Global Block List – What’s that?

You probably didn’t know there was such a thing.  A list of email addresses that groups like FDPA can’t send emails to. It’s very real, as some of FDPA subscribers have discovered recently. You can be put on the list without knowing it. It works like a no-call list – if your email address is on it, emails from Action Network clients will not be delivered.  They vanish like ghosts never to be seen.

It’s not just Fair Districts PA email that gets blocked. There are many organizations that are Action Network partners, some you may have heard of and others less well-known. The Delaware River Keeper Network, Daily Kos, and Common Cause are among the names you probably know.  [see more at https://actionnetwork.org/groups/search]  If you report an email from any of these Action Network partners as SPAM, your address goes on the Global Block List.

How do I get off the list?

It’s a big deal.  The reason: FDPA and Action Network are accountable for any SPAM that they propagate.  If we get complaints, our privilege of sending mass email will be revoked. We lose access to the Action Network organizing tools. We take accusations of spam very seriously.  The system automatically adds anyone who complains about us or other Action Network partners to the Global Block List.  To get your email removed, you must sign a pledge.

After you sign the pledge, one of the Fair Districts PA Administrators can restore you as a FDPA subscriber — but only after one regular business day has passed.

If you hate bulk email from activist organizations, you might want to report their email as spam.  Ethical organizations do not add you to their lists randomly. They only add people who have initiated a contact personally.  It could be by asking for information, it could be by attending an event, or it could be by participating in a petition or other action. Copying a list, or buying a list is forbidden. Fair Districts has no access to the Common Cause email list, for example, even though Common Cause is a partner in Action Network. You would have to participate in a collaborative action sponsored by both partners to get on both lists without joining each of them in a separate “join” action.

If you only want to remove your name from a list, you should take the more polite option and unsubscribe. Don’t accuse the sender of SPAM. Unsubscribing will leave matters in your capable hands instead of setting up a widespread blackout that you can’t easily alter.

At Fair Districts PA, you may be on a statewide list and also a regional list as well as some special purpose lists because of your volunteer activities.  You can unsubscribe from a regional or special list without unsubscribing from the statewide list.  If you want to stop getting all FDPA email, you simply click the unsubscribe option in the bottom margin of any emails you get from that list.

Can Somebody Else Get Me on the Global Block List?

Maybe. It can happen if you forward a copy of a mass email to someone else before you take the action yourself. It’s quirky, but your forwarded email may cause someone else to be recognized as you.  Ever notice how, when you click a link in a mass email, you open a page that says “Welcome back [your name].”?  Right underneath it may say, “Not Richmond, click here.”  If you do “click here” the page usually changes and asks who you are.  With Action Network, if you previously clicked and were identified, Action Network remembers and does not assume it’s you the second time.

But if you forwarded an email you never acted on to your friends, and if one of them thought it was spam, you might get put on the Global Blocked List because they complained without first clicking “not [your name]”

Keep it simple. Don’t flag an email as spam unless it is really offensive (e.g.: fake Gucci Bag offers, Nigerian get-rich-quick deals, hot date offers, porn photos and etc.) Emails like those will not be coming from Action Network or other ethical mass mailers.

Bounces

If email sent to you by Action Network can’t be delivered, your email address will be added to the Bounce List to prevent further bounces. This happens rarely, but if your email provider has a problem with their servers, or shuts down for maintenance. 

Outbound Emails Blocked Too

Rich Rafferty was mystified when he sent an email to 84 Montco activists and none were delivered. Changing the “Reply to” line fixed the problem. He was unaware that his email had been added to the Global Block list.

Subscription Fields with “Spam Complaint”