Does your email provider make a difference?

H

hostaaddict

New member
Yesterday, while entering a sweep (not sure now which one it was, but I might see it when enter again later today), there was a small notice on page. I just caught it when I was leaving the page, but it was something about certain email providers blocking spam and therefore not good email address for entering. I remember them saying gmail, yahoo, aol, etc. I enter around 270 sweeps daily (have not missed a day in almost 2 yrs now) and win lots of IWs but very few (3 small grand prizes in 2 yrs entering) One of those was $1100.00 and the others under $100.00. I am wondering if any of you use any of those providers for your email address when entering. I personally am a Yahoo customer. Judging by the amt of trash type spam I get, I think none of it is being blocked. But, after reading that small notice on the sweeps entry page, I wonder if you have one of those emails, if they just pull another name rather than bother trying to contact you thru Yahoo, etc?? I am not complaining as I do really well on the IWs, but have never won a one time and like I said very little grand prizes. I assume that is because there are so many entries. I have read somewhere else that Gmail is not good for sweeps. Not sure why. As it is, I changed my email address once this year and it was a lot of work trying to deal with that, so would hate to think I would have to do it again. So how many of you successful sweepers win big wins using one of those email providers? It's bugged me since I read that notice. Thanks for your comments!
 
I use my regular ISP email address. I also have my spam filter turned off. I found that regular email was dumping into it. Spam is unsolicited bulk email. The only spam I ever get is those scam lotteries and inheritances. Everything else I get is from agreeing to receive newsletters, notifications, etc., for entering the sweepstakes, but that's not spam.

The only thing I've see occasionally is that sometimes there is a sweepstakes that won't accept entries from certain email providers like AOL, gmail, etc.

Just seeing what was dumping into the spam file, I ended up having to go through it anyway. I even had a email regarding personal legal matters dumped into it. I personally wouldn't use it for any email account; and, time and time again, I see someone posting that they found a win notification in their spam file.
 
When it come down to it, it really doesn't matter where your email account is. Most providers make use of "black lists". Whether it is generic providers like Hotmail or your local ISP it doesn't matter.

Every time you hit that "this is spam" button that addy goes into a database and if there are enough complaints received then it is reviewed and possibly placed on the "black list". Known virus distributers are automatically placed on one. Most providers do this at the prolonged request of their users.

A prime example of this would be the "Crazy Like A Fox" folks. Ever wonder why in each advertisment they have a different site????? They rotate through these different names to avoid "blacklists". Why would they worry about that? Because once they have your email addy they then bombard you with their own stuff and they sell you to every shady "get-rich-quick" shuckster out there. They provide you with nothing EXCEPT hundreds of spam emails a day ... and YOU signed up for it!

You can stop your spam filter from working but this will NOT stop the use of any "blacklist". All that will accomplish is all junk/spam being routed to your inbox.

If you are worried that your ISP is using a "black list" you should contact them and ask. They may or may not be able to exempt you from the "black list", but most likely won't. But the real question is why would you want to be?

If a site is concerned enough to "warn" you about "black lists" then I would have serious PROBLEMS with being at that site to begin with!

This, of course, is NOT the same as junk/spam! If they "warn" you that their "communications" might end up in the Junk Box ... so what??? YOU personally determine what ends up in the "Junk Box". Set your "Preferences" the way you want them. (ie: inbox ... or junk ... delete after 10 days .... or deleted immediately!)

You will always get your precious junk/spam mail. It will just be in your Junk Box ... where it belongs (preferrably).

I personally have my rules set to where if it isn't sent from a person on my contacts list then it goes to the "Junk Box". That just separates all the 'junk' from my personal stuff! I just think of it as another "file folder". A folder that keeps me safe from Virii and other nasties! unlike my Inbox.

(Yes, I use my email for other things besides sweepstakes! :scratch: ) scary, eh?



:)


PS: YAHOO IS THE WORST FOR BLACKLISTING...THEY WILL DO IT FREQUENTLY AND FOR ANY REASON, WHETHER IT MAKES SENSE OR NOT. THEY ARE ALSO THE WORST FOR GENERAL SPAM ATTACKS. CONSIDER GMAIL INSTEAD.
 
As a side note:

Do you hate getting SPAM (ie: unsolicitated emails)?

Try changing your email addy to a longer one. At a site 'previously mentioned' I have two email addys:


  • [li]"orioncreative"[/li]
    [li]and "orioncreativeworks"[/li]

In the first one I get LOTS of SPAM and at the second one I get none!

Why?

Simple. Most Spammers use "engines" that send out their messages by creating all possible permutations up to a certain number of letters/numerals. My guess is it is 16 places.

So, beat them at their own game ... make your prefix over 20 letters/numerals and you will be surprised by the fact that you no longer receive SPAM.

Simple yet effective! :)

:headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang:
 
Its kind of funny you recently posted this.
I have an aol address i use for sweeps and was wondering the same thing so i just decided (a few mins ago) to open a yahoo email to use solely for my sweeps. Now i am wondering lol

aol catches spam in a seperate box, But i wonder if some senders who MAY be sending a winning notification not getting through at all....even to the spam box (which i check daily)

I had a verizon email that the gets email that i know i am on the same list with my aol, but i dont see it on aol including the spam box. Which makes me suspect aol blocks stuff that i want, spam or not...could i have lost some winning notifications? :cry:

One might say use verizon, but i suspect they sell your email because i get TONS of spam with them (and i mean tons!) so its tedious to check everyday.

The hazards of sweeping i guess
 
:sunny: I quit using aol several years ago because I wan't even getting all my entry confirmations. So I know that I missed out on winning emails. They block alot of your emails. I have been using yahoo email and like LDS I don't use my spam filter. I want to see all the mail I am getting.
 
An ISP is forbidden by law from selling your addy.

Of course that doesn't mean that an employee can't steal it or that they can't be hacked into... both happen.

But the most realistic answer is that Both AOL and Yahoo get targeted by Spammers because they attract new, cheap, unsophisticated users. Verizon for pretty much the same reasons, but mostly for the volumn of home users they attract.

Hotmail is pretty well guarded and gmail usually is used by more experienced users, therefore most spammers don't waste their time on them.


BUT, NO MATTER WHOM YOU USE, YOU ARE GETTING 99.95% OF YOUR EMAILS!


So we should stop blaming our pitiful losing streaks on some unearthly force! (like Yahoo) If you didn't get that winning email ... guess what? It didn't get sent! So use whatever provider you want!

Yah! It stinks

:crazytongue:
 
in response to PMEEK...

.... see it all ... go for it... dare ya! :laughing:

I hear and know FOR A FACT that people that don't use their spam filters usually come down with bad cases of the internet applause!

Dang social diseases!

I charge $50/hour to repair computers trashed by a VIRUS....

:crazytongue: :crazytongue: :crazytongue:

(did you not even bother to read my 2 previous posts?????)
 
:laughing: I didn't say I open up all the emails. I guess I have been lucky as in the 15 years that I have had internet I haven't been infected. I also have a name on my email address that is 19 characters long.
 
Here is another aspect of changing your email for sweeps : What if you started entering a sweep with one email address and then in the middle of the promotion you start using another? Would that mean you might get DQ`d?
 
loren_brothers said:
I charge $50/hour to repair computers trashed by a VIRUS....

:crazytongue: :crazytongue: :crazytongue:
Click to expand...

My roommate wrote the first virus ever hidden in time code. You want I could send you some attached, uh, "pictures" :sunny: Your bios will never be the same...

In response to the OP, as long as you enter according to the guidelines (once per day for example) changing emails at some point in the life of the contest should not be an issue. Just don't enter with 22 emails in the same day....
 
thanks for your responses. No Loren, I'm not trying to use my Yahoo as an excuse for not winning. I have won quite a lot, but mostly IWs. I just finished planning the IW Vegas trip I won this summer and going in December. I wouldn't even be questioning it if I hadn't seen that notice on the sweep last night. Darn it, I wish I could find it again as it mentioned gmail, Yahoo, and aol. It just got me to wondering about it. Anytime you see something that makes you wonder if you are wasting your time, it opens up the questions.
Thanks for all of your responses. I also went thru the changing of my email address this year and it was a pain. I didn't think I should just start using a different addy on a sweep I had been entering for months, so I put those in a separate folder and tried (notice I use the word tried..LOL!) to remember to change my Robo back and forth. I have some sweeps that got entries from both emails, but still I only had one entry per day. I suppose I got myself DQ'd on a few of those, since so many rules say you cannot use multiple email addresses, but the good thing is I'll never know the difference. Thank heavens after December I will be finished with all of those old ones.
I guess I will keep using my Yahoo address. I really don't think anything is getting filtered out since I keep getting the ads for the "little blue pills" among all the lottery winning notices and others. ( Heck, I even heard from Mrs. Yasir Arrafat last night...) LOL!
I just wasn't sure what that notice meant and was hoping it didn't mean they wouldn't even attempt to notify you if you had one of those email accounts. That was was main concern.
Loren, the San Juan Islands sound beautiful!
thanks for your responses and keep on sweepin'....Jackie
 
( Heck, I even heard from Mrs. Yasir Arrafat last night...) LOL!
Click to expand...

Did she tell you that you won 500.000,00 British Pounds, a slightly used rocket launcher, a Mercedes with no roof and some body damage, and best of all: a brown and grey grits for your own personal use during your luxury 5 night/7 day stay in the scenic seaside Gaza Strip????

:crazytongue:
 
Can someone give me the contest or a link to it next time you see
that a sweepstakes doesnt take emails such as google, yahoo, etc.
I have never seen it or I didnt just pay attention.
 
To tell you the truth, I didn't even read it. I could tell by first sentence what it was. My curiousity did get me that far. LOL!
 
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