Unfortunately there are a lot of people online that all have many misconceptions regarding Spam Filters. Today I'm going to answer some questions that people have asked me about my "Spam column" for DEMC Small Business Ezine regarding them. With regards to spam filters, one can never have enough knowledge, so I do hope that this article will clear up any misconceptions that you may have.

1. Don't spam filters ONLY apply to those who have NOT opted in?

This is indeed a very sad misconception, Spam Filters do affect EVERYONE who sends and receives email in some way or another. Whether you publish a FREE ezine OR a PAID ezine, it does not matter, if it is being sent by email it affects YOU. The biggest problem with filters is that they have NO way to detect that email message is in fact "Optin", they actually base it on your headers.

Should you use a third party list server, your chances of being filtered are even greater, because of that reason. And this is how ALL filtering is based: By looking at headers in your email message, by using a point system based on contents in your subject line as well as body.

This can also be done by subscribing to a blacklist service that will provide them with a list of domains or hosts that have been identified as being used by spammers -such as http://www.spamhaus.org or http://mail-abuse.org/ AOL, Verizon and Accessus are widely known for using services such as these. It should also be known that spam filtering programs MAY also subscribe to these services, some do and some do not.

If you haven't yet heard about chaos that Spam Filters are currently causing for publishers, then I am about to tell you EVERYTHING you'll need to know on this subject. Many of our fellow publishers disregard fact that Spam Filters DO in fact exist. For some reason just do NOT want to face fact that, they are DESTROYING their businesses.

I write a column on Spam for DEMC small business ezine, so I do consider myself to be well educated on this subject. If you have any questions about what I am about to tell you, feel free to contact me at: http://www.OptinFrenzy.com

Now let's begin.

Spam Filters are EVERYWHERE online whether we like it or not they are. And they are becoming more dominant in all aspects of internet, through ISP's, webhosts and chances are, one person in three is using some type of a filtering device. They are inexpensive to purchase and so it makes it fairly EASY for average "Joe" to buy one.

And chances are that your ISP or web host probably uses them and you are NOT even aware of it. Personally, I do advise that you contact them to ask them about it and ask them to REMOVE them from your account immediately. Now, here is why I suggest that you do this, Spam Filters are NOT 100% fool proof, in fact they have a tendency to block out your LEGITIMATE email. Anyone who tells YOU otherwise is in some serious DENIAL.

I've personally taken time to test almost EVERY Spam Filtering program that there is currently available online. And what I saw was absolutely mortifying to say least. I ran over 100 different types of emails and newsletters all through each system and 9 times out of ten, it resulted in being marked as spam. Needless to say, by end of day I was NOT impressed with my discovery.