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The use case is marketing email. Sending to non-existent addresses can radically affect deliverability. If the address is to a large host, then they will use r
by jlawer 5y ago
The use case is marketing email. Sending to non-existent addresses can radically affect deliverability.
If the address is to a large host, then they will use reaching invalid email addresses as evidence that you are not keeping to best practices. They will throttle deliverability, and possibly reject email.
If your sending to an invalid host, then your mail sending provider (if your using one) may consider you a bad customer and send you through a lower grade of outbound IP addresses.
Frequently new registrations are processed at once as batch imports from another system or from a partner. There is a need to remove these invalid email addresses pre-sending and hurting sending reputation.
- smileysteve 5y agoAny engineer or product team that uses this lacks ethics and is putting their company at risk for CANSPAM. If you work at a company that would abuse hibp and a direct mention in CANSPAM you should refuse the work.
- tlogan 5y agoThis is not for “marketing emails”. This is for spammers.
- bombcar 5y agoThey’re the same thing, really.
- tlogan 5y agoNot really: but majority of spammers think that they are doing marketing.
- wyager 5y agoI've never once received a "marketing email" that wasn't spam.
- Semaphor 5y agoThat’s you (and the large part of HN who doesn’t know anything about normal users). When GDPR came into effect, we even had people write us that they were annoyed having to reconfirm, as obviously they still wanted our newsletter.
- benlivengood 5y agoSome people want to receive marketing emails. The exact same emails are spam to the rest of us. If you default opt-in users and don't make blanket unsubscription from all marketing emails easy (and make the clear distinction [both internally and externally] between emails regarding the existing functionality of products/services that we've already paid for and emails to ask for more revenue from us, which includes copy supported by advertisers), then you're a spammer, simple as that. Spammers aren't necessarily evil, but definitely annoying, and annoying customers is a good way to lose them. It's easy to drink the coolaid and eat the dogfood when you're paid to like it or have a passion for creating it but potential customers have roughly the opposite incentive and it pays to remember that. I receive a lot of unread, unwanted email from companies I pay money to every month. It's ridiculous.
- Semaphor 5y agoI agree with all you said. But there are many comments on HN that are "all marketing is spam in general".
- JoshTriplett 5y ago> If you default opt-in users and ... then you're a spammer, simple as that. There is no "and". If you default opt-in users, you're a spammer. > Spammers aren't necessarily evil What?
- toomanybeersies 5y agoEvery few months, or when there's a big disaster, I get spam from Unicef, trying to get me to donate more money. The emails are undoubtably spam, but (in my opinion) Unicef itself isn't an evil organisation.
- spoonjim 5y agoOnly “marketers” make that distinction.
- mendelmaleh 5y agoAnd majority of marketing is perceived as spam.
- polynomial 5y agowe're on the cusp of defining a new internet law here
- AlexAndScripts 5y agoAll marketing emails are spam, most spam is marketing emails.
- bbarnett 5y agoWhat grinds my gears, is a company which has "important info" emails you cannot opt out of, but then it is still 95% spam. My bank tried this during the start of the pandemic. Yeah, that kind of scummy. "How to get CERB! Also, we're awesome and here are products to help you!" (cerb == initial canadian relief payments) Scum.
- makeitdouble 5y agoIf you’re sending to someone who actively subscribed and wants to hear from you it’s not “marketing”, it’s information. Basically a newsletter. Otherwise it’s spam.
- etripe 5y agoI don't know if it's always spam, but it's up the same creek as trying to brute-force your way into someone's heart.