RE: fwd: fwd: emails

[Bruce M.]

Today I received 5 emails.
The first was RE: HUGS
The next 4 were RE: Fwd: Hugs

The last 4 were sent by the same person sending out a single email to 4 people but used the [Reply to all] button. And since the original message had a CC list ....

So I sent an email to everyone on that CC and 3 of the other 4 people, since one was the original sender. Below is an edited form of that email I sent, I'm updating it with ideas and suggestions from here.

Plus a a couple of other emails I'm working on as a result of suggestions from here.

I'd like some feed back on this post and maybe a way to fix them up with you suggestions for future occurrences.

First one:
Basically the idea is to educate people so as not to send out "hundreds" of emails addresses needlessly, and I've added email hoaxes to the pot too.

Second one:
To educate people about "hoax" emails.

Thanks
Bruce

Below is the highly edited version of the first email.

First one:
---------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: Forwarding Emails with BCC vs CC

You may not know who I am, I certainly don't recognize xx of the xx people I'm sending this to but please read on. For xx of you, your email address was sent to me via CC (Carbon Copy) 5 times. That's right folks, I received the same email 5 times, as did most of you.

It started with an email "FW: Hugs" from my dear friend.
Bless her, she knows I'm a "Huggie" person. No not the drapers, huggies are something people do with one another!

She in turn sent it to xx other people, who are also getting this email as a BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) not a CC (Carbon Copy), that is why you think I'm sending this mail just to you.

One of the people on her CC list Forwarded "Hugs" to 4 other people, also included in this email, as a BCC. When she did she hit the "Reply to All" button, and sent the mail to the first person. Not using CC or BCC she repeated the "Send to All" 3 more times. And since we are all in the CC list we each received 4 extra copies of the email.

Please people, if you want to send something to a group of friends on your contact list, that you expect them to pass on to more friends, do it as a BCC not a CC.

Here's why:

CC = I can see every email this message has be sent to. Using the "Reply to All" sends that email to everyone on the CC list. You are effectively giving "MY" email address to "hundreds" of people I do not know when the email becomes a RE: Fwd: Fwd: Fwd. You may feel comfortable with that, but I'm not.

BCC = I only see that the email is for me, and if used, the "To" person.

So just when is CC a good thing?
Some examples:

1. Scout Troop Leader to the boys of his troop about the troop in general.
2. Memos from a Boss to his/her Department Heads.
3. Memos from Department Heads to his/her employees.
4. A group of programmers working on the same project in different locations.
5. School teachers to each other and or the Principle/Dean etc.

And last but not least:
When you want the "TO" person to know that someone else has been "Info'd" (Is that a word?) in which case I usually end with:

Bruce
CC: Tom - for your information.

And even then I'd probably use BCC if "To" didn't need to see "Tom's" email address.
But they would "know" that Tom has a copy.
Similar to the "old" business letters, memos etc prior to email.

If you use BCC for your emails you eliminate all this information seen below, if you want to FWD and email that has this in it, please, delete it before hitting the send button:

----- Message Forwarded on Sun, 13 Jan 2008 08:34:22 -0500 -----
From: "~~~~~~~~~~" <*****@*******>
To: "~~~~~~~~~~" <********@********>
Cc: <********@********>, "~~~~~~~~~~" <********@********>, "~~~~~~~~~~" ~~~~~~~~~~<********@********>,
<********@********>, "~~~~~~~~~~" <********@********>, <********@********>, "~~~~~~~~~~"
Subject: FW: Hugs
Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2008 07:10:29 -0500

I've seen "Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: Fwd: FW:" type emails where the information similar to that seen above scrolled through three or four screens before getting to the actual mail.

Another Pet Peeve about these RE: fwd: fwd: fwd: mails;

Don't you just love those attached NAME.EML things, open 4, 5, 6 times to finally get to an email that looks just like the stuff above! I have a simple policy here. ANY email I get that I have to open just ONE ".eml" type attachment, I open it with the "Delete" button. So if you are wondering why I didn't reply, now you know.

Here's some great advice from a friend:

1. Copy and Paste the body of the email into a New Composition. Unfortunately, if there are files/images that you want to share, this might not work, so use Fwd button, but still copy and paste body of the letter, this will allow you to send the these as well. Better yet, if you can, write your own letter in the body.

2. Change/Remove any modifiers in the Subject line, ie: FWD:, RE:, etc., or write your own subject line.

3. Send as BCC - See above

4. If not too daunting, remove all arrows / anything else that remains from the original body but are irrelevant, this includes any taglines from Hotmail, Yahoo, Incredemail, or the like, and edit the attachments to make sure that you only send what you want to send.

5. Clean it up, this is somewhat of a reiteration of Step 4, but nothing annoys me more than reading a poorly written email from someone I know to be more intelligent than they're being portrayed, by sending me the letter, and it prevents you from, likewise, looking unintelligent.

6. Which brings me to my last point, I feel that if it's not important enough for me to take the time to edit, it's not worth sending to others.

Let me ask a couple of simple questions, obviously I don't expect a response:

1. Is your version of Windows so secure that you do NOT need:
a. a firewall?
b. anti-virus program?
c. anti-malware program (like SpyBot Search and Destroy)?
d. anti-spam software?

If you answered "YES" to any of the above, why invite trouble for yourself or your friends by sending out email addresses that end up in the hands of total strangers?

I used Windows in the above example because Linux and Mac OS do not have those problems, other than "d". That's one of thew reasons why I use Linux. If you care to check it out: UBUNTU - www.ubuntu.com.

Feel free to forward this email to ALL of your friends on your mailing list (using BCC, please). Treat this email just like "Hugs" or those other cute things you pass around. Keep a text copy of this email, and the next time you get a CC type mail send it as a BCC to everyone on the CC list. Who knows, maybe it will spread like a fire on a windy day. I certainly hope so.


Thanks
Bruce
---------------------------------------------
Second one:
---------------------------------------------
Hi,

You have just sent me an email that is a hoax.

Regarding "HOAXES"

If the email sounds at all suspicious, or too good to be true, verify the information given. This will greatly cut down your chances of spreading email hoaxes. If you find it to be a hoax, or otherwise false, let the person who sent it to you know. DO NOT send it on.

You know the type, it has something like this in it: (this is real example taken from of of the sites below)

For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $245.00 For every person that you sent it to that forwards it on, Microsoft will pay you $243.00 and for every third person that receives it, You will be paid $241.00. Within two weeks, Microsoft will contact you for your address and then send you a check.

YEA, RIGHT! I think NOT! That tidy sum comes to $276,750. Do you REALLY believe that Bill Gates is going to send you a cheque for that?

Some sites to verify hoaxes:

1. Snopes.com: http://snopes.com/
2. Hoaxbusters: http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/HBHoaxIndex.html/ - one of my favorites.
3. About.com - Hoax Encyclopedia: http://antivirus.about.com/od/emailh...l/blenhoax.htm
4. F-Secure - Hoax Warnings: http://www.f-secure.com/hoaxes/hoax_index.shtml

Feel free to forward this email to ALL of your friends on your mailing list (using BCC, please). Treat this email just like "Hugs" or those other cute things you pass around. Keep a text copy of this email, and the next time you get a Hoax type mail send it as a BCC to everyone on the CC list or to the original sender if there is no CC List. Who knows, maybe it will spread like a fire on a windy day. I certainly hope so.

Bruce

---------------------------------------------
Another Pet Peeve:

Getting a really nice PPS file, or email with a wonderful message that ends with:

1. If you don't send this message to 10 of your friends in 10 minutes something bad will happen to you.
2. To have good luck you must send .....

"IF" I really like the message above those "threats" I save it, trim out the offence to my intelligence, and I'm sure yours, at the end and save it to send to someone I think might like or need the message. I have a LOT of those, even the PPS's with the final 1 or 2 slides edited out.

Note: This post will be edited with suggestions
EDIT: 16 Jan 08 - Complete re-write of post with suggestion so far. (Removed image attachment - no longer necessary)
EDIT: 14 Jan 08 - Added - Some examples of when CC is a good thing.
EDIT: 14 Jan 08 - Added some comments from others and the Hoax stuff. A major update.56314

[bufsabre666]

i block all emails with fwd in the title bar

[Nekiruhs]

i block all emails with fwd in the title bar
Ooh. Good idea. I'll set it up in gMail. thanks for the idea!

[PurposeOfReason]

i block all emails with fwd in the title bar
I'm not seeing how to do that in Gmail without typing an email address. Help?

EDIT - I created a filter that looks for fwd in the subject. Should that work?

[Bruce M.]

i block all emails with fwd in the title bar

OK, but what if I want to see what the mails has in it?


Ooh. Good idea. I'll set it up in gMail. thanks for the idea!

I don't use gmail and don't want to block the mails.


I'm not seeing how to do that in Gmail without typing an email address. Help?

EDIT - I created a filter that looks for fwd in the subject. Should that work?

Good for you! I wonder how many emails you'll miss that your might like.

Of the 3 responses, not a single one addressing the idea of why this thread exists.

I know I can create a filter to delete these messages, but they would still come into my mail client before being marked read and moved to the trash bin. That is not what I wanted to know.

Guess I'll wait and see if someone else comes up with something.
Bruce

[Mazza558]

OK, but what if I want to see what the mails has in it?

Bruce

I set gmail to send emails like this to trash. If anyone actually sent me something worthwhile, I can easily open it from there.

[PurposeOfReason]

Good for you! I wonder how many emails you'll miss that your might like.


None. They just get sent to archived for me.

[popch]

Of the 3 responses, not a single one addressing the idea of why this thread exists.

To be quite honest, I don't quite get it, either, why this thread exists. It's probably me as I feel particularly dense this evening.

[Bruce M.]

To be quite honest, I don't quite get it, either, why this thread exists. It's probably me as I feel particularly dense this evening.

I was hoping someone would comment on the email I sent regarding the use of CC and BCC.

To get a feeling if I was wrong about what I said, or maybe give more insight to the use of CC and BCC.

Deleting the mails doesn't stop people from putting my email address into their long CC lists and sending it to 20 people I don't know. If each of those people just Fwd an email with a CC list still in it to another 10 peopl, it multiplies dramatically. Sooner or later some not so good person gets an email with a couple of hundred emails listed in it ... spam, viruses, etc.

Personally I hate the CC and if I need to send more than one person a mail I use BCC.

Just a thought.
Bruce

[ShelJ]

This is a pet peeve of mine as well. I used to have a copy of a very detailed letter as to how to PROPERLY fwd emails. I was not as polite as you are here b/c I found that people just didn't pay attn to the letter if I wasn't VERY blunt. Also, w/ some particular repeat offenders, I took a little time and did an internet search: Identifying two people (s)he knew by the listed names and email, finding out where they lived and/or worked, some down to their exact street address, then making and educated guess as to how they were connected to the offending email sender. I then end the letter with the warning, "Imagine what a person w/ malicious intent could do?" For the most part, this was rather effective, and I hardly get such email anymore.
As for your second point, I call these "emails of attrition" b/c they are , in a sense, moral harassment, I simply delete these. I feel that sending them on, even after editing, is simply giving in to the attrition, and I view it as one less person trying to make the world feel guilty for something they did/didn't do.

BTW: I think that your approach is as interesting, and probably faster, and will raise awareness of this issue to more people at a time than mine does. I would just sugg that you add steps to proper email etiquette more concisely.

[popch]

Oh, ah, now I understand.

I use e-mail quite sparingly and in very few contexts.

Thus, the use of CC comes quite naturally to me: whenever someone is required to know what I mailed to someone else without having to take any action, I use CC. When someone is required to do something, I use TO:. When someone is neither required to know nor to do, I don't mail.

Up to now, my mailboxes are in reasonable shape.

[Bruce M.]

Hi ShelJ

Thanks for your input.
This is the second time I've created an email like this. The last time was a few years back, I lost it with time somehow.


BTW: I think that your approach is as interesting, and probably faster, and will raise awareness of this issue to more people at a time than mine does. I would just sugg that you add steps to proper email etiquette more concisely.

Good idea, if I knew what proper email etiquette is for the casual, home user .
Companies will have some sort of "Policy for Emails" etc, etc. But I'm talking about the general population of the Internet emailers.

There are NO rules for the home users, friend to friend email. What I'm trying to get across is just some plain common sense.

Ah, heck, I just burst my own bubble: common sense!

It'll never work. :(
Bruce

[LookTJ]

Schools use CC I think, is it more rational to put all the teachers' emails in the bcc or send to box? With the send to box, who is email directed at? If you put them in bcc, How would all the teachers know who sent it to. As for forwarding emails on the personal side, how would a family member know who sent it to who if one of them was in the bcc as well? I don't have an idea what I'm supposed to be talking about on this topic.

[Bruce M.]

Oh, ah, now I understand.

I use e-mail quite sparingly and in very few contexts.

Thus, the use of CC comes quite naturally to me: whenever someone is required to know what I mailed to someone else without having to take any action, I use CC. When someone is required to do something, I use TO:. When someone is neither required to know nor to do, I don't mail.

Up to now, my mailboxes are in reasonable shape.

CC has some great uses, a few more examples added to the one stated above (obviously your people understand there is no response necessary):

1. Scout Troop Leader to the boys of his troop about the troop in general.
2. Memos from a Boss to his/her Department Heads.
3. Memos from Department Heads to his/her employees.
3. A group of programmers working on the same project in different locations.
4. When you want the TO person to know that someone else has been "Info'd" (Is that a word?) in which case I usually end with:

Bruce
CC: TomTom - for your information.
And even then I'd probably use BCC if "To" didn't need to see "TomTom's" email address. But they would "know" that TomTom has a copy.

Similar to the "old" business letters, memos etc prior to email.

And I'm sure there are a million more uses as well. Of which many will be of use to the general population on the internet as well.

But this practice of forwarding an 8th generation FW'd email complete with two or three screenfuls of unknown emails is just crazy!

Just my opinion.
Bruce

[ShelJ]

Unfortunately, "common sense" isn't very common.

If the email sounds at all suspicious, verify the information given. This will greatly cut down your chances of spreading email hoaxes. I find Snopes.com to be very reliable w/ regards to this. If you find it to be a hoax, or otherwise false, let the person who sent it to you know, but do not send it on.

Here's what I do:

1. Copy and Paste the body of the email into a New Composition. Unfortunately, if there are files/images that you want to share, this might not work, so use Fwd button, but still copy and paste body of the letter, this will allow you to send the these as well. Better yet, if you can, write your own letter in the body.

2. Change/Remove any modifiers in the Subject line, s/a FWD:, RE:, etc., or write your own subject line.

3. BCC (you've got this one already)

4. If not too daunting, remove all arrows / anything else that remains from the original body but are irrelevant, This includes any taglines from Hotmail, Yahoo, Incredemail, or the like, and edit the attachments to make sure that you only send what you want to send.

5. Clean it up, this is somewhat of a reiteration of step 4, but nothing annoys me more than reading a poorly written email from someone I know to be more intelligent than they're being portrayed, by sending me the letter, and it prevents you from, likewise, looking unintelligent.

With that all being said, I noticed recently that my Windows Live Hotmail account wouldn't let me do this editing on a fwd, not too sure if it was just me or not, most people send stuff to my home account, and the email wasn't important enough for me to worry about.

Which brings me to my last point, I feel that if it's not important enough for me to take the time to edit, it's not worth sending to others.

I hope that this helps you, feel free to copy this if you like.

[Bruce M.]

Schools use CC I think, is it more rational to put all the teachers' emails in the bcc or send to box? With the send to box, who is email directed at? If you put them in bcc, How would all the teachers know who sent it to. As for forwarding emails on the personal side, how would a family member know who sent it to who if one of them was in the bcc as well? I don't have an idea what I'm supposed to be talking about on this topic.

But to me those are proper uses of CC, among teachers within a school, or yes, family members.

For example me sending my sons, sister, mom and dad a long email telling them what happened in the last couple of months. They are family, a group that knows each other. No problem with CC in that case.

I'm talking about all those cute, or not so cute, mails, jokes, PPS files floating around, where people forward them complete with the list of the 100 (example) other email addresses. They have no idea who those people are, but do they take the time to edit those long list of unknown email addresses out before hitting the send button? NO!

Bruce

[Bruce M.]

Unfortunately, "common sense" isn't very common.

If the email sounds at all suspicious, verify the information given. This will greatly cut down your chances of spreading email hoaxes. I find Snopes.com to be very reliable w/ regards to this. If you find it to be a hoax, or otherwise false, let the person who sent it to you know, but do not send it on.

Here's what I do:

1. Copy and Paste the body of the email into a New Composition. Unfortunately, if there are files/images that you want to share, this might not work, so use Fwd button, but still copy and paste body of the letter, this will allow you to send the these as well. Better yet, if you can, write your own letter in the body.

2. Change/Remove any modifiers in the Subject line, s/a FWD:, RE:, etc., or write your own subject line.

3. BCC (you've got this one already)

4. If not too daunting, remove all arrows / anything else that remains from the original body but are irrelevant, This includes any taglines from Hotmail, Yahoo, Incredemail, or the like, and edit the attachments to make sure that you only send what you want to send.

5. Clean it up, this is somewhat of a reiteration of step 4, but nothing annoys me more than reading a poorly written email from someone I know to be more intelligent than they're being portrayed, by sending me the letter, and it prevents you from, likewise, looking unintelligent.

With that all being said, I noticed recently that my Windows Live Hotmail account wouldn't let me do this editing on a fwd, not too sure if it was just me or not, most people send stuff to my home account, and the email wasn't important enough for me to worry about.

Which brings me to my last point, I feel that if it's not important enough for me to take the time to edit, it's not worth sending to others.

I hope that this helps you, feel free to copy this if you like.

Hey, nice stuff. I forgot that, copy and paste into a new mail etc etc.

Actually I used to copy to a clean text file do a search and replace for all the >>>> things and edit it like you said. Then send it only to those I think might like it, or in the case of something that might fit a problem someone is having. :)

I guess my aim is to start educating my friends on when the use of CC is and isn't acceptable, without making it a LAW, but common sense.

Thanks
Bruce

[Linuxratty]

I was hoping someone would comment on the email I sent regarding the use of CC and BCC.

To get a feeling if I was wrong about what I said, or maybe give more insight to the use of CC and BCC.

Deleting the mails doesn't stop people from putting my email address into their long CC lists and sending it to 20 people I don't know
Bruce

Over the years,I have written letters to people very similar to that one...Only I add to it that they do not have the right to use my e mail address for anything other than personal correspondence and if they do it again, i will block them,simple as that.
And I follow it up by blocking the person if they do it again..(Most people will take the hint.)
I find that sort of behavior on the part of people irritating,inconsiderate and obnoxious..
This is one of my personal pet peeves and I could easely rant on for at least a full page about it...
But I won't. .

[Bruce M.]

Hi ShelJ

Here I am answering the same post for a second time because I missed something first trip around.


If the email sounds at all suspicious, verify the information given. This will greatly cut down your chances of spreading email hoaxes. I find Snopes.com to be very reliable w/ regards to this. If you find it to be a hoax, or otherwise false, let the person who sent it to you know, but do not send it on.

Regarding this part, I used to have, have to find them again, 2 or 3 links to sites that exposes hoaxes on the net.

You know there type:

"If you forward this message to just 5 people Bill Gates will send $50 to Cancer research ... blah ... blah ..."

I used to just delete them, but then I though, why not educate my friends ... and responded to them (never forwarding them of course) with a direct link to a specific URL exposing it as a hoax.

Didn't take long and those types of emails stopped infiltrating my inbox from my friends. But every now and then someone new comes along, and I start again.

Just checked:

1. Hoaxbusters (http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/HBHoaxIndex.html/) - one of my favorites.
2. Symantec - Hoaxes (http://www.symantec.com/business/security_response/threatexplorer/risks/hoahttp://www.f-secure.com/hoaxes/hoax_index.shtmlxes.jsp)
3. About.com - Hoax Encyclopedia (http://antivirus.about.com/od/emailhoaxes/l/blenhoax.htm)
4. F-Secure - Hoax Warnings (http://www.f-secure.com/hoaxes/hoax_index.shtml)

Threre are more but that's enough. :)

Going to use your points too, thanks for the permission
Bruce

[Spike-X]

Great letter. I'm going to email it to all my friends, and tell them to forward it to all their friends!

[Bruce M.]

Over the years,I have written letters to people very similar to that one...Only I add to it that they do not have the right to use my e mail address for anything other than personal correspondence and if they do it again, i will block them,simple as that.
And I follow it up by blocking the person if they do it again..(Most people will take the hint.)

I like the " they do not have the right ... " part.


I find that sort of behavior on the part of people irritating,inconsiderate and obnoxious..
This is one of my personal pet peeves and I could easely rant on for at least a full page about it...
But I won't. .

I think I already did with my first post :)
Thanks for your input.
Bruce

[Bruce M.]

Great letter. I'm going to email it to all my friends, and tell them to forward it to all their friends!

Hope you are going to use BCC and ask that they do the same :)

Bruce

[forrestcupp]

About the OP: good job. That is a lot of good advice that I wish was international law. Those are some of my pet peeves, too. I don't really like forwards at all. I don't really want to block them, though. Sometimes I get forwards that are necessary.

The only negative thought I have about your email is that it is way too long. It says a lot of good stuff, but if I got a general and impersonal reply/forward email that was that long, I most probably wouldn't read even half before I just deleted it.

One time I got one of those email tracking forwards from a gullible friend of mine. It said that if you forward the message to a certain number of people, a gift certificate to Applebee's will pop up on your screen. So I replied to the email and made it appear to be a message from Applebee's explaining that the gift certificate is being sent piggy backed onto the last required email that was received in the tracking program. Under the message I created a fancy looking gift certificate using Applebee's logo. I even put a bar code and serial number on it. The message instructed to print out the email, cut below the line, and take the certificate to his favorite Applebee's. I felt pretty bad about it afterward.

Edit:
One question, though. How were you able to see who all was in the BCC if it was sent from someone else?

[Bruce M.]

About the OP: good job. That is a lot of good advice that I wish was international law. Those are some of my pet peeves, too. I don't really like forwards at all. I don't really want to block them, though. Sometimes I get forwards that are necessary.

The only negative thought I have about your email is that it is way too long. It says a lot of good stuff, but if I got a general and impersonal reply/forward email that was that long, I most probably wouldn't read even half before I just deleted it.

Excellent point! I'll do some editing here and post the edited versions (splitting CC vs BCC and Hoax stuff to start with).


One time I got one of those email tracking forwards from a gullible friend of mine. It said that if you forward the message to a certain number of people, a gift certificate to Applebee's will pop up on your screen. So I replied to the email and made it appear to be a message from Applebee's explaining that the gift certificate is being sent piggy backed onto the last required email that was received in the tracking program. Under the message I created a fancy looking gift certificate using Applebee's logo. I even put a bar code and serial number on it. The message instructed to print out the email, cut below the line, and take the certificate to his favorite Applebee's. I felt pretty bad about it afterward.

NO! You didn't! You're bad. :lolflag:

I love it!


Edit:
One question, though. How were you able to see who all was in the BCC if it was sent from someone else?

This part is a little white lie. I can't do it in Linux, although I recall seeing it years ago. I was visiting a friend who worked at my ISP at the time. Don't ask me how he did it. :)

Bruce

[ShelJ]

...

Just checked:

1. Hoaxbusters (http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/HBHoaxIndex.html/) - one of my favorites.
2. Symantec - Hoaxes (http://www.symantec.com/business/security_response/threatexplorer/risks/hoahttp://www.f-secure.com/hoaxes/hoax_index.shtmlxes.jsp)
3. About.com - Hoax Encyclopedia (http://antivirus.about.com/od/emailhoaxes/l/blenhoax.htm)
4. F-Secure - Hoax Warnings (http://www.f-secure.com/hoaxes/hoax_index.shtml)

Threre are more but that's enough. :)

Going to use your points too, thanks for the permission
Bruce

I've used these all at some point or other as well, and find that I can find almost anything from these sites on Snope.com. This may sound a little "odd," but I've too much time these days d/ illness, I actually timed the difference between simply fwd a message, and doing keyword searches on any of these. I found that it takes me, approximately, 10s to fwd an email w/o editing, but only 5s to verify it. I even had a friend who's not very proficient w/ computers replicate these results. Hmm ... Which makes more sense? :D

[cybergal]

But to me those are proper uses of CC, among teachers within a school, or yes, family members.

For example me sending my sons, sister, mom and dad a long email telling them what happened in the last couple of months. They are family, a group that knows each other. No problem with CC in that case.
Bruce


Perhaps not, but wouldn't it be safer to use bcc and mention them all in the body of the email:

Hi, <son/s name/s>, <sister's name>, Mom & Dad:

<message>


I, too, am annoyed by this problem and think that it is caused by people who haven't heard of or thought about netiquette techniques, or those who are just too lazy to put them into practice. I've often thought about educating them. This post has got me fired up to do just that. I may be thanked or crossed off their buddy list/whatever. Too bad; c'est la vie. I also like the info regarding how secure they think their Windows systems are; most aren't aware of the dangers lurking there. Bill's such a nice guy, you know, he'd never lead them astray, while I'm not using a "real" OS, so what could I possibly know! :)

[Bruce M.]

I've used these all at some point or other as well, and find that I can find almost anything from these sites on Snope.com. This may sound a little "odd," but I've too much time these days d/ illness, I actually timed the difference between simply fwd a message, and doing keyword searches on any of these. I found that it takes me, approximately, 10s to fwd an email w/o editing, but only 5s to verify it. I even had a friend who's not very proficient w/ computers replicate these results. Hmm ... Which makes more sense? :D

Check the redone post #1, it has snope.com as #1 on the list now (since 16 Jan).

Don't know how you did that in 5 seconds, takes longer than that to open snope.com for me. But I get your point.
Personally I'd spend (and have in the past) 20 - 30 minutes searching, and then writing an email explaining why I don't want this garbage anymore. Has worked with 100% effectiveness with the people that received my message. But there are always "new" people arriving in your contact list for one reason or another.

[Bruce M.]

Perhaps not, but wouldn't it be safer to use bcc and mention them all in the body of the email:

Hi, <son/s name/s>, <sister's name>, Mom & Dad:

<message>

Well, you raise a valid point. But for me, I routinely email 2 of my sons using TO for each. After all they are family and it's not a "chain mail" I'm sending.


I, too, am annoyed by this problem and think that it is caused by people who haven't heard of or thought about netiquette techniques, or those who are just too lazy to put them into practice. I've often thought about educating them. This post has got me fired up to do just that. I may be thanked or crossed off their buddy list/whatever. Too bad; c'est la vie. I also like the info regarding how secure they think their Windows systems are; most aren't aware of the dangers lurking there. Bill's such a nice guy, you know, he'd never lead them astray, while I'm not using a "real" OS, so what could I possibly know! :)

I sent a message to a dear friend about the use of forwarding "my" email address to "everyone" in the world. She didn't email me again for at least 6 months, and that was after me sending a few: "Hey, are you still there/alive" messages. But it worked, she now does those "chain mail" things with BCC.

Lets face it, with most email clients you can create a "List" with a group of people in it and then Send To: List or BCC: List. Haven't tired it in Thunderbird yet as, I have no need these days.

Forwarded mails 98% of the time, end with me. It is very very rare that I will send one out. And if I do, it's been copied to a text editor, edited and sent as though it was "created" by me, without all the extra garbage.

And forget those cute little in line animated gif images too, every mail leaving my box is "pure" text, nothing else, which eliminates my being able to send them in their proper format.

[forrestcupp]

Excellent point! I'll do some editing here and post the edited versions (splitting CC vs BCC and Hoax stuff to start with).

I was thinking about it, and maybe you could make a lengthy blog post explaining all of the etiquette of emailing. Then when you send someone one of these emails, you could just send a short message pointing to the link of your blog post.

Usually, I'm more likely to read a lengthy article that someone links to, than to read a long forward. I don't know why, and I don't know if other people are like that or not.

[Bruce M.]

I was thinking about it, and maybe you could make a lengthy blog post explaining all of the etiquette of emailing. Then when you send someone one of these emails, you could just send a short message pointing to the link of your blog post.

Usually, I'm more likely to read a lengthy article that someone links to, than to read a long forward. I don't know why, and I don't know if other people are like that or not.

Interesting idea except for two things, I don't have a web page and if I set up a blog on a public page, I'd have to join it, and administer it, all this at a time my wife is complaining that I'm here to much, let alone my one other forum I belong to.

:lolflag:

[Sunflower1970]

hehe.

We just got one of those at work this morning. Someone from our parent company ended up sending one of those hoax emails out to just about everyone on the parent company's address book (or it felt like it at any rate...)...We all got a few emails from others saying it's a hoax, at least one or two from people replied to everyone saying not to reply to everyone (oh the irony!) and one apology from the perpetrator who said he was having 'email troubles' or something to that effect.

Quite an amusing morning, actually. :)

(The email was the one where Bill Gates & AOL are monitoring email traffic and they will pay you X amount of money if you forward it on to everyone you know--lol)

[Bruce M.]

(The email was the one where Bill Gates & AOL are monitoring email traffic and they will pay you X amount of money if you forward it on to everyone you know--lol)

And some people actually believe that stuff, that's got to be the the biggest ego trip of all.

"I'm going to be rich, I'm going to be rich!"
Buy a lotto ticket, at least there you have a chance. :)