There are plenty of obvious benefits from submitting to directories. But, getting your email address on spam lists is clearly one of the downsides. I do not know how one would go about it, but it would really good if there was a directory rating project, which was also capable of determining whether or not submissions to "xyz" directory would result in the email address being sold to spammers. I have been submitting to some of the free directories advertising themselves here and I have noticed a direct correlation between that activity and the amount of spam I am getting. Without doubt there are some serious people starting directory sites and I am not talking about those individuals. But there are others, and you know who you are, who are selling the submitted information and/or using it in ways which are not stated in the wesbite's TOS. I am not surprised by this. I have been around the internet since before there was spam. Yes, I am that old. But, it would be interesting to start outing these people and sites. The most obvious and simplest way is to use a unique email address for each submission and see which fish bite. That email address could never be used or published anywhere else. More participants in such a project would yield better results. Feeding into one of the existing and/or a new directory of directories, which includes a spam risk rating, would be interesting and helpful for people trying to launch new sites. What do you think?
That is a great idea in theory but I think would be very difficult to implement unless it was done by the directory owner otherwise there would be people who report sites unfoundedly (is that a word?) The easiest thing is always use just one email addy ONLY for directory submissions. Mind you, this is only me talking as a directory owner myself.If someone could come up with an easy solution to have a spam rating I'm all ears.
I have submitted to hundreds of directories and never receive spam. If this is a concern to you, check their privacy policy before submitting. Which directories are spamming you ?
We get spam and/or just crappy emails from directories all the time. Is it really important to send out an email about a redesign of a directory??? We must get at least one shitty email per week from some directory owner. Since I hate it so much.... I have never sent an email... NEVER sent an email to anyone that has a listing in our Site Sift Directory. I know I don't want to be bugged and others probably feel the same way.
That is good. I am glad you never end up on spam lists because of directory submissions. Sadly, I find people who are using directories to gather information to sell to other people do not always mention that in their privacy policy and TOS. As I tried to make clear in starting this thread, the problem is not that directories send out spam. It is that the email address used in the site submission is sold or given to someone else, who is sending out the spam. I want to be clear. I am not saying submitting to directories is bad. I believe the overwhelming majority of directory owners/operators are honest and use the information as intended and as expected. But, there are always some bad apples. As a note of background on myself. I have been creating open source anti-spam tools for many years. The tools I create are used mostly by small to mid-size organizations. As I have gotten more involved in these forums and other open source projects, I have become more interested in a layered approach to combating spam in hopes of limiting the effectiveness of individuals and organizations involved. Thus, my efforts to encourage discussion about some different approaches. BTW, bravo SiteSift. I like your policy! It is refreshing.