Acceptable Email Policy

Policy

This Acceptable-Email Policy specifies the actions we prohibit for users of Undercroft Network mail servers (this does not apply to your ISP mail server). We reserve the right to modify these policies at any time, effective upon posting the modified document to your email address.

Sending unsolicited mail messages (SPAM) is explicitly prohibited - this policy includes any volume of unsolicited mail however large or small. This activity uses excessive resources, incurs great cost and annoys other users and recipients - we are strictly against this in any form - as a guide to this (but not limited to):

You must ensure that all people you send to are fully 'opt-in', or have consented to receive emails from you and are therefore specifically expecting to receive emails from you.
You must not use purchased email lists as the recipients would rarely be specifically expecting to receive emails from you and this is likely to generate SPAM complaints.
You should not use anything (software or companies) that automatically generates email lists by harvesting email addresses from the Internet/web sites.
We do not recommend you use old data/mailing lists as this can result in SPAM complaints from recipients who may have forgotten who you are and/or are no longer expecting to receive emails from you.
We have a limit of 50 recipients per single message - we certainly recommend that emails be sent as one email message per recipient. Single messages with a large number of recipients (i.e. on the Bcc: line) are far less likely to be deliverable and more likely to generate SPAM complaints as the recipient may not recognize that the email is from you.
You must ensure your email 'from'/'return to'/'reply to' (sender) address(es) are valid and you must be able to receive email to that 'from' address. The email server you use for your incoming mail must accept 'mailer daemon' (delivery status) messages so we can notify you of any delivery problems.
You must ensure your email 'to' (recipient) addresses are valid - accounts that send a large number of emails to invalid email addresses waste excessive resources and increase the risk of our servers being blocked/blacklisted.
Email message headers/envelopes must not be missing, malformed or forged and message subject lines must not contain false or misleading information.
If sending to a mailing/distribution list (or the same message to a large number of recipients) you must include a working 'unsubscribe' link or Internet based method to process any unsubscribe requests (a telephone/postal based method is not sufficient). Any removal requests should be processed within seven days and (if at all possible) before sending out another mailing to avoid/minimize the risk of complaints.
If you do receive any SPAM complaints the recipient should be removed from your mailing list. If you believe the complaint was an error you may wish to contact them one further time or by another method (telephone, post etc.) to confirm if it was a mistake and if they wish to be re-subscribed to your list.
You may not post messages to newsgroups through Undercroft Network.
Make sure your emails are complaint with the CAN-SPAM Act - one of the specific provisions is that you should include your valid physical address in mailing list emails.

Complaints of this nature may lead to the immediate suspension of your service and possible closure of your account. Accounts suspended or terminated do not qualify for any refund.

We appreciate that anyone who sends a large number of emails will possibly receive a small number of SPAM complaints (typically in error) - we consider a 'normal' ratio for a genuine opt-in mailing to be around 1 complaint per 3000-5000+ emails sent. We also look at various factors including the number, ratio and type of complaints but certainly any ratio higher than that would be considered high and could risk your account being suspended.

The administration email address for your account is the primary means we will contact you about your account (error reports/SPAM complaints, renewal notices etc.) - this must be kept up-to-date and able to receive emails that we send you.