False Flag

Besides uploading this zine to efanzines.com I also send it out via email to subscribers through the TinyLetter newsletter service.

As usual with other XR editions #122 was re-formatted for TinyLetter and I thought it was ready to go.  I hit SEND and – nothing.  The newsletter is frozen in the queue.  I get the following message:

So I investigated and learned about TL's Omnivore program:

“If you are notified that your account was flagged by our abuse prevention system, it doesn’t mean we think you're a spammer. It means that Omnivore has detected something that flagged the account for review. (Omnivore was created to maintain MailChimp’s sending reputation by analyzing vital data to protect the email ecosystem, and now it does the same for TinyLetter.)”

I emailed TL about the matter.  I heard back my newsletter/zine was OK and I could send my latest edition.  Curious about the problem I asked what was flagged as being so bad.  But I never got a response from TL.

I suspect it might have been the image I used to illustrate my piece, Attack Of The Blood Bay Lamprey Zombies.  The image depicted surface garbage in the notoriously polluted bay in Rio, Brazil where the Olympics are being held.  In the foreground there was a plastic baby doll floating in the water, broken.  Maybe Omnivore jumped to a conclusion, thinking I was using the image of actual baby parts floating in the bay.

Omnivore should be put on a diet.  It should stick to veggies and skip the meat.


(From Ray X X-Rayer #123.)