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With the advent of outrageous volumes of unwanted email these days, it’s unfortunate that legitimate email publications are not being seen by some of the readers who enjoy those publications.  There is much fear today that the email publishing / marketing industry
is in serious trouble, due to mistakes in filtering when legitimate email is erroneously tagged as unwanted email.

While we applaud the anti-spam industry for removing the plethora of unwanted email from many of our mailboxes, from time to time, some legitimate email publications are mistaken as unwanted.

Sometimes, this results in our mailings bouncing back, with requests for us to respond to challenge/response messages to prevent future filtering.  However, due to the size of our list, it’s nearly impossible for us handle the volume of such requests.

To that end, please realize that we want our readers to always anticipate and enjoy the valuable information that our publication delivers.

If you currently use an anti-spam program or service, we ask that you take just a minute or two to add our publication to your “safe” or permitted email sender list.  This usually involves simply adding our sending address (From:) to your whitelist, safelist, or list of priviledged senders.  This is commonly known as whitelisting a publication.

Please refer to the following whitelisting instructions you can use to whitelist Contest News, depending on the filtering solution you use:

AOL

Go to keyword:  Mail Controls.
Select the screen name we’re sending your Contest News to.
Click Customize Mail Controls For This Screen Name.

Version 9.0:

Open your latest Contest News e-mail.
Click the Add Address button (on the right) to add to your “People I Know” list.

Alternatively, you can just send an e-mail to: editor@proofpositive.com, and that
will add us to your “People I Know” list automatically. To do this:

Open your latest Contest News e-mail.
Click the Reply button (it’s in the top right corner).
A new email window opens with the wrong address in the “Send To” box.
Replace the address in the Send To box with: editor@proofpositive.com
Click Send Now (in the top right corner).
Even if the e-mail you send doesn’t get through to us, the act of sending it does
the job of putting us into your “People I Know” list.

CleanMyMailbox:

If Contest News is filtered, from the spambox, click on the white “W” icon on the left column of the mailing.  When the pop-up window comes up, simply click the Add to Whitelist button.

Alternative whitelisting methods:

* Click on the White List button.
Add: editor@proofpositive.com to the bottom of your existing list.
Click the Submit List button.

Cloudmark SpamNet:

Select Cloudmark | Options… from the Cloudmark SpamNet toolbar in Outlook.
Click Advanced.
Go to the Whitelist tab.
Click the Add button.
Type: editor@proofpositive.com
Click OK.
Click OK.
Click Yes.
Click OK.

Hotmail:

Click the Options link, on the main menu tabs, then Safe List.
Type: editor@proofpositive.com in your Safe List.
If you see a message that should not be in your Junk Mail folder, click
‘This is not Junk Mail’ to avoid having e-mail from the same source sent to
the Junk Mail folder in the future.

Mailblocks:

Click the Addresses tab.
Click New.
Type: editor@proofpositive.com
Make sure ‘Accept Mail From This Address’ is selected under Receiving Options.
Uncheck ‘Display in People Picker’ under Other options.
Click Submit.
Click OK.

MailShield:

Click Friends from the toolbar.
Click Add.
Type: editor@proofpositive.com
Click OK.

MailWasher:

Click Tools, then Blacklist & Friends.
Click Add… on the right, the Friends list side.
Make sure Plain email address is selected.
Type: editor@proofpositive.com
Click OK.
Click OK.

McAfee Spamkiller:

Click Friends from the sidebar.
Click Add.
Type: editor@proofpositive.com
Click OK.

oddpost:

Check your ‘Probably Spam’ folder.
If you see that Contest News was incorrectly filtered out,
select it, and click the ‘Move to Inbox and Mark as Not Spam’ button.

SpamAssassin:

Add the following entry to your user_prefs file, which is found in the
.spamassassin subdirectory on your web/mail server:

whitelist_from editor@proofpositive.com

Save the user_prefs file or move the updated copy to your .spamassassin subdirectory.
If you have no user_prefs file in this subdirectory, create one:
http://spamassassin.taint.org/doc/Mail_SpamAssassin_Conf.html
http://www.cleanmymailbox.com/sa

SpamButcher:

Click the Configure button.
Go to the Known Senders tab.
Click Add under ‘Known Good Senders and Recipients’.
Type: editor@proofpositive.com
Click OK.
Click OK.

Spameater Pro:

Click Filters from the sidebar.
Click the Approved Senders tab.
Click Add Filter.
Type: editor@proofpositive.com under Address.
Choose ‘Full Email Address’ under Address Type.
Select Email Domain.
Click OK.

Spam Inspector:

Select Spam Inspector, then ‘Manage Friends List’
from either the Spam Inspector toolbar or from the Outlook menu.
Make sure Email is selected under ‘Add a New Friend’.
Type: editor@proofpositive.com
Click the >> button.
Click Close.

Spam Interceptor:

Follow the Trusted link under > Authentication Lists.  Enter the email
address: editor@proofpositive.com
Click Add.

SpamPal:

Click on the SpamPal system tray icon with the right mouse button.
Click ‘Add to Whitelist’ from the menu.
Type: editor@proofpositive.com
Click Add.

Spam Sleuth:

Select File, then Configure.
Go to the Friends category.
Make sure Active is checked.
Type: editor@proofpositive.com on a line by itself in the entry field.
Click OK.

Yahoo! Mail

Open your Yahoo! mailbox.
Click Mail Options.
Click Filters.
Click Add Filter.
In the top row, labeled ‘From header:’ make sure Contains is selected in the pull-down menu.
Click in the text box next to that pull-down menu, then enter the address: editor@proofpositive.com
At the bottom, where it says “Move the Message To:” select Inbox from the pull-down menu.
Click the Add Filter button again.

If Contest News has been filtered to your “bulk” folder, simply open the message and click on the “This is not Spam” link next to the “From” field.

Other providers:

If Contest News is being filtered, try adding editor@proofpositive.com to your Address Book or Contact list. If this option is not available, try moving the message to your ‘inbox’ or forwarding the message to yourself.

If subsequent messages continue to be filtered, call or e-mail your ISP’s technical support
and ask how you can be sure to receive all e-mail from editor@proofpositive.com.

Domain:     If they need to know the domain we’re mailing from, tell them:  proofpositive.com

RESOURCES

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RESOURCES

Impressive Lottery System!

Play & Win Daily Pick 4 Lottery With Big Cash Winning Numbers.

Winning Orations of the Inter-State Oratorical Contests, Volume I

How To Make Thousands of Dollars by Winning at Contests

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What exactly is the scoop on freebies? Can you REALLY get stuff for free?

The answer is YES … IT DEPENDS … and NO. Sigh!

The YES part is … YES you can actually get stuff for free … as in no money.  The “it depends” part involves what you have to give away in order to get the free. And the NO part is that in some cases the free is just an illusion!

In the freebie world what you are most often giving away is information. You may also find that you are spending TIME. If you have time to spend that’s great, go for it … if your time is limited and worth $$, then you have to consider what you are willing to “spend” in order to get your no money goodies.

For my own purposes I classify freebies into three categories –

1) free and easy 2) you pay the shipping and easy 3) jump though hoops (time involvement)

BEFORE you start your freebie quest it is IMPORTANT to get a free (or throw-away) e-mail address. Be sure that this is separate from your regular e-mail address … AND separate from the e-mail address you use for entering sweepstakes. Depending on the goodies you go after, your freebie e-mail box may fill with junk mail rather quickly.

1) free and easy

The freebies most often offered in this category are product samples.  Companies who are promoting new products or product lines may offer to send you free samples. They hope that once you try their product you will become a loyal customer. And, my experience shows that they are right. The samples may range from the ridiculous (so small why did they bother) to the sublime (huge full product samples.)

My favorites in from past years are the Oil of Olay, Pantene shampoo, and Mr. Clean Eraser give-a-ways.  I also got a HUGE package of goodies from the Swiffer people … they sent full sized containers of over a dozen different products. I was totally blown away! I liked many of these products enough to start buying them. I would never have purchased the products if I hadn’t tried the samples.

At the end of the year I sent for a half dozen free calendars. Two of them were great, the others carried too much advertising for me to want to hang … but I put these to use on my desktop and in my briefcase.

I have also subscribed to the Blockbuster DVD subscription service and purchased several software packages after sampling their trials.

What do you have to do for this category of freebies?

Normally you will have to fill out a very simple form — your name, address, phone number and e-mail address. It could be as simple as that. My experience is that you don’t get a pile of junk e-mail.

Occasionally you may have to join their “club” (free). Occasionally you may have to answer a very simple consumer questionnaire … ie. What skin care product do you normally buy?

2) you pay the shipping and easy

I have been VERY pleased with the give-a-ways I have received in this category. Because you are paying for the shipping, you usually get bigger and more substantial goodies. The samples are big enough that you really get a chance to see if they work, or if you like them.

Those of you who have been getting Contest News for some time will know that I am a RAVING fan of the free soup offer. I was so impressed by what I got that I just can’t shut up about it. I was amazed by the HUGE package of soup mix (enough for 20+ servings) I got, I continue to order it every month. (I like the Chicken Soup mix the best).

I also have loved several of the skin care products (30 day samples), a coffee maker and samples, and several of the CD software packages I ordered.

I additionally put the “trial + order” freebies here. You can get loads of free books and magazines this way. They send your free books and put you on their “regular shipping” list. I just make sure I cancel before they send a shipment they charge me for. In one case I stayed subscribed for six months because I LOVED the line of books … and it was a good deal.

What do you have to do for this category of freebies?

Normally, you just pay for the shipping. Sometimes the shipping charges are inflated … so you have to decide whether you want the product enough. Some of the companies never send you emails, other companies put you on their regular correspondence lists.

3) jump though hoops (time involvement)

This is where the something for nothing stops. The offers are great … get a free computer, get a free ipod, get a free flat screen TV.  But in order to get these big money items for free you have to spend a LOT of time jumping through hoops.

The hoops may involve checking off a dozen (or more) offers for information … and then doing something with each of the offers.  The hoop may involve filling out lengthy consumer questionnaires. Your e-mail box will fill up QUICKLY.

Most of these offers are available only to residents of the USA … so I don’t qualify. I have received several subscriber emails thanking me for the information, so some people get their free stuff and are happy with it. If you are interested in the goodies offered, you might try one or two of these offers to see if they are worth the effort.

What do you have to do for this category of freebies?

LOTS. If you understand that these companies are not going to give you a $1000 product for nothing … you’ve got the idea. You will also find yourself on dozens of lists and will get loads of junk mail. Many of these companies pay for the “freebies” by selling your name, information and e-mail address to dozens of other companies.

My preference INSTEAD of this category of freebies is to join one or more of the “mystery shopper” companies that actually PAY you for filling out their consumer surveys. You won’t get a quarter of the junk mail … and you’ll get paid in goodies or hard cash.

In all, I have been thrilled with my freebie experiences. I have had an opportunity to try loads of great products without any risk on my end. I think that the value I have received for the money I spent has been MORE than worth it.

If you have never tried sending for freebies before today, my advice is to start with the first category — free and easy and if you are happy with the results, give the other categories a try as well.

Melanie Rockett

Contest Guru

RESOURCES

The Secret To Winning Lotto Prizes Frequently – G U A R A N T E E D

Impressive Lottery System!

Winning Orations of the Inter-State Oratorical Contests, Volume I

How To Make Thousands of Dollars by Winning at Contests