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 often block e-mail that you’ve requested, but that fits somebody’s idea of what spam looks like. The more responsible anti-spam activists are working hard to cut down on these “false positives”, but in the mean time, you might unexpectedly find you’re not getting your e-newsletter every time…

As it happens, there’s something you can do to keep your e-newsletter from falling into the false positive trap. You can fight the blacklists with a “white-list”. White-list us now, before your delivery is interrupted.

Of course, every e-mail system is different. Below are instructions for some of the more popular ones. If yours isn’t here, please contact your ISP’s customer service team for their instructions. (Forward the answer to us, and we might add it!)

To find instructions for your e-mail provider or software, scroll down or use the handy menu below.

AOL

For AOL version 9.0: you can ensure that your e-newsletter is delivered to your Inbox by adding our sending address to your “People I Know” list.

– Open your latest e-newsletter.
– Click the Add Address button (over on the right) to add e-newsletter to your “People I Know” list.

Alternatively, you can just send an e-mail to the e-newsletter “From” address, and that will add us to your “People I Know” list automatically.

– Open your latest e-newsletter.
– Copy the address in the “From” line.
– Click the Reply button (it’s in the top right corner).
– A new email window opens with an address pre-filled in the “Send To” box.
– Replace the address in the Send To box with the one you copied out of the From line.
– Click Send Now (it’s in the top right corner).

Even if the e-mail you send doesn’t get through to us (for whatever reason), the act of sending it does the job of putting us into your “People I Know” list–and that’s what counts.

If you’re using an earlier version of AOL, you’ll need to set your Mail Controls instead. Here’s how:

– Go to Keyword Mail Controls.
– Select the screen name we’re sending your e-newsletter to.
– Click Customize Mail Controls For This Screen Name.

For AOL version 8.0: Select Allow email from all AOL members, email addresses and domains.

– Click Next until the Save button shows up at the bottom.
– Click Save.

For AOL version 7.0: In the section for “exclusion and inclusion parameters”, include these domains:

fortuneandfreedom.com

Thank you for white-listing us.

Yahoo

To ensure that your e-newsletter is delivered to your Yahoo Inbox (not the Bulk Mail folder), you can instruct Yahoo to filter it to your Inbox. Here’s how:

– Open your Yahoo mailbox.
– Click Mail Options.
– Click Filters.
– Next, 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 in the “From” line of your most recent e-newsletter.
– At the bottom, where it says Move the message to, select Inbox from the pull-down menu.
– Click the Add Filter button again.

Thank you for white-listing us.

Hotmail

If you’re using Hotmail, you can ensure that your e-newsletter is delivered to your Inbox by adding our “From” address to your Safe List. Here’s how:

– Log on and click the Mail tab to get into your mailbox.
– Click Options (it’s over at the top right, next to Help).
– Click Junk e-Mail Protection.
– Select Safe List.
– In the space provided, enter the address in the “From” line of your most recent e-newsletter.
– Click Add.
– When you see the address you entered in the Safe List box, click OK.

Alternatively, you can add the e-newsletter “From” address to your Contacts list:

– Open your latest issue of e-newsletter (or even the welcome letter will do).
– Click the Save Address button. (It’s over to the right in the line of options just above the e-mail.)
– Click OK.

Thank you for white-listing us.

Outlook 2003

If you’re using Outlook 2003 for your e-mail, you can make sure your e-newsletter is delivered to your Inbox by letting Outlook know you consider it safe. There are a few ways you can do this:

– Open any e-newsletter, then add the sender or the sender’s domain to your Safe List.
– Find the address in the “From” line of your most recent e-newsletter and add it to Personal Contacts in your Outlook Address Book.
– Open any e-newsletter, then select Mark as Not Junk.

Thank you for white-listing us.

Gmail

If you’re using Google?s GMail, you can make sure your e-newsletter is delivered to your Inbox by adding our sending address to your Contacts List. Here’s how:

– Open your latest e-newsletter.
– Click on More Options (it’s over on the right, at the top of the message).
– When the extra options display, click on Add sender to Contacts list.
– A highlighted box will appear on your screen to confirm The sender has been added to your contacts list

Thank you for white-listing us.

Earthlink

If you’re using Earthlink, you can make sure your e-newsletter is delivered to your Inbox by adding our sending address to your Address Book. Here’s how:

– Open your latest e-newsletter.
– Copy the address in the “From” line.
– Click on Address Book (it’s over on the left, below your Folders).
– When your Address Book opens, click the Add button.
– On the Add Contact screen, find the Internet Information box.
– Enter the address you copied from the “From” line into the top Email box.
– Click Save.

Thank you for white-listing us.

MSN

If you’re using MSN version 9 for your e-mail, you can make sure your e-newsletter is delivered to your Inbox by adding our sending address to your Safe List. Here’s how:

– Open your latest e-newsletter.
– Copy the address in the “From” line.
– Click on Settings: E-mail | Junk e-mail (it’s at the bottom left of the screen, just above Calendar).
– On the E-mail settings screen, click Junk E-Mail Guard.
– Select Safe List.
– In the space provided under “Add people to the safe list”, enter the address you copied from the “From” line.
– Click Add.

For older versions of MSN , you add our sending address to your Safe List like this:

– Open your latest e-newsletter.
– Copy the address in the “From” line.
– Click on E-mail settings (it’s at the bottom left of the screen, just above Calendar).
– On the E-mail settings screen, click Junk Mail.
– Select Safe List.
– Click Add an item to this list.
– When the Add To Safe List box appears, enter the address you copied from the “From” line into the space provided.
– Click Add.

Thank you for white-listing us.

Other

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 white-list 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 your e-newsletter or want to make sure you continue to receive your e-newsletter 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 that e-newsletter is e-mail that you asked for and value. Ask them if they can white-list e-newsletter. (Unfortunately, some e-mail systems don’t allow white-listing.) If they do white-list, they’ll probably ask you for some information about us. Here’s what to tell them:

Sending Address: If they ask for our address, give them the address in the “From” line of your most recent e-newsletter.
Domain: If they need to know the domain we’re mailing from, tell them both of these:

fortuneandfreedom.com

Thank you for white-listing us.