These motherfuckers are a terrible nuisance. They don't even care if it was an opt-in list. As a hosting company, I sometimes get complaints from them when my customers do their small mailings. They demand a response and don't even give you the option to say that it was a legitimate mailing.
That's my 2 cents..
Brad
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