There has been quite a rumbling in the industry since AOL announced that it will be "discontinuing" its enhanced white list and instituting a paid-for service that has a relative "postage" fee for e-mail delivery provided through Goodmail Systems. But it's difficult to understand the impact this could have if you didn't understand the benefits of the enhanced white list in the first place.

Every company has an e-mail reputation, one that dictates if its messages reach the inbox, get junked or go missing. Lately, it seems everyone has a new, fast-track way to get a good e-mail reputation. It can be hard to figure out who to listen to and what you should care about.