I recently ran into a scenario that I’m still shaking my head over. I subscribe to a popular online marketing letter. Like most online newsletters, these folks properly required a double-opt in procedure to make sure people wanted their newsletter. In the most recent issue, they asked for feedback on a video. Do you think I could easily contact them?

The email request in the newsletter seemed reasonable and easy. The author explained that they had some server problems and wanted to make sure a video played correctly. Having just finished an upgrade on our site, I recognize the value of finding errors sooner than later.

I clicked the email link and went to the site. The video played fine. I then noticed I had a horizontal scrollbar at the bottom of Firefox. Intrigued, I scrolled over to find a good 30% more content. Unless you were looking for the content or were running your monitor settings larger than 1024 x 768, you would miss out. Some code was making the page too wide.

When I encounter these issues, I try to inform the company or webmaster. I figure it takes me little time to point out a problem they probably haven’t seen. On average, I send these types of emails twice a week. Most people respond to my emails and are grateful for the heads up just as I would be in the same situation. I opened the earlier email, hit the Reply button and posted my findings.

A slight snag ensued. I got an automated response from “blackhole” giving me a sob story about the author getting too much spam.

Here’s my take,

1. We all get too much spam.

2. Don’t make your problem, my problem.

3. Why are you using a deactivated email account in the Reply-To address?

4. When I double-opted in to the newsletter, a relationship was established. What happened to it? Why I am on par with a spammer? My email address should be known to you.

The damage has been done in this incident. Hopefully, the author will discover the web problem, but it won’t be from me unless they can figure out I’m talking about them from this article. But, any chance you or your company puts customers through a similar ordeal? You may want to play the part of a customer and see how your systems work.