The explanations on this page are written to help our customers understand some of the more complex issues in hosting and email services, as well as to provide useful advice.

Please click the appropriate link below.

1. DNS Explanation
2. Why Confirmed-Opt-In is Required
3. Formatted Email
4. Web-Based Email Accounts
5. Viewing Full Headers of a Message
6. Custom DBMailer Signup Forms
7. Tracking Email Deliveries
8. Using MS Word to Compose Email
9. Posting to a DBMailer Newsletter List

But humans cannot easily remember IP numbers, so the Domain Name System (DNS) was created to give computers "names" instead of numbers. So, www.yourdomain.com is a "name" (URL) which really points to the IP number assigned to your web site.

There are tens of thousands of servers on the Internet whose sole duty is to translate names to IP numbers. They are called nameservers. Every time you enter a web site URL or send an e-mail, your PC must first contact its local nameserver (typically operated by your ISP) to get the IP number for the site you're trying to reach.

When you set up a web site, you are basically "leasing" an IP number, and a provider will assign you an IP number from their pool of available numbers. The server which does that assignment is called the authoritative nameserver and the provider who controls your nameservice thus totally controls the functioning of your domain.

For this reason, it is our policy at DataBack Systems to require our domain/web hosting customers to allow us to provide their nameservice, because without that control, we cannot respond to any problems which may occur with access to your site or with your e-mail delivery.

Occasionally a single nameserver will malfunction or fail to update properly (nameservers are constantly being updated with new/modified IP assignments) and when that happens people using that nameserver may have trouble reaching various sites if the data on their nameserver is wrong. People using other nameservers would have no such trouble.

Your nameservice can also be changed at any time, such as when you choose a new web hosting provider. In such a change, your web site will be assigned a new IP number, but your site visitors will never know that because they only use the name (URL) of your site. Making such a switch usually takes up to 48 hours, because the new IP number must be distributed to every nameserver in the Domain Name System.

A change to your nameservice can only be authorized by the Administrative or Technical Contact for your domain, and so it is our policy at DataBack Systems to make our customer the Administrative Contact for his domain, and ourselves the Technical Contact. Thus either you or we can authorize a change to the nameservice if/when required.

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1. If you use a public form on your web site to accept subscription requests, anyone can enter any address into your form. Without confirmation, this means that anyone's address could be "force-subscribed" to your list.
   
   A list using such an "open" signup process is considered "mis-configured" by anti-spam watchdog groups. See the MAPS guidelines for example. When such a list is discovered, the hosting mail server (i.e., DataBack) could find itself on a Realtime Blackhole List (RBL) which would prevent our mail from reaching thousands of legitimate subscribers. For this reason, DataBack requires the use of subscription confirmations.
   
   
   
2. There exist automated scripts which scan the internet looking for forms. They then fill discovered forms with bogus information and submit them. Without the confirmation step, this could mean that (potentially thousands of) bogus addresses would get added to your list.
   
    
3. If you publish your list's subscription address (i.e. join-listname@mh.databack.com) anywhere, it will eventually be "harvested" and added to spam lists. Then, you'll begin to get spam coming to your join-list address. If you don't have confirmation enabled, the bogus address on the From: header of each spam will get immediately added to your list. This inflates your subscriber count and produces lots of unnecessary bounces whenever you mail to your list.
   
   
   
4. Occasionally subscribers forget that they've subscribed and upon receipt of your next mailing, they report you as a spammer. It's much easier to defend yourself again such charges if you have confirmation enabled for your list. Your ISP can be assured that the complainer could not have gotten onto your list unless they previously confirmed their own subscription. Your list's log files will show the date and time the confirmation was received.
   
   
   
5. Confirmation validates the subscriber's address. If they've mis-typed it, they won't get the confirmation message. In this way you guarantee that your list contains only valid subscriber addresses.

Of course, confirmation requires that your subscribers take an extra step to get subscribed. Some listowners don't want to use confirmation for that reason, as they try to make subscription "as easy as possible". But if your subscribers are unwilling or unable to simply reply to a confirmation message, they must not be truly interested in your list and probably aren't good prospects anyway. Those who *do* reply will appreciate the fact that you're operating a well-run list.

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The short answer is "Yes, you can do it".

However, this is a complex subject and you will need a complete understanding of the issues, potential problems, and suggested solutions before you begin. Please review this tutorial carefully, as well as this article from IndustryClick.

Definitions

As used here, "formatted email" means an email message which contains fonts, bullets, colors, spacing, tables and/or pictures, logos, graphics, etc. plus HTML formatting codes. This is also sometimes referred to as "sending your email as a web page".

Unfortunately, many users don't realize that just because a composed message looks good when composed on their screen, in their email client, it may not look the same on the recipient's screen. That's simply inconvenient if you're sending one message to a friend, but it can be embarrassing or even result in numerous unsubscribes if you send improperly formatted email to an entire list.

The Issues

The #1 issue is that there is no real standard for formatted email. It's virtually impossible to prepare a single email message which will look the same to every recipient. People use many different email clients, different screen sizes, different default fonts, and different types of computers. It's not even possible to build a web site which looks identical to all visitors, so creating a formatted email message which looks "correct" in dozens of different email clients is tricky.

• The #2 issue is security. HTML email can carry dangerous "payloads" which execute simply when the message is viewed. It can also carry privacy-invading "web bugs" which track email readership. As a result, more and more readers are disabling their HTML displays as a security precaution. And new versions of AOL software, Hotmail, Outlook and other email programs block images within messages by default, specifically because of web bugs. Recipients can enable the images, but might not always do so.
  
   
• Issue #3 is recipient filtering. Realizing that spam is often sent as HTML email, some recipient filters treat HTML mail with more suspicion. The popular open-source spam filter SpamAssassin for example assigns points simply because a message is HTML. This doesn't automatically mean the message is blocked, but the points add up until some messages MAY be blocked.
  
  
  
• The next issue is preparation complexity. Building an HTML message in your email program isn't especially difficult. But as stated above, that doesn't guarantee that your message will look good to your recipients. Preparing a good HTML message can be complicated. At the least, it will typically involve use of a web site authoring package for any except the simplest formatting tasks.
  
  
  
• Formatted email messages are larger than normal text-only messages, because they contain the additional formatting codes (which aren't actually displayed but still must be transmitted). Thus they take longer to deliver and longer to download.
  
  
  
• Messages containing links to online images must be read while the recipient is online or the images will appear as broken links or not appear at all.
  
  
  
• Some subscribers are adamant about NOT receiving formatted email (because of the security issues above) and will unsubscribe if not given the choice of a text-only version.

Our Recommendation

Our recommendation is simple: "Don't send formatted email. Send plain text."

You can include links to web sites, embed hot-linked email addresses, "center" lines using spaces, etc., in text-only newsletters.

But if you really want to do it ...

How to Send Formatted Email

1. Decide how you will create your formatted email message. Either enter simple HTML commands manually, or use a web authoring program which allows you to view HTML source. If you create the message in your email client, use a "well-behaved" client software which generates messages acceptable to other clients.

2. Do NOT embed (encode) pictures within the message. Instead, include fully-qualified links to web-site based images. DO NOT include links to images which reside on your computer - you will be able to see them but no one else will. Use only links to web-site-based images.

3. Test, test and test again. Before sending to your entire list, send first to a subset of private addresses. Use a mixture of email clients and services to see how your message will look on each one. Review your subscriber list to see if you have AOL, Hotmail, Yahoo, MSN, and other such subscribers. Then, obtain some test addresses with each provider and send your message to that test list first to review how your messages will look. Use the DBMailer review copy feature repeatedly to assure yourself that the final delivery will be readable to all your subscribers.

4. Consider creating two lists: a formatted version and a text-only version, allowing your readers to subscribe to the one they prefer. It will take you more time to create and send two versions of your newsletter, but will give your subscribers a choice.

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Many people have only a single email address. Typically, they will use Outlook or Outlook Express to send and receive email. If you average fewer than 2 messages a day, that's fine.

But you can also maintain a free web-based email address/account, and if you use email regularly, there are significant benefits. 

Benefits of a web-based email account

Definition: "web-based email" (WBE) is an email account which you use through your web browser, not through an email program like Outlook or Eudora on your computer. There are dozens of WBE providers, but the best-known are Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, etc.

Most are free but are beginning to charge for some of their more advanced features. Nearly all include ads, some of which can get downright obnoxious. But once you have a WBE address, you can:

• Give out your WBE address instead of your "real" address when you are concerned about how the recipient might use your address in the future.
  
• Set up your WBE account to retrieve your "real" POP3 address. In this way, you can check your "real" mailbox anytime, from any web browser (at the airport, in an internet cafe, from a friend's computer, etc.)
  
• Use your WBE account to check your email while traveling without having to install and manage Outlook or a similar email program on your laptop. Set your WBE to "leave mail on server" and you will still be able to download all your mail to your "real" email client when you return.
  
• Check how your messages look to others by sending messages to yourself to/from your "real" email account from/to your WBE account.
  
• Debug problems with your email account. If you find you can't retrieve your email, use your WBE account to determine if the problem is in your computer/network or with your POP3 server.
  
• If you run a mailing list, add both your WBE and your "real" addresses to your list, to monitor and potentially debug any delivery delays.

Of course there are some disadvantages too:

• Ads: so-called "free" WBE services pay the bills through online advertising. Some of it can get intrusive and at the least, slows the use of the service as all the ads are loaded.
  
• Return address: so far we've discussed using WBE only to read your email. If you send mail from your WBE service, it will carry your WBE address and perhaps also an ad in the message. That may or may not be a problem (but see our recommendation below).

Our Recommendation

We've used Yahoo for years and found them generally reliable, fast and easy to use. If you are not an avid email user, Yahoo is a good WBE service to start with.However Yahoo has begun to charge a nominal amount for some of their advanced features (such as forwarding or POP3 access). If you use and like Yahoo then the $20/year charge is a good investment.

We don't recommend Hotmail because of security concerns and the requirement to get a Microsoft "Passport".

Our current recommendation is Gmail - Google's email service.

We like Gmail because:

• Service is free. You currently need an invitation from an existing user but those are easily obtained.
• You can specify any "From" address you want, so mail you send via Gmail can appear to have come from your "real" email address.
  
• Excellent spam filtering is included.

We are not affiliated with Gmail other than as satisfied users. 

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However, some customers prefer to use a more complex form, to request additional information from subscribers (name, address, phone, etc.). Such forms can be interfaced to a DBMailer list in one of two ways, depending on whether you want to write the supporting script or if you want DataBack to do it:

1) If you write the script on your server (CGI, ASP, PHP, etc.) to support your own form, simply implement one action in that form, to send an email to your list's join- address. That email must have the subscriber's email address on the From: header, so it appears to be coming from the subscriber when it reaches our server. Such an email will trigger our normal confirmation message response, back to the email address on the From: header.

2) If we write the script, we first need to see your proposed form. Then we need to know what you want done with the additional information collected by the form. A common action is to have the results emailed to the listowner. Another is to have the results written into a datafile for later use. There is an added charge of $5.00/month if we write and supply such a custom script. 

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It is possible and many large companies are doing it. However, there are both technical challenges and limitations, as well as the risk of customer alienation. 

• You must send your email as HTML. Plain text emails can not be tracked. The tracking is accomplished by including a unique image or even a one-pixel "web bug" and then monitoring who reads that file from your web server. See this page for much more technical detail about web bugs.
  
• The tracking is not precise but is best used for relative measurements, like "we had more opens this month than last". Some of the limitations are:
  • Readers who don't use HTML email programs won't be counted.
  • Readers who read the email while offline will not be counted.
  • Readers whose ISP uses a proxy server often are not counted (AOL is the biggest example of this).
    
• Each time the message is viewed by the same reader the count is incremented. 
  
• Some knowledgeable customers object to being tracked in this way and may choose to unsubscribe.

Nevertheless, it is technically possible, within these limitations, to "track" email opens. Simply include a link in your HTML message to a unique image on your web server. Then monitor how many times that image is served. Each service represents a reader who opened the email. You can even link to a script instead of an image, and that script can then provide additional information like date/time of each opening, IP number of the reader, and even other details like the contents of a previously-stored cookie. 

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don't
"quotes"
dash - word
1/2
1st
*bold*
_underline_
:)

Then, type the same lines into a blank Word document. If AutoCorrect is enabled, you will see that Word changes each of the lines as you type them. If you then select and copy the lines from Word and paste them back into your e-mail client, you'll see what can happen to your e-mail if you compose it within Word - characters you type from the keyboard get automatically changed to "extended-ASCII" graphic characters by Word, or formatting codes are automatically inserted.

Some of the characters or codes substituted by Word *may* be displayed in your e-mail client properly when you cut/paste, but when sent to others, they may or may not display properly in your recipient's e-mail program.

THE SOLUTION

1. Compose your message directly in your e-mail program, or in another application which does not have AutoCorrect.

2. If you still want to use Word for composition, select Tools / AutoCorrect and unselect all the AutoCorrect functions before composing e-mail messages.

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There are two methods for posting messages, depending on your needs:
 

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