Silver Linings and Dark Clouds

UPDATE | 1:23pmEST, Thur., 10/17/13--

Please see addendum below and shown in

'THIS' colour for clarification.  Thank you.

 

They say there's a silver lining in every dark cloud, right?

Well I kid you not-- and, not that is was a dark cloud on an equally dark and stormy night-- but a couple of days ago, I received word from my email list management company, that 22 people in my network indicated in one way or the other that the email I'd recently sent  [to them] was reported as spam.  Yeah, I know-- long sentence. 

Turns out by industry standards, my magic number of 22 spam complaints, far exceeded the "acceptable threshold number" of ONE per 1,000 emails-- esp., given the fact that my list size was less than 650.  Thus, my account went into a "review" and ultimately, this was good (my silver lining). But then again, I've been dealing with a hacker for several years (long story) and in the back of my mind I just would not be surprised if somehow *this* is the work of more harassment. 

But back to that silver lining. 

Knowledge is power and since you and I have been connected in one or more social networking sites (LinkedIn, Google+, Tumblr, Facebook, etc.) for so long,  the reason I'm writing you today is two fold.  Notice of caveats in user terms 'n agreements and because I need your help.  First up--

#1- Caveats in those "Terms and Agreements" -  because many of you are business owners  or engage in dialogue with others having great impact on your day-to-day relationship governance, I thought I'd share the following insight gleaned: 

-- The email addresses of the 'connections' we develop in LinkedIn and Facebook personal pages or business pages (e.g., social networking platforms) are 'owned' by the provider and CAN NOT BE USED for soliciting and/or converting into a sale transaction unless one thing happens; 

-- The 'export' feature can not be used to shepherd a 'list' from which you solicit; and 

-- Even if an alternate email is provided in a user's public profile under 'About Me/Contact,' that info still is owned by the social site.

The above information was told to me by the account reviewer at the company who manages my subscriber list and ensures compliance and legal standards are met by all parties.

HOWEVER, this 'spam issue' seems to me to be an easy fix and now-- here's the one thing that must happen  so that you may freely use the email address for business development OUTSIDE of a specific social network site (from an individual you've met and connected with on said site). 

You must provide an email sign-up form so that the legal definition of an opt-in agreement is satisfied.  Once that person becomes a 'subscriber' a new relationship has begun and the fact that you 'met' on a social site has no bearing on the newly created relationship. (P.S. If you're an attorney, check me on this and weigh in with a reply-to-all if you desire.)

As such, this is why you see so many 'fan pages' with JOIN MY MAIL LIST links, which serves to ensure a permission based agreement between the two of you.  Somewhere buried deep in the terms and agreements you'll find this condition-- but who really reads beyond the 16,000th word of those agreements for a social site anyway?  I wanted you to know this caveat and hope this insight has been of help.  And you have my permission to forward this to a colleague who might care to know.  Finally--

#2- I'm in "jail" friends (name of email mgm't company withheld) .  My crime?  I used the 'export' key to pull together and merge my email recipients list.  My punishment?  Go through my spreadsheet of contacts line by line (over 1,000 people!!!) and separate the good from the bad and the ugly emails (smile).  I'm trying to keep a light heart here. 

Do you know how longgg that will take? 

ADDENDUM as highlighted at the top of this post.  I have ceased the relationship with said email list management service; therefore, it is not necessary for your support in the email re-capture help.   Please skip and continue reading below the ( ========).

I'm therefore asking for your help.  Will you please opt-in for my periodic email updates using the form below thereby making our 'connection' official?  Then perhaps I can get out of "jail" because orange is not my color and especially in the form of a jumpsuit!

G A Z E L L A  | Beauty + Grace + Gentleness  

...is a holistic site created for your empowerment and  intellectual discovery via on-demand live events and downloads;  living simply yet refined; the arts and humanities; excursions for the 'armchair' traveler;  resources for families and creatives-- writers, musicians, filmmakers, etc.; and so much more! 

Looking forward to our continued dialogue and meaningful engagement to move the World forward in a positive way.  Happy weekend to you! [VIEW WEBSITE]

~Debra (djgTheMediaLady)


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