Please don’t forward to your friends….
This might be a bit of a rant here, but I’m going to think of it as a public service announcement.
There is a wonderful resource out there called Snopes. Anyone who has ever thought about forwarding an email to ten friends, or to everyone they know, should use this site on a regular basis. Grab a couple key words, or copy of the subject line of what you are being asked to send out and run a search on it. Even easier, check out the top ten list on the home page of the site; odds are good whatever you are about to forward is listed there. Check it out. You will find that 99.9% of those things you get are false, urbal legends, old and outdated, or just someone trying to cause trouble.
If you don’t want to take the time to check it out, don’t take the time to forward it either!
Additionally, please don’t send this stuff to every group or mailing list you subscribe to either. They don’t want it and it’s probably against the posting guidelines.
On a similar note, people you haven’t communicated with in any way for a year or more really don’t want to get your chain forwards either. If you haven’t said boo to me since the summer of 2005, it really isn’t important for you to let me know your opinion on the latest offering from Hollywood or the really cool thing you heard the other day.
Do you want to tell all your friends how much you care about them and how important they are to you? Don’t use the latest tearjerker you found in your inbox. I’m going to bet that it’s going to be a lot more meaningful to write your own message and send that to everyone you know. But please don’t ask them to forward it to everyone they know. As a matter of fact, maybe you could specifically ask them not to forward your words to everyone they know.
Thanks for tuning in! We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
Ugh, I hear you! I hear you! The last few times I got one of those I looking up the link on Snopes and replied with that information. This subject has annoyed me for YEARS! You’d think by now the people with 10+ years of internet experience might KNOW they won’t earn $2.73 from Microsoft each time they forward a stupid email.
Comment by Laura | November 28, 2007
AMEN SISTER!
I finally emailed snopes address to my mom in law after getting the one about flashing your lights at people–that one landed in my box attributed to a police sargent in Colorado. I went the extra mile and personally contacted him and sent him the article attributed to him. To say the least, he was not happy his name had been falsely used on nonsense (I still have his email and can send it to anyone who gets that false news flash). I forwarded his email to my mom in law and the whole list she emailed it to…As you said, check it out! At least 99% of the scary “for your own good” emails are hoaxes…
Comment by rhonda | November 29, 2007
I totally agree. My brother sends me all sorts of junk when I’d rather just read what he has going on in his life.
Comment by Allison | November 30, 2007
After YEARS of getting panic emails, then sending the corresponding Snopes article debunking the myth-du-jour, my extended family doesn’t send me the emails anymore. Chances are, they’re sending everyone else them. ::insert eye roll here::
While I loathe the tearjerker emails, I love the questionaires circulated among my family members. I always learn something new about my sisters, aunt, and Mom that I never suspected. They’re especially handy around Christmas and birthday times.
Comment by Laura Too | December 13, 2007