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53-627: Alam founded Al-Fatiha in November 1997. The organization grew out of an internet listserve for questioning Muslims from 25 countries, and by October 1998 had developed numerous in-person chapters. At its height, Al-Fatiha had 14 chapters in the United States, as well as offices in England , Canada , Spain , Turkey , and South Africa . The name "Al-Fatiha" means "the Opening." It is also

106-492: A Prohibitory Order , which gives people the power to stop non-governmental organizations from sending them mail, and to demand such organizations remove the consumers’ information from their mailing lists. In Canada, the highly publicized Red Dot Campaign offers advice on reducing unaddressed advertising mail. The campaign focuses on advertising the Canada Post policy to respect "No Junkmail" signs, noting that this policy

159-443: A moderator before being sent to the rest of the subscribers (moderated lists), although higher-traffic lists typically only moderate messages from new subscribers. Companies sending out promotional newsletters have the option of working with whitelist mail distributors, which agree to standards and high fines from ISPs should any of the opt-in subscribers complain. In exchange for their compliance and agreement to prohibitive fines,

212-469: A member of the list sends a note to the group's special address, the e-mail is broadcast to all of the members of the list. The key advantage of a mailing list over things such as web-based discussion is that as the new message becomes available they are immediately delivered to the participants' mailboxes. A mailing list sometimes can also include information such as phone number, postal address, fax number, and more. An electronic mailing list or email list

265-427: A neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood basis. Postal systems offer lower rates for buyers of bulk mail permits. In order to qualify for these rates, marketers must format and sort the mail in specific ways – which reduces the handling required by the postal service. Income from advertising mail represents a significant and growing portion of some postal services' budgets, and it is a service actively marketed by them. In

318-401: A particular day by the list server are combined into one email that is sent once per day to subscribers. Some mailing lists allow individual subscribers to decide how they prefer to receive messages from the list server (individual or digest ). Mailing lists have first been scholarly mailing lists. The genealogy of mailing lists as a communication tool between scientists can be traced back to

371-524: A privacy problem, both because its generation requires extensive collection and use of information, and because receipt of mail can be an intrusion into the home. Numerous public opinion polls have found that Americans find advertising mail intrusive, for instance, in June 2003, the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 19 percent of Americans found, "junk mail delivered by the postal service"

424-690: A single day's junk mail (70,000,000,000,000/3 btus of energy or 28,870,000,000/21 kWh of energy). In the UK, the Minister of State responsible for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs estimated that "direct mail and promotions" accounted for between 500,000 and 600,000 tonnes of paper in 2002, with 13% being recycled . The government and the Direct Marketing Association (UK) together agreed on recycling targets for

477-414: A subsidized USPS rate. When targeted to other businesses rather than individuals, direct mail is known as a business-to-business mailing. Traditionally, this worked in one of two ways: as a direct sale, therefore precluding the use of a salesperson or a retail store, or as a method of generating leads for a salesforce. The former method was ideally used by products that were easy to sell, were familiar to

530-427: Is a common form of direct marketing , and may be employed by for-profit businesses, charities and other non-profits , political campaigns , and other organizations. Direct mail encompasses a wide variety of marketing materials, including brochures, catalogs, postcards, newsletters and sales letters. In 2015 more than 150 million direct mail promotions were sent out with a reported 42% of respondents scanning or reading

583-399: Is a special use of email that allows for widespread distribution of information to many Internet users. It is similar to a traditional mailing list – a list of names and addresses – as might be kept by an organization for sending publications to its members or customers, but typically refers to four things: Electronic mailing lists usually are fully or partially automated through

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636-406: Is at stake in the communities gathered around lists. Anthropologists, sociologists and historians have used mailing lists as fieldwork. Topics include TV series fandom, online culture, or scientific practices among many other academic studies. From the historian's point of view, the issue of the preservation of mailing lists heritage (and Internet fora heritage in general) is essential. Not only

689-489: Is not cost-efficient . It has been suggested that social media will eventually replace direct mail as the preferred method for marketing communications. Those who believe direct mail marketing has a future cite its strong growth in 2011. It has been reported that large publishers like the Tribune Company and RR Donnelley have growing direct mail divisions. Nonprofit organizations continue to use direct mail at

742-408: Is not promoted by Canada Post itself. The name "red dot" refers to an internal marker used by Canada Post to indicate which households do not wish to receive unaddressed admail. The UK Royal Mail also offers an opt-out service, though unaddressed government mailings cannot be separated from advertisements, and those who opted out of the latter would stop receiving the former as well. Several of

795-632: Is notably used for archiving the Linux kernel mailing list along with many other software development mailing lists and has a web-service API used by search-and-retrieval tools intended for use by the Linux kernel development community ). Listwashing is the process through which individual entries in mailing lists are to be removed. These mailing lists typically contain email addresses or phone numbers of those that have not voluntarily subscribed. Only complainers are removed via this process. Because most of those that have not voluntarily subscribed stay on

848-562: Is often available to allow people to subscribe, unsubscribe, and change their preferences. However, mailing list servers existed long before the World Wide Web , so most also accept commands over email to a special email address. This allows subscribers (or those who want to be subscribers) to perform such tasks as subscribing and unsubscribing, temporarily halting the sending of messages to them, or changing available preferences – all via email. The common format for sending these commands

901-751: Is the delivery of advertising material to recipients of postal mail . The delivery of advertising mail forms a large and growing service for many postal services, and direct-mail marketing forms a significant portion of the direct marketing industry. Some organizations attempt to help people opt out of receiving advertising mail, in many cases motivated by a concern over its negative environmental impact . Advertising mail includes advertising circulars, plastic mailers, coupon envelopes (Money Mailer, Valpak), catalogs, CDs , " pre-approved " credit card applications, and other commercial merchandising materials delivered to homes and businesses. It may be addressed to pre-selected individuals, or unaddressed and delivered on

954-416: Is to send an email that contains simply the command followed by the name of the electronic mailing list the command pertains to. Examples: subscribe anylist or subscribe anylist John Doe . Electronic mailing list servers may be set to forward messages to subscribers of a particular mailing list either individually as they are received by the list server, or in digest form in which all messages received on

1007-425: Is under scrutiny by many of its former and current advocates. The arguments against using direct mail marketing include possible impact on the environment and changing attitudes among consumers . In the United States, the common practice of address standardization can defeat the purpose of advertising mail by stripping away local identity, thus leaving many recipients alienated. It is also argued that direct mail

1060-436: The 1980s and doubling again in the 1990s and early 2000s—led to a massive expansion in the use of direct mail to build and sustain large, nationwide donor and membership lists. Today, direct mail fundraising accounts for at least one-fifth of the more than $ 250 billion contributed annually in the U.S. to the nation's 1.6 million nonprofit organizations Direct mail fundraising has its own unique jargon, with much of it related to

1113-713: The US, the Free Congress Foundation in the 1970s, Response Dynamics, Inc. in the 1980s, the National Congressional Club , and Richard Viguerie . With the advent of the Internet in political campaigns, direct mail became just one of many campaign management tools , but still played a significant role. Nonprofit companies use direct mail marketing as a consistent form of advertising. In its modern form, direct mail fundraising appeared in

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1166-589: The United States after World War II when nationwide charities such as the National Easter Seal Society sought ways to broaden their fundraising base. It was only with the advent in the 1960s of the ZIP code and, later, the computer that direct mail fundraising began to gain wide use. Before the ZIP code, it was difficult to target appropriate recipients of direct mail fundraising appeals, and before

1219-483: The United States, ad mail dollars decreased from $ 96.6 billion in 2004, to $ 80.9 billion in 2013. A study by Boston Consulting Group predicts that overall share of ad-spend in the US will increase from 11% in to 12% by 2020. In Canada, addressed and unaddressed advertising mail accounted for 20% of Canada Post 's revenue in 2005, and the share is increasing. Postal services employ the terms advertising mail , admail , and direct mail , while avoiding and objecting to

1272-511: The ability to work offline, the ability to sign/encrypt posts via GPG , and the ability to use an e-mail client's features, such as filters. Mailers want to know when items are delivered, partly to know how to staff call centers. Salting (or seeding) their lists enables them to compare delivery times, especially when time-of-year affects arrival delays. It may also provide information about poor handling of samples. Having seeded entries in an eMail list simplifies tracking who may have "borrowed"

1325-625: The above organizations, as well as environmental groups , express concern about the environmental impact generated by direct mail. In the US, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 44% of junk mail is discarded without being opened or read, equalling four million tons of waste paper per year, with 32% recovered for recycling. Further, the Ohio Office of Compliance Assistance and Pollution Prevention (OCAPP) estimates that 250,000 homes could be heated for

1378-513: The amount of addressed advertising mail they receive. In the UK, the Mailing Preference Service allows people to register with them for removal from posted as opposed to hand-delivered mail. As of 2017 in the United States two organizations offering these services include Catalog Choice and DMAChoice . A similar organization by the name of 41pounds.org received customer complaints and then became defunct. Another one by

1431-514: The art and science of creating, producing and mailing the right appeal to the right list at the right time, and measuring the results. In recent years, electronic communication media has been used more commonly among nonprofits. Online, email, and social media campaigns, collectively referred to as digital fundraising, have been used in coordination with direct mail fundraising. Nonprofits supplement direct mail campaigns with email blasts and social media posts, using similar messaging and visuals to tie

1484-483: The computer, compiling and maintaining lists of supporters was tedious and costly. During the 1970s, when computers became increasingly affordable, the use of direct mail fundraising spread widely. It quickly became the means by which most Americans learned about and first provided financial support for their charities of choice. The explosive growth of the nonprofit sector in the United States—quadrupling in

1537-462: The cover while all female recipients receive a picture of a woman. Often advertisers will include a Johnson Box in letters. These are aimed at drawing the targeted consumers into reading further in the letter. To the non-professional, direct mail may seem wasteful, yet the medium can be one of the most cost-effective. Database targeting combined with an effective pricing, creative and list strategy can reduce waste and maximize profitable results for

1590-708: The direct mail industry, including a goal of 55% by 2009, though the DMA's latest estimates are that the industry will fall well short of this mark. Mike Berners-Lee estimates that receiving five letters per day plus two printed catalogs per week results in 480 kilograms (1,060 lb) CO 2e per year. A New York Times article from 2009 states that in the United States 51.5 million metric tons of greenhouse gases are emitted each year from mail advertisements. The Environmental Protection Agency indicates that in 2009 total US greenhouse gas emissions were 6,700.10 million metric tons. Recipients may conceive of advertising mail as

1643-508: The effectiveness of different appeals. The winning mail package will be known as the control and the direct mail company will continue to mail the control until a different package produces improved results, usually measured by metrics such as revenue and conversion rate. Advertisers often refine direct mail practices into targeted mailing in which mail is sent following database analysis to select recipients considered most likely to respond positively. This reduces costs for mailers by narrowing

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1696-576: The emails sent by whitelisted companies are not blocked by spam filters , which often can reroute these legitimate, non-spam emails. Some mailing lists are open to anyone who wants to join them, while others require an approval from the list owner before one may join. Joining a mailing list is called "subscribing" and leaving a list is called "unsubscribing". A mailing list archive is a collection of past messages from one or more electronic mailing lists. Such archives often include searching and indexing functionality. Many archives are directly associated with

1749-488: The header of a first post defines the topic of a series of answers thus constituting a thread) is a typical and ubiquitous structure of discourse within lists and fora of the Internet. It is pivotal to the structure and topicality of debates within mailing lists as an arena, or public sphere in Habermas wording. The flame wars (as the liveliest episodes) give valuable and unique information to historians to comprehend what

1802-415: The individual or neighbourhood level, direct mail marketing allows recipients to be targeted, attempting to match the demographic profile of the recipients to one most closely matching that of likely customers. Individually targeted direct mail may be tailored based on previous transactions and gathered data. For example, all male recipients of an offer may receive a personalized package with a man's picture on

1855-489: The late 1990s and early 2000s, and focused on issues such as the reconciliation of religion and sexual orientation. The last Al-Fatiha conference was held in 2005 in Atlanta, Georgia . In 2001, Al-Muhajiroun , an international organization seeking the establishment of a global Islamic caliphate , issued a fatwa declaring that all members of Al-Fatiha were murtadd , or apostates , and condemning them to death. Because of

1908-413: The list without permission. When similar or identical material is sent out to all subscribers on a mailing list, it is often referred to as a mailshot or a blast. A list for such use can also be referred to as a distribution list . On legitimate (non- spam ) mailing lists, individuals can subscribe or unsubscribe themselves. Mailing lists are often rented or sold. If rented, the renter agrees to use

1961-616: The list, this helps spammers to maintain a low-complaint list of spammable email addresses. Internet service providers who forward complaints to the spamming party are often seen as assisting the spammer in list washing, or, in short, helping spammers. Most legitimate list holders provide their customers with listwashing and data deduplication service regularly for no charge or a small fee. Direct mail Advertising mail , also known as direct mail (by its senders), junk mail (by its recipients), mailshot or admail (North America), letterbox drop or letterboxing (Australia),

2014-429: The mail. Copywriters write the words, also known as copy, for direct mail. These copywriters are known inside the trade as direct response copywriters. Direct response copy follows a proven format based on testing results. Graphic designers who specialize in direct marketing also play a key role in the success of direct mail programs. Many direct mail marketers will mail different version of copy ( A/B testing ) to test

2067-493: The mailer. Testing is accomplished in a variety of ways including A/B split testing of new mailings versus a control and testing lists through "Nth" name selects. Political campaigns make frequent use of direct mail, both to gain votes from the electorate as a whole, and to target certain groups of voters thought to be open to a candidate's message and to appeal for campaign funds. Certain organizations and individuals have become known for their prowess in direct mail, including in

2120-627: The mailing list only at contractually agreed-upon times. The mailing list owner typically enforces this by " salting " (known as "seeding" in direct mail) the mailing list with fake addresses and creating new salts for each time the list is rented. Unscrupulous renters may attempt to bypass salts by renting several lists and merging them to find common, valid addresses. Mailing list brokers exist to help organizations rent their lists. For some list owners, such as specialized niche publications or charitable groups, their lists may be some of their most valuable assets, and mailing list brokers help them maximize

2173-437: The mailing list, but some organizations, such as Gmane , collect archives from multiple mailing lists hosted at different organizations; thus, one message sent to one popular mailing list may end up in many different archives. Gmane had over 9,000 mailing list archives as of 16 January 2007. Some popular free software programs for collecting mailing list archives are Hypermail , MHonArc , FUDforum , and public-inbox (which

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2226-405: The mailing universe to only the most likely audience. For example, a person who has demonstrated an interest in golf may receive direct mail for golf-related products or perhaps for goods and services that are appropriate for golfers. This use of database analysis is a type of database marketing . Alternatively, unaddressed direct mail may be sent on a neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood basis. Whether at

2279-513: The name of the first chapter of the Qur'an . In the beginning of that chapter ('surah'), God is described as compassionate and merciful; the organization's founders believe that these attributes characterize Islam, rather than hatred and homophobia . Each year, Al-Fatiha hosted an international membership retreat and conference. Early conferences took place in Boston, New York, London and San Francisco in

2332-566: The name of Tonic Mailstopper (formerly GreenDimes) no longer appears to be in business either. Several websites critical of junk mail have guides for people interested in reducing the amount of junk mail they get, such as the Center for a New American Dream . In response to a US Supreme Court ruling ( Rowan v. Post Office Dept. , 397 U.S. 728 (1970) ), the United States Postal Service enables an applicant to obtain

2385-830: The organization. It began a process of legal dissolution in 2011. Listserve A mailing list is a collection of names and addresses used by an individual or an organization to send material to multiple recipients. The term is often extended to include the people subscribed to such a list, so the group of subscribers is referred to as "the mailing list", or simply "the list". At least two types of mailing lists can be defined: Historically mailing lists preceded email/web forums; both can provide analogous functionalities. When used in that fashion, mailing lists are sometimes known as discussion lists or discussion forums . Discussion lists provide some advantages over typical web forums, so they are still used in various projects, notably Git and Debian . The advantages over web forums include

2438-510: The pejorative term junk mail . The United States Postal Service offers a direct mail service known as Every Door Direct Mail, that provides resources allowing businesses to target, design, print and mail to specific households without needing to know the addresses. In many developed countries, advertising mail represents a significant and growing amount of the total volume of mail. In the United States, "Standard mail: advertising" comprised 29% of all mail in 1980 and 43% in 2003. Direct mail

2491-473: The prospect and needed no demonstration. The latter method was used for large-ticket items or for those that needed demonstration, for example. One method of direct mailing used in B2B is known as "bill-me." In this direct-mail marketing offer, the buyer is shipped the product prior to payment and is then sent an invoice later. Several organizations offer opt-out services to people who wish to reduce or eliminate

2544-459: The text of the corpus of messages has yet to be perennially archived, but also their related metadata , timestamps , headers that define topics, etc. Mailing lists archives are a unique opportunity for historians to explore interactions, debates, even tensions that reveal a lot about communities. On both discussion lists and newsletter lists precautions are taken to avoid spamming . Discussion lists often require every message to be approved by

2597-528: The threat and coming from conservative societies, many members of the foundation's site still prefer to be anonymous so as to protect their identity while continuing a tradition of secrecy. While Al-Fatiha worked to combat homophobia within Muslim communities, it also felt it faced the challenge of seeking to avoid provoking an Islamophobic reaction among non-Muslims. After the organization's founder, Faisal Alam, stepped down, subsequent leaders failed to sustain

2650-536: The times of the fledgling Arpanet . The aim of the computer scientists involved in this project was to develop protocols for the communication between computers. In so doing, they have also built the first tools of human computer-mediated communication . Broadly speaking, the scholarly mailing lists can even be seen as the modern version of the salons of the Enlightenment ages, designed by scholars for scholars. The " threaded conversation " structure (where

2703-429: The use of special mailing list software and a reflector address set up on a server capable of receiving email. Incoming messages sent to the reflector address are processed by the software, and, depending on their content, are acted upon internally (in the case of messages containing commands directed at the software itself) or are distributed to all email addresses subscribed to the mailing list. A web-based interface

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2756-419: The value of their lists. Transmission may be paper-based or electronic. Each has its strengths, although a 2022 article claimed that compared to email, " direct mail still brings in the lion's share of revenue for most organizations." A mailing list is simply a list of e-mail addresses of people who are interested in the same subject, are members of the same work group, or who are taking classes together. When

2809-429: The various communications together. However, digital fundraising has not grown fast enough to replace direct mail for most nonprofits. In 2012, digital fundraising accounted for 7 percent of charitable donations in the United States. This form of marketing is increasingly used by charitable groups in the UK. In 2013, £239 million was spent by British charities on direct mail advertising campaigns. Direct mail marketing

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