Breaking the Chain

[bssc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kyounge1956 Hmmm. I never thought about the fact that my email address is getting scattered around hither, thither and yon to a bunch of total strangers. On the one I just got, my name is just my name, but all the other peoples' emails are visible, so probably they can all see mine.

Yes, I have gotten potential virus emails from a friend of a friend because my email address was on their system. McAfee caught it but I suspect that is where some of my spam comes from.

[SciFiFan53]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meadbh I delete these things, unless they come from someone at work (e.g. my secretary), in which case I speak to the person and ask him/her to cease and desist. If someone who is a direct report to me is wasting company time and bandwidth sending chain letters, and does not stop when I ask them to, I consider it a performance issue. I once fired someone for this (and being lazy).

Same here. There are quite a few of these that used to float around at work. I got a few of them until I told those people I didn't want to get any of that kind of thing. I also reminded them that our company IT policy says that you can be fired for using company computers for anything but company business. With the capability to track everything you do with the computer, I've always told employees to act as if the CEO was standing behind you watching everything you accessed, sent, or typed.
I haven't had more than maybe 1 of these at work in the last 10 years - maybe they've stopped (NOT), or maybe they just don't send them to me anymore.

[Orchidflower]

Count me in the group that hates these chain emails. I have a friend who used to send me tons of these things. Some were religious based, which I really didn't get at all the purpose of those? I would open them, delete them and never send them on. She eventually stopped...thank heaven!
I was somewhat taken aback at Goonie's friend cutting him off because he asked him to stop sending chain emails. Wow..that was pretty hardcore of the "friend." Sorry, Goonie...I'm sure it took you by surprise and had to hurt your feelings when it happened. Never know why some old friends leave for such petty reasons, but they do sometimes.

[RonBoyd]

Since I haven't had this particular problem for many years, I had forgotten how I had stopped it. I used this to cut off the flow:

Nice way to say..."Stop Forwarding!"

What is a nice way of telling someone to stop sending you forwarded emails? You'll see several versions of that questions on my site and here on my Blog. Seems to be a pretty common problem to say the least!

Unfortunately, in my experience and those of many who write to me, no matter how nice you are, it won't be nice enough to not have them get mad or feel as though their efforts were not appreciated. They think they are being thoughtful and by asking them to stop, well... There just doesn't seem to be a "nice" way -- a truthful way, that's another answer.

So to help onliners out, I have my article "5 Rules of Forwarding" that you can send folks to and let me be the bad guy.

You can point them "nicely" to my article and say something to the effect, "I found this site and there is a bunch of good information that I didn't know about E-mail Etiquette. Little did I know I've been breaking so many rules including about forwarding e-mail. Since you forward a lot too, I thought you might be interested as well! ;-)

The following are extracts from a “10-point Guideline on Netiquette” found at NetM@nners.com (specifically at http://netmanners.com/netiquette_101.html):

This:
“One of the common requests I receive through this site is from folks wanting to know a "nice way" of telling someone they care about to stop sending joke, hoax and chain e-mails without hurting their feelings. Speaking for those who know you, we have seen those e-mails before, many times - cut us a break - verify them before you send them to us or just hit delete!”

And this:
“Never just forward e-mail without a comment as to why you are forwarding the e-mail to the recipient. To forward without comment is bossy, lazy and rude. Do you want the party to comment or review? Is there a specific issue you want them to address? Did you have a particular reason why you forwarded to them that specific e-mail? Always let the recipient know why you are forwarding an e-mail to them. Including what, if anything, you need them to respond to or what action is required by them.”




“If you are new online, raise your right hand and repeat after me:

1. "I will not forward any dumb joke, "chain letter" or unimportant e-mails to my friends without their permission."
   "I will not forward any dumb joke, "chain letter" or unimportant e-mails to my friends without their permission."
2. "I understand that by doing so I may fill up their in box, use other's resources unnecessarily and may cause other important e-mail to bounce."
   "I understand that by doing so I may fill up their in box, use other's resources unnecessarily and may cause other important e-mail to bounce."
3. "I understand that most folks have seen these e-mails a million times and find them annoying."
   "I understand that most folks have seen these e-mails a million times and find them annoying."
4. "I know that by forwarding these so-called humorous e-mails I may offend or tick off people who do not share my sense of humor or who are sick of having stupid e-mails forwarded to them each time a Newbie hops online."
   "I know that by forwarding these so-called humorous e-mails I may offend or tick off people who do not share my sense of humor or who are sick of having stupid e-mails forwarded to them each time a Newbie hops online."

There! Now, that wasn't too bad was it? ;-) You will no longer be tempted to forward those jokes, untruthful or frivolous e-mail that instruct you to forward to your friends! And, you will avoid looking silly and uninformed in the process. Read them if you must then hit delete. You really don't believe e-mail that state certain things will happen simply by you forwarding the e-mail to 10 friends do you? Talk about a waste of resources!!


In addition, many of these e-mails are actually hoaxes or downright bogus. Before you forward an e-mail that appears good intentioned with an incredible story that instructs you to "read and share" with everyone you know, first check Snopes.com to see if the story is even legit in the first place and not a hoax. Not doing so can have you eating crow when everyone you e-mail is informed you just forwarded a hoax and didn't know any better. And, don't get mad at someone if they point out to you that you were uninformed by perpetuating a hoax! If you don't know for a fact that the e-mail you are forwarding is accurate and specifically apropos to the person you are forwarding to and you know they will want to receive it - all you have to do is ask first.”

[Tesaje]

Interesting that not one person here is even in the don't mind category. Seems like pretty good anecdotal evidence that the "bad luck" threats never happen since ER can be good evidence of good luck! Count me in always break the chain with threats or not.

[HFWR]

If I forwarded all the crap I get to ten of my friends, I'd soon have ten less friends...