by Sid Hale

The latest effort to filter/block spam has finally been released.

The copy on the "Home" and "How it Works" pages at www.BlockSpamNow.com is very good.  It points out the shortcomings in the competitors' offerings (which, as far as I can tell, are pretty accurate), and gives an overview of the extra lengths to which Spam Terminator™ goes to insure that only spam is blocked and that desirable email will not be blocked.

Sounds like a great, long overdue product!

So why have I seen posts in so many forums giving Spam Terminator™ bad marks?  

Well, there are a couple of red flags on their web site.  For starters, near the end of the sales page it mentions the affiliate program and says, 

"And, you are automatically enrolled upon payment!" (emphasis added).  

In other words, all customers automatically become affiliates.  Doesn't this create real saturation in terms of the number of affiliates to the size of the market.  I mean, it is certainly a vast market - but each customer automatically becomes an affiliate, and the company markets the product for them.  

According to the next statement in that paragraph... 

"Spam Terminator™ actually sells itself on your behalf through our patent-pending "ping" technology!" 

Their Make $$$ page further explains this "ping" ??? technology with this statement...

"Any time it receives an email from someone not on your "acceptable source" list, it fires off a quick message to verify that the email address from which the message originated is an actual email address .... And in this message, Spam Terminator™ will offer the recipient the opportunity to protect THEIR in-box from spam also... and YOU will get the credit and commissions when they do!"

OK, let's look at an example of that.  

We're going to pretend that you just downloaded and installed Spam Terminator™ and either 1) haven't figured out how to configure "Approved senders" yet, or 2) just haven't gotten around to it.

Now let's assume your Mother sends you an email.  Here's what the "ping" message from Spam Terminator™ to your Mother would look like.

 

Do you want your Mother receiving something like that?  What about your boss?  a girlfriend?  

It could be worse!  Do you want a customer who has just sent you a support request to get an unsolicited offer like this with your affiliate id in the link to join?  Isn't that spam?

The above is not an example from the www.BlockSpamNow.com web site.  It is an actual unsolicited email from Spam Terminator™.  (only the names have been changed to protect the innocent)

The above is an attempt to create viral advertising for the program.  By installing the program, you implicitly give them permission to send these messages to anyone who mails you, but has not been pre-qualified as an "Approved sender".

To make matters worse, Spam Terminator™ encourages their customers to participate in the spamming techniques with them.  The following can also be read at their Make $$$ page.

"You'll also have the option of telling Spam Terminator™ to send a message to everyone in your address book that you are using Spam Terminator™ and to let them know about the great benefits of doing so. It's so easy, just one click and everyone you know will have the chance to be part of your downline."

Do you really want everyone in your address book approached with this offer?  

I don't know about you, but just like I have segregated marketing lists, my address book is filled with various types of contacts.  I can't think of any message that I would want sent to every last one of them.

Maybe at some point, things would settle down, everyone would have gotten their "Approved sender" lists set up, and very few of these unsolicited responses would be going out, but...

You just know that someone, somewhere is going to come out with the Clone of Terminator, and the process would have to start all over again.

Thanks, but I think I'll pass on this one. 

 

 

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About the Author: Sid Hale is the founder of the ad-CLiX Traffic Exchange, publisher of iMarketing iNsight, author of the  Insider's Guide to Affiliate Showcase, and co-founder of Headlines2Go - a Headline Testing Service for serious marketers.  In another life, Sid is an Information Technology Consultant, serving small, medium and large corporations.

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