[liberationtech] Fwd: Avaaz in "grave danger" due to GMail spam filters

[Matt Holland]

Hi everyone, this is Matt Holland, head of online stuff here at Avaaz. I
would have replied sooner, but just returned from a week away. I've been a
member of the list for a while, because I learn a ton from all of you. I
haven't had anything valuable to contribute before now, but glad to have
the opportunity to switch from "lurker" to "poster". So, some replies:

Moritz: I'd be thrilled if everyone could use an email account from Riseup
or similar, but as others have said it's pretty hard to convince people to
change their email service, and convenience often trumps other concerns.
Our judgement is that we accomplish more overall by meeting people where
they are, even though that involves these sorts of Gmail hassles sometimes.

Tom O: It's true that some people sign a petition and then disappear, but
actually a high percentage of Avaaz members stay engaged over time. This
isn't an advertisement for Avaaz, but you might not know that the petitions
are just the tip of the iceberg -- we have scores of organizers around the
world who use that citizen pressure as a tool to lobby decisionmakers, get
stories into the media, affect administrative policy decisions, shame
corporations into changing their behavior, etc.

Rich: We actually do run our email lists in-house, sent from our own MTA's,
with appropriate SPF records, DKIM signature, list-precedence headers, etc.
etc. Our message to members was focused on getting into a particular "tab"
at Gmail though; I think if we were having problems with those basic
list-management issues we'd be more likely to see our messages being marked
spam or just dropped outright.

Jillian: I think Ricken's response was more about the Executive Director
engaging in a lengthy debate about that particular issue back in 2012. As
an organization we work closely with all sorts of allies all over the
world, and I have personal relationships with several people on this list.

I gain a huge amount from this community and the work many of you do
individually, and I hope I can return the favor some day.


-- 

Matt Holland
Chief Online Officer
Avaaz
www.avaaz.org
Email: matt at avaaz.org
Skype:  tm_matt

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