Thank you for subscribing to Bracke Enterprises (a.k.a. Good Stuff from Marissa).
Most email software and Internet companies use various programs to help block spam from getting into your inbox. That's good!
Unfortunately, sometimes these programs accidentally block email you want. That's not so good!
Let's help make sure you get the email you want to get, okay?
Whitelist me to ensure delivery
Every email system is different (because of course it is). Below are instructions for some of the more popular ones. If yours isn’t here, please contact your ISP’s customer service folks for their instructions. (And forward their answer to me — I may add it to the page to help others!) If you’re using some sort of spam filtering or blocking software yourself (in addition to what your ISP provides), I've also listed instructions on how to exempt your subscription from some of the more popular of those programs.
Gmail:
1. In your inbox, locate an email from ma*****@ma***********.com (e.g., the one that says “Welcome to Bracke Enterprises!” in the subject line).
2. Drag this email to the “Primary” tab of your inbox.
3. Emails from me will show up in your primary folder in the future!
Yahoo! Mail
When opening an email message, look for the plus sign “+” that shows up next to From: and the sender's name. Click on the “+” and an “Add to contacts” pop-up should appear. Click “Save.”
Mac Mail
Select “Mail” and “Preferences” from the top menu.
In the “Preferences” window, click the “Rules” icon.
Click the “Add Rule” button.
In the “Rules” window, type a name for your rule in the “Description” field.
Use the following settings: “If any of the following conditions are met: From Contains.”
Type the sender’s email address in the text field beside “Contains.”
Select “Move Message” and “Inbox” from the drop-down menus.
Click “OK” to save the rule.
Outlook 2003 and Later
Right-click on the message in your inbox.
Select “Junk E-mail” from the menu.
Click “Add Sender to Safe Senders List.”
Why does any of this matter anyway?
Spam email sucks, and it's big problem. It's such a big problem, in fact, that email services and ISPs (Internet Service Providers) often use blocking or filtering systems for it, and they often rely on self-proclaimed “blacklists” to tell who are the good guys and who are the bad guys out there.
Their intentions are good. None of us want spam, right? But the consensus is that the current systems for stopping spam are a far cry from perfect. One of the big issues with them is that they often block email that you've requested, but that fits someone else's idea of what spam might look like. (frustrated sigh) There are brainy and responsible folks out there working hard to cut down on these kinds of “false positives,” but for now, you may find yourself NOT getting content you've subscribed for and want.
Fortunately, there's something you can do to keep the email you want from falling into the false positive trap! That's where the whitelist comes in.
By the way: A whitelist is a list of e-mail addresses or domain names from which an e-mail blocking program will allow messages to be received. Basically, it's a list for which you've specially said, “Hey, email software smartybots, I like these people. Don't junk their emails, okay?”