[epub] *** Do NOT use Worldwide Lists ***

[Gregg Terry <gregg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Cyber greetings,

I tried World Wide Lists (with the other newsletter I publish
- Wall Street Harvest) and dropped them after a few weeks.
I don't believe that their operation is totally on the up and up
- and that is putting it ***kindly***.

For starters you're going to get an ABNORMALLY large number
of 'crazy' email addresses such as: friedmonkeybrains@Yahoo.
I publish a serious newsletter about the stock market. I
have a few crazy but legitimate email addresses but they
represent a *very small* percentage of my subscribers.
You get a disproportionately high  percentage with WWL.
That was clue #1.

Almost all of the addresses are from free email services.
A significant percentage of my regular subscribers use real
email addresses. That was clue #2.

WWL consistently admits that their accounting procedures
are not accurate. It would be TRIVIAL to fix them. Instead
they expect you to document the duplicate addresses,
prove to them that they are duplicates, and they will THEN
give you a whopping credit of 0.15 per duplicate. Talking
about arrogance ...

Would you stay with your telephone company if they
consistently made errors billing you? Not only should they
reimburse you for their errors but they *should pay you*
for your time - if they consistently make the same mistakes
over and over again - unless of course you don't have
anything more valuable to do with your time. That was clue
#3.

I sent out a confirmation message that required WWL
subscribers to confirm their subscriptions. Despite
supposedly 'double opting in', over  95% of these
'subscribers' never confirmed *with me*. So if you want
to make sure that you're not spamming someone, the
*real cost* of acquiring a subscriber is ASTRONOMICAL.
That was clue #4.

Imagine this real example ... an email address
is passed to me as a 'subscriber' . I immediately
send them a confirmation message. That message
bounces. The next day, the same person supposedly
double opts in AGAIN. I send them another message.
That bounces TOO. The same thing happens two days
later with the *same address*.

What kind of 'person' would visit WWL *multiple times*
within a short time span and subscribe to the
same newsletter EACH TIME? Even someone who is
easily amused by juvenile pranks would be bored by
that.

And WWL wants me to believe that this 'person'
confirmed their 'subscription' with WWL ***three
separate times*** while each time I tried to
communicate the mail bounced - give me a
f***ing break! That was clue #5.

Here's the biggest reason NOT to use WWL. Most
reputable mailing list companies WILL consider
'subscribers'  generated through this method as
NOT being legitimate. Consequently, if someone
accuses you of spam, they are NOT going to think
that you have a legitimate relationship with them.
In other words, they will TREAT YOU AS A SPAMMER.

I know that WWL claims that they have 'proof' of every
subscription but that is not going to carry any weight
for most list services. (If you're confused, read clue #5
again).

Don't believe me? Why don't you ask a legitimate
list service such as Sparklist, mail-list or OptInPro
if they consider addresses that you *have purchased*
to be legitimate addresses - if they haven't confirmed
WITH YOU PERSONALLY.

Of course, if you do go down the path that I went
and require confirmation from every WWL 'subscriber'
you will probably find that only a small percentage
actually do.

In my opinion, people who think that they're building
their lists by paying 0.15 per subscriber to WWL are
completely deluding themselves.  They may be
building their lists but if you're talking about REAL
subscribers, the price is a hell of a lot more than
fifteen cents.

If you are concerned about being accused of being
a spammer I would highly recommend that you
require WWL 'subscribers' to confirm with you
personally.

Cheers,


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