Microsoft email extortion (hotmail, msn, live)

Been getting a lot of bounced emails today like the one quoted below:

s______s@hotmail.com
SMTP error from remote mail server after MAIL FROM:<webmaster@faunaclassifieds.com> SIZE=2183:
host mx3.hotmail.com [65.54.244.200]: 550 SC-001 Mail rejected by Windows Live Hotmail for policy reasons. Reasons for rejection may be related to content with spam-like characteristics or IP/domain reputation problems. If you are not an email/network admin please contact your E-mail/Internet Service Provider for help. Email/network admins, please visit http://postmaster.live.com for email delivery information and support

This is for standard notification emails being sent by this site concerning replies to threads, directed inquiries about classified ads, or notices of private messages being in the members' inbox.

I did a bit of looking around about this problem, starting with the link provided in those bounced email and here's some links to the pages I followed:

http://postmaster.live.com/Services....enderSolutions

Which then leads me to this page:

http://www.senderscorecertified.com/about/fees.php

In a nutshell, Microsoft wants all email senders to pay them a fee to allow emails to get through to their email clients on hotmail, msn, and live.com. Which kind of explains why so many emails have been blocked lately by those accounts, since I suspect it was all leading up to this. Basically Microsoft created a problem with the blocking that now they want everyone to pay for in order to resolve.

Not only that, but obviously spammers are welcome to have access to their email clients as long as they are willing to pay handsomely for that privilege.

In my opinion, this is blatantly extortion, and a HUGE pile of BS, the likes of which I haven't seen in quite a long time. Demanding payment for all email senders (which includes all message boards of this type) to pay Microsoft a hefty fee for the privilege of having those members using their email services be able to receive notices of any kind. Heck, and all this time we all wondered why Microsoft was offering *FREE* email services through Hotmail. I guess this explains it pretty well. They were looking for the huge return on the back end when they had a large captive clientele that would be worth email senders being able to have access to. Wanna bet that Microsoft won't provide such spammers, uh, bulk emailers, a current database of valid email accounts for a fee?

Apparently I am not alone in the above thinking, either....

http://www.streetdirectory.com/trave...n_tactic_.html

Not sure what the solution is, but I will tell you right now that I am not about to be spending $400 to apply for the privilege and a yearly fee of $1,000 to keep the emails flowing to Microsoft's captive email accounts. To be perfectly honest about it, I'm pissed off enough about such tactics to simply block those email accounts completely from all of my sites. Basically boycott those email accounts under control of Microsoft and being used in these extortionist tactics. Screw you, Microsoft.

For all of you who utilize such accounts, I strongly suggest you find an alternate, because not only are you most certainly getting legitimate emails blocked so you never receive them, but quite likely other admins of sites that send out such email notices at the request of the members are having the same thoughts as I am along the lines of "SCREW YOU, MICROSOFT!!", and boycotting those accounts as well.

So, for what it is worth, that's the latest crap laid on my plate today....

Buh Bye Hotmail

USE GMAIL

Its BETTER anyway. and FREE. Google will rule the world!

Originally Posted by WebSlave

Wanna bet that Microsoft won't provide such spammers, uh, bulk emailers, a current database of valid email accounts for a fee?

They already have been doing that, or at least they used to.
Once a few years back I opened a hotmail email account. I forget why I got it, but the purpose I had for it was only a potential need. I never actually used the address for anything whatsoever, no forms no anything.
Interestingly, when I logged into the account a week or two after opening it there was a good number of spam emails in the inbox. That was proof to me that Microsoft themselves, or perhaps one of their employees making a buck on the side, had given that new address to some spammers, since I had never given it to anyone. I never logged into that account again and have never had a hotmail address since.

My guess was that since most people begin using an address almost immediately after creating it, this sort of situation was rarely if ever able to be seen first hand so they were taking very little risk in leaking the addresses themselves.

I agree- Gmail is the solution!! It's 100% free and 100% better.

~Katy

I contacted Microsoft via some form they have online, and apparently that stopped the email bounces dead in their tracks. Not that I think I had any influence, but I believe they got inundated with hate mail over this. Probably some of it from attorneys.

So we'll see what happens............

Originally Posted by WebSlave

I contacted Microsoft via some form they have online, and apparently that stopped the email bounces dead in their tracks. Not that I think I had any influence, but I believe they got inundated with hate mail over this. Probably some of it from attorneys.

So we'll see what happens............

Rich you are too humble, you know it is all because of you!