Unsolicited, unwanted advertising e-mail, commonly known as ‘spam’, has become a big problem. It’s reached such proportions that most e-mail services and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have put some sort of blocking or filtering system in place or begun relying on self-proclaimed blacklists to tell the good guys from the bad.

We applaud their intention to protect you from spam, but everyone agrees that the current systems for stopping spam are far from a perfect solution. They too often block e-mail that you’ve requested, but that fits somebody’s idea of what spam looks like.

The more responsible anti-spam companies and activists are working hard to cut down on these ‘false positives’, but in the meantime, you might unexpectedly find you’re not getting the e-mails you subscribed to…

As it happens, there’s something you can do to keep the e-mails you value from falling into the false positive trap. You can fight the blacklists with a “whitelist.” Whitelist every new subscription right at the start, before your delivery is interrupted.

Of course, every e-mail system is different. Below are instructions for some of the more popular ones, including Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail and AOL. If yours isn’t here, please contact your ISP’s customer service department for their instructions.

One thing you can do no matter what e-mail system you’re using is add the address in the “From” line of The Money & Markets e-Letter to your address book. This address is info@mp.dev.moneyandmarkets.com

GMAIL

To ensure that you continue to get your emails from Money & Markets, please add our email address to your Gmail address book. Gmail has made it easier than ever to do this. Sign in to your account and do the following:

Add the address to your Contacts.

Add info@mmp.dev.moneyandmarkets.com to your Gmail Contacts. Google will usually deliver emails from addresses that are in your Contacts.

Mark messages as “Not spam.”

If Gmail has marked emails you wish to whitelist as spam, tell Gmail the emails are not spam.

  • In Gmail, navigate to the Spam folder.
  • Search for emails containing the domain MoneyandMarkets.com.
  • Select all the emails shown.
  • Click More and then Not spam.

Create a filter for the address.

Create a filter to tell Google to whitelist info@mp.dev.moneyandmarkets.com.

  • Click the cog icon in the top-right corner, and then Settings.
  • Click on Filters and then Create a new filter.
  • Enter the domain (MoneyAndMarkets.com) of the email you want to whitelist in the From field.

Or…

  • Enter info@mp.dev.moneyandmarkets.com in the To field.
  • Click Create filter with this search.
  • In the box headed When a message arrives that matches this search, select Never send it to spam.
  • Click the Create filter button.

Tips:

  • Do not enter email addresses in both the From and To fields, as Gmail will only filter in emails that meet both criteria.
  • In both the From and To fields, you can enter either a specific email address or an entire domain.

YAHOO!

To ensure that you continue to get your emails from Money and Markets, please add our email address to your Yahoo address book. Yahoo has made it easier than ever to do this. Sign in to your account and do the following:

Add the address to your contacts.

Add info@mp.dev.moneyandmarkets.com to your Yahoo Mail Contacts. Yahoo will usually deliver emails from addresses that are in your Contacts.

Create a filter for the address.

  • Hover over the Settings menu icon and select Settings.
  • Click Filters and then Add.
  • Enter a Filter Name.
  • Enter the domain (MoneyAndMarkets.com) of the email you want to whitelist in the Sender field.

Or…

  • Enter info@mp.dev.moneyandmarkets.com in the Recipient field.
  • Select Inbox as the folder to deliver the email to.
  • Click Save and then click Save again.

Tips:

  • Do not enter email addresses in both the Sender and Recipient fields, as Yahoo Mail will only filter in emails that meet both criteria.
  • In both the Sender and Recipient fields, you can enter either a specific email address or an entire domain.
  • Create a new filter for each domain or email address you want to whitelist.

HOTMAIL

To ensure that you continue to get your emails from Money and Markets, please add our email address to your Hotmail address book. Hotmail has made it easier than ever to do this. Sign in to your account and do the following:

Add the address to your contacts.

Add info@mp.dev.moneyandmarkets.com to your Hotmail Contacts. Hotmail will usually deliver emails from addresses that are in your Contacts.

Create a filter for the address.

  • Click the cog icon in the top-right corner and then Options.
  • Under Junk, click Safe Senders.
  • Enter info@mp.dev.moneyandmarkets.com.
  • Click the “+” symbol.
  • Click Save.

AOL

To ensure that you continue to get your emails from Money and Markets, please add our email address to your AOL Address Book. AOL has made it easier than ever to do this. Sign in to your account and do the following:

Add the address to your contacts.

Add info@mp.dev.moneyandmarkets.com to your AOL Contacts. AOL will usually deliver emails from addresses that are in your Contacts.

Create a filter for the address.

  • Click Spam Controls on the lower right side of your inbox screen. A Mail and Spam Controls box will appear.
  • Click Customer Sender and choose Allow email from.
  • Enter info@mp.dev.moneyandmarkets.com.
  • Click Add.
  • Click Save.

Many popular e-mail programs, including older versions of Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, and Netscape Mail, don’t provide a convenient way for you to whitelist the folks you want to receive e-mail from. If you’re using this sort of e-mail system and you either aren’t getting e-mail you value or want to make sure you continue to receive it in the future, you can do something about it.

Contact the customer service people or the postmaster at the company that provides your e-mail or Internet connection (your ISP). Explain to them what subscriptions are e-mail that you asked for (or paid for) and value. Ask them if they can whitelist the sender. (Unfortunately, some e-mail systems don’t allow whitelisting.) If they do whitelist, they’ll probably ask you for some information about the publisher. Here’s what to tell them:

  • Sending Address: If your ISP asks for the “sender” or “from” address, give them the address info@mp.dev.moneyandmarkets.com
  • Domain: If your ISP needs to know the domain Money and Markets is mailing from, try forwarding them one of our e-mails. The domain is in the “header” of every e-mail. If that doesn’t work, you’ll have to contact the publisher to ask them what domain they’re sending from. There might be more than one, especially if you have multiple subscriptions.
  • IP Address: If your ISP asks for the sending IP address, try forwarding them one of our e-mails. The “originating IP” is in the “header” of every e-mail. If that doesn’t work, you’ll have to contact us to ask what IP address we’re sending from.

Thank you for whitelisting us.