Just Block It

I tend to go back and forth about reporting spam these days. On one level I know that it’s all a numbers game, and policy enforcement is more about the quantity of complaints than the quality. Knowing this I don’t often send in complaints. I do make a few exceptions: when I know the policy enforcement team or when it’s a current or former client.

The responses I’ve gotten have been somewhat discouraging. In one case the policy team told me they were investigating and had removed the ability of the customer to send through their application. Less than 2 days later I started getting multiple emails from that customer, through the same ESP. When I sent in another complaint I was told the customer had a series of confirmation emails that they could not stop sending.

Sadly, my experience is not unusual. In fact, it’s downright common. It’s one of those reasons I so rarely report spam. Half the time it doesn’t stop even when it’s reported.

It’s also the reason that so many blocklists, ISPs and filtering companies don’t bother to notify senders of blocks. It’s a whole lot simpler to block bad mail than it is to try and convince senders to stop sending bad mail.