Hatrack River Forum: Those dang "forwards"- a rant

This is topic Those dang "forwards"- a rant in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :

If I get one more forward, telling me good luck will come my way only if I send them on within an hour, I'm gonna pop!

I especially hate it when the only email I ever receive from these friends are the forwards.

Grrr!

That is all.

Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :

Was that a popping noise I heard?

Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :

Curious rant from someone who has so liberally given out her e-mail address.

[Big Grin]

Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :

I got one the other day from my mother-in-law. It was a chain letter, basically. They wanted you sign a "petition" they were sending to Bush.

quote:
Dear President Bush:
Many of us were deeply touched to hear you recite a portion of Psalm 23 in your address to this great nation in the dark hours following the terrorists attacks. We were encouraged and comforted to know that we truly had a believer working with us and for us in our nation's highest office.

We, the people of America, are requesting that you lift the prohibition of prayer in schools. As the pledge of our great country states, we are to be " One nation, under God." Please allow the prayers and petitions of our children in schools without the threat of punishment.

Currently, adults and children in the school are prohibited from mentioning God unless of course His name is uttered as part of a curse or profanity.

Madeline Murray O'Hare is dead. Let her legacy of atheism in our schools die with her!

Sincerely, The People of America Mark 10:13-14 "People were bringing little children to Jesus to have Him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, He was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to Me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."

Now every time it hits 1,000 signatures, the person is supposed to send it to President@WhiteHouse.gov And you are supposed to send it to every one you know.

I was very nice. Instead of hitting reply all and really letting loose my opinion which would have deeply embarrassed her, I merely hit reply and asked if, when I finished it, she would send out my petition to her entire address book to keep prayer out of school and in church, where it belongs.

What was she thinking? She's known me for 16 years. [Wall Bash]

[ February 12, 2005, 05:40 PM: Message edited by: Kayla ]

Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :

Maybe she thought you'd just hit Forward and send it to all your friends without thinking.

Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :

OK, Bob, today's Feng Shui forward is coming your way!
What is your favorite color? Green. You are a laid back person.
What is your favorite number, huh? That is the number of friends you will have.
Etc.
And you will have one hour to pass this good luck along, Mister, one hour!

Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :

I, too, find chain-forwards quite annoying most of the time.

Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :

This is not nearly as annoying as those damn letters I get in my yahoo address. "You've won an international lottery!" "Please help me because I got caught in the tsunami or I'm in some african country and I need someone to put this money in their bank account."
Do they really, really think I'm stupid or something? [Mad]

Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :

Oh, but I received one with a video that started with: "If you don't send it to someone in 7 days you'll die." [Cool]

P.S. I forgot how many days have passed since, but it's less than a week for sure...

Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :

I forgot to mention the part of the forward where the person includes every person the message has ever been forwarded to.

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :

YES! If you absolutely MUST forward stuff to me, please please PLEASE snip out the pages of forwarded-to addresses.

Unless you are trying to get me to reply to ALL of them with the appropriate Snopes debunking. [Razz]

Posted by Miro (Member # 1178) on :

Heh. When I saw the thread title, I thought you were talking rugby. I was all ready to defend my honor. [Smile]

Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :

I created a form letter reply for those emails. It says something along the lines of, "Do you realize that forwarding this e-mail only succeeds in providing spammers with hundreds of active useful e-mail addresses? It was probably designed and sent out onto the net by some spam-master who will wait for it to return to him so he can peel off the addresses of everyone who passed it along. Since I don't need breast enhancement cream, male enhancement cream, or to know what singles in my neighborhood are hot and lonely, please don't forward any more to me."

This shocks a lot of those people who send out the Angel chain letters.

And those it encourages, I just assume need those creams.

Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :

Book Wyrm, yes, of course!

(for Ela, that was a good one! [Big Grin]

)

Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :

Oh hey! I received a chain letter - from an aunt who knows I married a Muslim - about how all Muslims are required by their religion to kill all heathens, which includes all Christians. Hmm. Yes, I'm really going to believe that.

I sent her back a fairly direct *cough* response. [Evil]

I'll probably never hear from her again.

Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :

Quib, Scopes has a nice non-name-calling response to that stupid email.

Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :

Yes, I know. [Big Grin]

That was what I sent on. Along with two others from the other sites that are unnamed in my head at the moment that do the same thing as snopes. [Big Grin]

I figured that it was better to use their quotes as it makes me look not angry, but more rational, and her stupid and irrational, or at least ignorant and uninformed. Ah, the things we do. . .

Edit to add: and I think you mean snopes.

[ February 13, 2005, 09:31 AM: Message edited by: quidscribis ]

Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :

quote:
I created a form letter reply for those emails. It says something along the lines of, "Do you realize that forwarding this e-mail only succeeds in providing spammers with hundreds of active useful e-mail addresses? It was probably designed and sent out onto the net by some spam-master who will wait for it to return to him so he can peel off the addresses of everyone who passed it along. Since I don't need breast enhancement cream, male enhancement cream, or to know what singles in my neighborhood are hot and lonely, please don't forward any more to me."

Can you send me a copy of that? I'd like to send that to all the addresses in my in box so they know not to forward emails anymore.

Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :

Yes, please!

Posted by jexx (Member # 3450) on :

Dan, I have to agree and say your response is right brilliant! I may copy/paste that into my drafts folder to use in the future. For now I spend entirely too much time researching snopes for my well-meaning but easily led relatives.

*rollseyes*

I'm totally keeping an eye on my kidneys, though!

*G*

Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :

I snoped two things from sister, and the next time I got something like that from her, she had the snopes link saying it was real. [Smile]

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :

Ah, a forwarder who learns! That's something at least.

I've never had much luck with anything short of a direct, "please stop sending me forwards. I already get too much email" -- usually after I've been sending snopes/mythbusters/etc. links back multiple times. *sigh* They don't seem so gullible IRL!

Posted by HRE (Member # 6263) on :

quote:
YES! If you absolutely MUST forward stuff to me, please please PLEASE snip out the pages of forwarded-to addresses.

Unless you are trying to get me to reply to ALL of them with the appropriate Snopes debunking. [Razz]

Ooh...I tried that one once, and the guy who had sent it to me took it as a personal offense and public embarrassment, and hasn't spoken with me since.

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :

Yeah, HRE. That's why I usually refrain.

But it is SO tempting sometimes.

Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :

quote:
Ooh...I tried that one once, and the guy who had sent it to me took it as a personal offense and public embarrassment, and hasn't spoken with me since.

If the emails stopped it might be worth it. [Smile]

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :

Yes . . . except somehow, the people I get these from are the ones I wish I got more real emails from, and used to be close friends with, before their lives and mine got so hectic . . . [Dont Know]

Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :

Folks, I lost my e-mail response letters. Its on the hard drive of my old work computer. Feel free to follow Dag's advice and cut and paste what I put up there earlier.