Sgt_Kickaxe - 9:10 pm on May 31, 2011 (gmt 0)

I noticed that too and Matt doesn't deny that poor newsletter open rate can lead to loss of rankings, he's simply saying that's not what happened in this case. His words are careful to make that distinction and he doesn't address the "Google source" claim.

What we do know for sure is: manual penalties are alive and well and the algo won't "adjust" a manual penalty.

edit: It's possible many webmasters are trudging along with filters, penalties and link/keyword disabled sites that have no clue, is everyone supposed to ask for reconsideration just in case?

update: Matt did deny it on Twitter a little while ago...

Note: your email newsletter's reputation doesn't affect your search rankings. See my comment at [goo.gl...] if you want more detail.

[edited by: Sgt_Kickaxe at 9:29 pm (utc) on May 31, 2011]