Summersault Blog

Kelly Jackson Higgins has written a great article on Seven Ways to be Mistaken for a Spammer, first noticed from a Slashdot post. Kelly’s advice and observations are very much in line with our experiences as a company that hosts e-mail accounts and tries to fight the ever-rising surge of spam, and as developers who are often creating software that sends legitimate e-mail to users all over the Internet. The main don’ts from the article:

1. Ignoring “unsubscribe” requests.
2. List “repurposing.”
3. Providing unclear privacy checkbox instructions, and ignoring users’ responses.
4. Losing track of internal desktop and server machines that can be used against you.
5. Not keeping databases and address lists up to date.
6. Having vulnerable mailer forms on your Website.
7. Working with non-reputable third-party mailers.

Whether you take Kelly’s word for it or ours or someone else’s, these items are SO important to pay attention to.

RICHMOND, IN - The year 2007 will include the marking of Summersault’s 10th year in existence, and the company has begun making preparations to celebrate.

“We’re so excited to mark this milestone in our history, and we’re looking forward to doing so with our family and friends in the community,” said Summersault’s Principal, Chris Hardie.

The company was founded in August of 1997 by Hardie and Mark Stosberg, while both were Computer Science students at Earlham College. Stosberg and Hardie formed a partnership around a common interest in running a socially responsible business that made professional web development services more accessible to organizations with limited budgets. Read the rest of this entry »