Robinson list

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A Robinson List or MPS list is a list of people who do not wish to receive marketing transmissions. The marketing can be via e-mail (in which case the list will contain e-mail addresses or domains) or it could be via postal mail or paper mail, in which case the list will contain street addresses or some combination of street addresses and names. It could also be via telephone or FAX, in which case the content will be a list of blocked phone numbers or partial phone numbers.

The United States National Do Not Call Registry is an example of a mostly successful Robinson list.

1 Origin of the name
2 Are Robinson Lists effective in preventing e-mail spam?
3 Examples
4 External links

[edit] Origin of the name

Common belief is that the list is called a "Robinson list" because of Robinson Crusoe. To a marketer, adding yourself to a list like this means that you are putting yourself on an island. After all, without the "valuable" advertising, how would you learn about new products? You'd be like Robinson Crusoe, forced to create everything for yourself from scratch.

[edit] Are Robinson Lists effective in preventing e-mail spam?

There is significant controversy about whether one should add oneself to a list of people who do not want to receive e-mail marketing. One approach is for each business to have their own list of people who want out of their advertising.

Many people believe that it is the wrong approach: That it simply will not scale. There is almost no cost involved in sending an e-mail. Someone could easily send millions of e-mails out through an ordinary internet connection. Were it acceptable to e-mail advertisements, it would be simple for someone running an ordinary home computer to announce their business grand opening, and every sale they had, to every Internet user - and even to maintain a database of people who wanted to be removed from their lists.

There could be a thousand or more new businesses, every week, doing direct mail advertising. The burden on an individual to get on each individual marketer's Robinson List would be significant.

There are two alternatives: Not to have a Robinson list at all, or to have one which is common to a large group of people.

The Direct Marketing Association has attempted to create a universal list. You can sign up for free, but you must have web access to register and to confirm. The DMA charges a minimum of $600 per year for "cleaning" services. People who are not DMA members can subscribe, and then upload their lists. Within 24 hours, they would get back a cleaned list. Members of the DMA can pay $1,800 for monthly updates or $5,200 for weekly updates and get a copy of e-mail addresses that have been submitted, and do their own cleaning.

There is no legal requirement to use a global Robinson list such as this. If you are in the US, you must maintain an opt-out list. You can do this yourself, or you can hire someone to do it for you. But, in general, you are not allowed to continue sending advertising to someone once they have asked you to stop. The use of a global list does not allow you to ignore your requirement to maintain a local opt-out list.

Whether or not sending e-mail marketing, or spam is legal, it is not socially acceptable. Because of this unacceptability, most Internet Service Providers have an Acceptable Use Policy or AUP which stops you from sending spam. Many of the policies do not allow you to advertise your web site, or to use your e-mail address as a response address - in other words, if the spam mentions your web site or e-mail address, you are in violation of their AUP - even though someone with an account at an ISP that allows spam has sent the spam for you.

Several European countries maintain Robinson lists. Anyone who wants to do in-country advertising is required to compare their advertising list with the Robinson list. This has little effect on the total amount of spam their citizens receive, since most spam is sent internationally.