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E-gift Certificates = Spam?

Posted by timothy on from the another-spam-abcess dept.

vincewazalooski writes "Good read in NY Times Circuits section today about how spam filters at Hotmail, Yahoo, etc. often interpret gift certificates from Amazon et. al. as spam. Worst part is, you might send a gift cert to someone, they never get it and you never know."

5 of 25 comments (clear)

  1. Don't delete spam... by Atzanteol · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is exactly why my spam filters (spamassasin) don't delete my suspected spam, just move them to a separate folder that I check occasionally. You can never be *sure* that your filter(s) are working perfectly.

    --
    "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"

    - Charles Darwin
    1. Re:Don't delete spam... by Basje · · Score: 3, Informative

      You can never be *sure* that your filter(s) are working perfectly.

      It's even worse: you *can be sure* that your filters will not work perfectly. So the above is a sound advise: move suspected spam to a junkfolder, and check occasionally.

      --
      the pun is mightier than the sword
  2. Yes, that's one of the consequences by bmetzler · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How's the spam filter to know? I had to turn off my spam filter because it would classify everything that came from retailers as spam. All the retailers that I asked to put on their email list was all "spam". I don't filter spam at all anymore. It's no big deal. I delete the ones that I get and all is fine.

    I suppose one answer to gift certificate is to have them emailed to you and then forward them to the recepiant personally. That's what I typically do.

    -Brent

  3. Purposeful restriction. by Inoshiro · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If I give little Johnny 80$, he might go buy Vice City. If I give little Johnny 80$ at CD Hut, little Johnny can get 80$ of CDs -- no Vice City.

    --
    --
    Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
  4. Spam filters by Scrooge? by MacAndrew · · Score: 3, Informative

    Very cute.

    Some notes I sent friends about whatever got screened by my own filter (on bcc) as spam because I put a $ in the subject field. Brilliant bayesian filter my eye.

    In any case, the gift certificate should REQUIRE the recipient to check in at their site to confirm receipt. If no confirmation is rec'd, the merchant could try again, then notify the sender with the option to void the certificate. This is easier than tabulating receipts yourself because (1) that's work and (2) not everyone says thank-you (hey, I'm catching up!).