About E-mail Forwards

I do alot of on-line genealogy as well as gardening and I find that lately my e-mail inbox is full of Nieman Marcus Cookie recipes, various virus warning (hoax and otherwise), religious discourse (some of it leaning into bizarre), "Pass this on to fifty people and you'll get 50% off a Ford vehicle", hugs from an angel, etc etc. Yesterday I got a forwarded survey with 50 questions that wanted to know what size socks I wore and who was the last person I went out to dinner with. These mailings are from people I don't know at all except for trading with them or exchanging genealogical information.

Please be considerate and check first with the person you intend to add to an e-mail forward list and be sure that they actually WANT this kind of thing to be sent to them. Some people really enjoy that stuff. Others do not. I have so many other hobbies that I get e-mail for that I find forwards more of an annoyance than anything else.

Also, if you are going to forward things to large groups of people, please use the "blind carbon copy" feature of your e-mail program to preserve the privacy of those you are e-mailing so that their e-mail addresses don't fall into the hands of OTHER mass mailers and chronic forwarders.

Sorry to hear your having to cope with this IS. I am not sure what the "blind carbon copy" is,can you tell me' I've looked in my mail program and seem not to have it,help? TIA Sis'

IndaShade brings up some very good points. Spam is called spam for a reason (No offense to the Spam lovers of the world.)

And with all the viruses and stuff out there, PLEASE think twice (or thrice) before you forward on something to a bunch of people you know only through trading (or genealogy.) We addressed this issue in the trading primer, and hopefully new traders will take it to heart.

If you do send on a message, take a moment to delete all the email addresses that are at the beginning of the message. (NOTE: If the list of forwarding addresses is as long or longer than the message, it's a pretty good sign that particular message has been around the block a time or two, and might not need to go out to your mailing list!)

I've had to change email addresses more than once (had to change ISPs even) when the spam turned to porn. I couldn't let my kids open the inbox on their own. Bad news, and it starts with people routing innocent, fun stuff to you, and eventually some evildoers get hold of your email address. :(

Sis, if you're using Outlook, when you get ready to send something, click on the "to" button to open your address book. If you're using the "forward" or "reply" feature, everyone's name you plan to send to may already be in the "to" box. But you can move them all to the "bcc" or blind carbon copy (old typewriter and paper days terminology) and that will prevent them from seeing who else you sent the message to.

It's a handy feature when you want to protect the privacy of each individual you are sending to.

Sis; when you are going to send a letter instead of typing in the addy, go to your address book. In most mail programs (possibly not all) if you double click on the addy it will put it in the 'send' area. If you only click it once then chose the C/C 'carbon copy' or the B/C/C 'blind carbon copy' it should go there instead. Blind carbon copies go to all recipients selected in that area with none of the recipients seeing that who else got a copy of the letter.
Handy if you want your Boss to be privy to a memo you expect a nasty response too :)


oops go-vols beat to the punch.

This message was edited Friday, Jan 18th 3:41 PM

Thanks team really appreciate the info' I thought the carbon copy was for me to file in my folders,like in the old days,keep one,file the carbon,remember?

To further the email content point of Indashades post; personally I delete anything that even smells like a chain letter, all junk mail unless I remember subscribing and most jokes although I do scan some of them.
Chain letters are a thorn in my side. I realize that the people who send them are usually people I know and people I consider my friends.... but as a personal resolve, I refuse to get caught up in what feels to me like superstition i.e.; if you don't send this on something bad will happen etc. I don't say anything to the sender to avoid hurt feelings but I do not read them or forward them on either....
If I told you to stop wasting cyberspace on me would your feelings be hurt? I've often wondered if I should say something...

> I really like this and I am in complete agreement.
> >My brother sent me this a while back, and it fits perfecty into thei thread.
> > NOW EVERYONE SAY IT WITH ME ...
> >
> >
> >
> > I WILL NOT let others guilt me into sending things
> > by telling me I am not their friend
> > if I don't return an email to them.
> > Or that I don't believe in Jesus Christ.
> > If God wants to send me a message
> > by using a PC, He certainly is not going to
> > "test" me to see if I forward it to others.
> >
> > "I will NOT get bad luck, lose my friends, or lose
> > my mailing lists if I DON'T forward an email!
> >
> > I will NOT hear any music or see a taco dog, if I DO
> > forward an e-mail.
> >
> > Bill Gates is NOT going to send me money; Victoria's
> > Secret doesn't know
> > anything about a gift certificate they're supposed
> > to send me, and Ford will
> > not give me a 50% discount even if I forward my
> > e-mail to more than 50 people!
> >
> > I will NEVER receive gift certificates, coupons, or
> > freebies from Coca Cola, Cracker Barrel, Old Navy,
> > or anyone else if I send an e-mail to 10 people.
> >
> > I will NEVER see a pop-up window if I forward an
> > e-mail ... NEVER !!!!
> >
> > My phone will not MYSTERIOUSLY ring after I forward
> > an e-mail. There is NO
> > SUCH THING as an e-mail tracking program, and I am
> > not STUPID enough to
> > think that someone will send me $100 for forwarding
> > an e-mail to 10 or more people!
> >
> > There is no kid with cancer through the Make-a-Wish
> > program in England
> > collecting anything! He did when he was 7 years old.
> > He is now cancer-free
> > and 35 years old and DOESN'T WANT ANY MORE POST
> > CARDS, CALLING CARDS, or GET-WELL CARDS.
> >
> > The government does not have a bill in Congress
> > called 901B (or whatever
> > they named it this week) that, if passed, will
> > enable them to charge us 5 cents for every e-mail we send.
> >
> > There will be NO cool dancing, singing, waving,
> > colorful flowers,
> > characters, or program that I will receive
> > immediately after I forward an e-mail.
> >
> > The American Red Cross will NOT donate 50 cents to a
> > certain individual dying of some never-heard-of
> > disease for every e-mail address I send this
> > to. The American Red Cross RECEIVES donations.
> >
> > Now, repeat this to yourself until you have it
> > memorized, and send it along
> > to at least 5 of your friends before the next full
> > moon or you will surely
> > be constipated for the next three months and all of
> > your teeth will fall out!!!
> > > I really like this and I am in complete agreement.
> >
> > NOW EVERYONE SAY IT WITH ME ...
> >
> >
> >
> > I WILL NOT let others guilt me into sending things
> > by telling me I am not their friend
> > if I don't return an email to them.
> > Or that I don't believe in Jesus Christ.
> > If God wants to send me a message
> > by using a PC, He certainly is not going to
> > "test" me to see if I forward it to others.
> >
> > "I will NOT get bad luck, lose my friends, or lose
> > my mailing lists if I DON'T forward an email!
> >
> > I will NOT hear any music or see a taco dog, if I DO
> > forward an e-mail.
> >
> > Bill Gates is NOT going to send me money; Victoria's
> > Secret doesn't know
> > anything about a gift certificate they're supposed
> > to send me, and Ford will
> > not give me a 50% discount even if I forward my
> > e-mail to more than 50 people!
> >
> > I will NEVER receive gift certificates, coupons, or
> > freebies from Coca Cola, Cracker Barrel, Old Navy,
> > or anyone else if I send an e-mail to 10 people.
> >
> > I will NEVER see a pop-up window if I forward an
> > e-mail ... NEVER !!!!
> >
> > My phone will not MYSTERIOUSLY ring after I forward
> > an e-mail. There is NO
> > SUCH THING as an e-mail tracking program, and I am
> > not STUPID enough to
> > think that someone will send me $100 for forwarding
> > an e-mail to 10 or more people!
> >
> > There is no kid with cancer through the Make-a-Wish
> > program in England
> > collecting anything! He did when he was 7 years old.
> > He is now cancer-free
> > and 35 years old and DOESN'T WANT ANY MORE POST
> > CARDS, CALLING CARDS, or GET-WELL CARDS.
> >
> > The government does not have a bill in Congress
> > called 901B (or whatever
> > they named it this week) that, if passed, will
> > enable them to charge us 5 cents for every e-mail we send.
> >
> > There will be NO cool dancing, singing, waving,
> > colorful flowers,
> > characters, or program that I will receive
> > immediately after I forward an e-mail.
> >
> > The American Red Cross will NOT donate 50 cents to a
> > certain individual dying of some never-heard-of
> > disease for every e-mail address I send this
> > to. The American Red Cross RECEIVES donations.
> >
> > Now, repeat this to yourself until you have it
> > memorized, and send it along
> > to at least 5 of your friends before the next full
> > moon or you will surely
> > be constipated for the next three months and all of
> > your teeth will fall out!!!
> >

and please, please, please remove the forward >>>> thingy's
LOL

Funny, I was coming to make a post JUST LIKE THIS! I have been deleting anything that even looked like a forward for quite some time now - and I have relatives and friends who send nothing else! If you want to send me an email, please write it yourself. I promise to answer it eventually, within the next month or so - lol.

I find forwards more of an annoyance than anything else. I have ask family and friends not to send them to me! They add up after a while-5 a day from 10 different people-thats alot of TIME!!! Id rather spend that time doing something else!

MsBatt, when the forwards get too agrivating, I send that to them!! After Sept 11, I got so many emails, many repeats of something I'd already seen. It was good the first time, but not after the 100th time. And if you insist on forwarding, please learn how to do it without me having to open 15 attachments. I don't open any attachment unless I'm expecting it after a couple of run-ins with a nasty virus.

Thank you GV and Gwydion,appreciate your help' Sis'

I have one friend,(not here), who still sends me junk mail. I just delete letters that say I will have bad luck without blinking an eye. We are still happy, healthy, and prosperous here.
Calalily, I hope someone here will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe if you respond back to those emails they will know you have an active addy and turn around and sell it again.

It is my duty to add an amen to this useful thread. I am one of those who just deletes it, as a general rule. I have been the victim of viruses from forwards, more than once. Sometimes, I will ask the person not to send the junk, but it usually goes in one ear and out the other, so I usually don't bother. My own mother was the worst, and it was my fault for getting her to buy a computer and get online. I finally convinced her to stop but she is still miffed about it, as if I denied her some birthright. (She also can't take "no" for an answer when she offers you a coke. If you don't want that, you must want a Dr. Pepper, or she will run to the store for what you want if you will just tell her.) I probably miss out on a lot of what I see as counterculture by not seeing these tired jokes and tear jerkers, but I will take that over the hassle of a mailbox always full of not what I wanted to see.

I don't have time for them.....yesterday alone I received 4 copies of the same forward.....I just hate spam soooo much and there are volumes of it....you can block them ....but they just turn around and change one thing about themselves and here we go again.......ya know what I mean! Don't get me wrong....funnies from people who have taken the time to get to know me are fine......but, I hate forwards, and I hate being put in a position to feel that I need to forward and return so I don't offend the sender........


"eyes"

Opening forwards from folks you aren't expecting to receive something from only spreads viruses and worms.

I quit opening them a long time ago. I refuse to risk my pc to viruses just so I can "have good luck" or "proclaim to others I'm not ashamed of what I believe in".

-Jennifer

AMEN, and AMEN!! I wrote to all my friends once and said: "If I haven't heard from you with in the next month...not counting forwards you send, then I will suppose you are too busy to keep in touch and will remove you from my address book." I also preach BCC, "clean" you email, and tell all that "I won't forward chain letters, even if it tells me that my nose will fall off, as I have a large nose to risk"...sometimes I do just forward one back to the sender...that says..."Send this back to me too"...and that's the only one I forward it to. (Oh, don't get me started on this...I'll preach all day!) Jo

My kinda girl rr, I will have to try the forwarding back... too funny!

Forwards don't even reach my inbox. I programmed my mail server to check to for certain keywords ("send this to your friends") and trash the E-mail immediately upon receipt.

So, I don't even see 'em. I had to take these drastic measures over a year ago, when I was getting about 100 a day! Ugh!

Dave

I have some Message Rules in my mail program also.. like emails with words 100% free, instant acces, naked, viagra, enlarge, are deleted from my mail servers.

It is also very odd that I get Badtrans emails from peope I have never had any contact! I wonder why do they have my email address in their addressbook?....

Forwards can be very annoying, I got also 'Light a candle for WTC victims' and several Osama Bin Laden things. Do they really think I am interested?

Also, I am sick and tired of the Israel war, we hear about it evert day from news. WE can only guess who many got killed today ;) Also Afghanistan news sometimes.

Evert, you get messages from people you have never heard of because some well-meaning person included you in an email sent to a lot of people all at once. Some of THOSE people forwarded on the message to their friends and your email address was in the body of the message, along with everyone else's.

And some of THOSE people forwaded it on, and so on and so on. And somewhere along the line, somebody snagged your address along with everyone else's, and the rest is history.

That is why forwarding emails is generally a BAD idea.

And for those who simply MUST forward something - be kind to your friends and remove the email addresses of those who received it before you.

Then use the bcc feature to send it on. That way, if a recipient of YOUR email forwards it yet again, the names of everyone else you sent it to will not be visible to anyone else "down the line".

Better yet, just don't send it. Chances are good that your friends already got it (once, twice, ten times) from other well-meaning friends :)

Too much of a good thing? Ah but so much better than not having anyone who thinks of YOU at all isn't it??????

Sort of makes me wonder what we did before emails. And what we are doing with it. People are being entertained and what we find cute or amusing we think out friends will find it the same.

Kikisdad is so right.

For the lonely and shutins it probable is welcome just to have someone thinking of you.

I forwarding mail to indashade at one time and included (her or him) in a mailing and was contacted and asked not to. I understood the request and removed that address from my book. On the other hand when my nephew asked me to quit forwarding him jokes because he wanted to hear from me instead of others I sent him a message that said, I send it because I love you and want you to know I am thinking of you. He hasn't mentioned it again.

I usually do not forward emails but If I do, I usually forward them to just some of my friends and put all the Hotmail, Yahoo, etc.. little texts and old header texts and email addresses away.. ;)

I have no problem with people thinking of me. Both of my sister-in-laws will ~occasionally~ foward me something that they know will tickle my funny bone. My husband does the same from work. In fact I have sat at the computer and laughed until I cried at some of the things that my husband sends me.

But it is highly presumptuous and inappropriate for someone with whom I have had minimal contact via trading or exchanging of information to start sending me cutesy, cuddly e-mail forwards, especially of a religious nature, since that person knows nothing about me. At the very least they should seek permission from the perspective forwardee before they start forwarding garbage.

You should NOT presume that what you find cute and amusing will be accepted as same by the person you are sending it to. I understand that there are people who enjoy e-mail fowards. Judging by the responses on this thread, there are many who do NOT. Please take the time to find out before you forward.

i hardly think receiving a FWD from someone that has you in their address book is considered "im thinking of you".
i actually blocked my sister for doing just what were talking about. i have a unique last name and she had it in (__) after my email address...just out of curiousity, i did a white page check with the last name...guess what, i found me, address, phone number, etc..too much of a risk for me!!!
i told her 2x to remove it and she didnt. the 3rd email she received from me informed her that she was blocked from emails AND ims.
thinking of me? i would rather be in someones thoughts solo vs. being just a contact in their address book.
i read with intererst about some being able to have emails blocked with certain words. how do i do that? i surely am not interested in increasing the size of ANYTHING, have no need for viagra and dont want to see someones barnyard videos..aargh
btw, good morning, lol
jen

I'm with you, Jen. The first virus I received was through a list on a woman's computer. I tried several times to tell her nicely that I didn't want her to forward to me, as I had a 14k modem and it took too long or even bumped me off. She just never even seemed to notice I had said anything and kept right on. I'm talking about as many as 15 forwards a day, often with long lists of others and really long lists of jokes, etc. She sent graphics that my poor little puter couldn't handle, timing out often. Finally, I crashed. When I got back up, I changed my user name and didn't ever contact her. I liked this woman, but she was too into her activities to ever hear a plea for relief, and I knew she would just start it all over again. I told my mother about it, and thought she would take the hint, but it failed, so I started sending her stuff back. Maybe she finally listened. Now she doesn't e-mail me much! But at least when she does, it's her and not half of cyberspace.

I send out funnies sometimes, but cut out all the junk at the beginning. I try to only send the things which are really clever, but that can be subjective, I realize. Please, if you receive such stuff from me and would like not to, write and tell me. I never take offense when someone says they'd just rather not receive stuff like that. I've written such e-mails myself. :o)

Evert - another way you'd receive such e-mails from strangers is by having a website. If you have your e-mail address listed on a webpage and someone visits it and then gets a virus, some viruses also search the cache and history of a user's computer and send themselves to e-mail addresses listed there.

For those who are interested in a little application which removes all the >> stuff and reformats the weird paragraphs and such, check out eClean2000. It's shareware free to try (flashes a reminder screen until you register) and very small to download. You can run it right from your system tray, copying the text you wish to reformat, then right-clicking on the eClean icon and choosing "clean clipboard contents". You can customize what it will/will not do to the copied text. It's invaluable - I use it daily. http://members.aol.com/EClean2000/

i have to agree about the junk....i got some really mean religous ranting email last week and it has bugged me alit thinking someone i know, thinks i need that hell fire and brimstone sermon on how wicked people will burn and blablabla....!i also do get some funny jokes but they are so free for the taking all over the web i cannot imagine why anyone feels these are so specail they must send them around. i love email from people i know but the ads are so annoying. i delete anything that says "guess what?" OR "LUCKY YOU" or you've been picked....!

Yeah, or "FREE long distance for a year" or "FREE anything" just about!

Gardenwife, I am interested in the e-clean2000. Is it on a disk that you download into your computer and tells you what to do? I checked the hyperlink that you listed and do you get it there or can you buy it in stores? I send some things to my cousin and I hate all that stuff at the top that goes with it. I do not open anything that I do not actually know who it is from. I still get a bunch of advertising stuff like remortage your home, get new cars etc. It take me a while to delete all that stuff. I have wondered how they get my email address. I have thought of changing it a couple of times. Gardenwife let me know about the E-clean thing please.

I believe the program is only available for download from the web. You can download it at http://members.aol.com/EClean2000/download.htm and save it to a folder on your hard drive. When it's done downloading, just virus scan it like you would any program and double-click to run the installation. You can try it for free, and at only $10 to register it, I think it's a bargain for all it does.

Thanks Gardenwife. I need to learn all I can about these things. When you want to copy an email and add a name to it and send it to a different person how do you do that. I tried to click on copy and it didn't work.

You have to highlight the text you want to copy, then click on copy. See if this http://davesgarden.com/journal/viewentry/10202/index.html helps - it's a short tutorial I wrote about posting hyperlinks, but the same steps apply nomatter what type of text you're wanting to copy. :o)

Gardenwife that last hyperlink really helps. Also I have been thinking about a new printer. I saw your recommendation on the Epson Stylus Photo 820. I think I will look into it. If you print only in black and white will that take away from your color pictures when you print? I guess you just have to watch the black ink and not run out. Color photos use the black also--right. I got a Kodak 200 Lexmark and it takes for ever to print color pictures and you wind up having to trim etc. Even the printing on black is slow. The color in the prints are great. I was even thinking if you can just get a black ink printer and I could still use the Kodak printer? Wonder if you can hook up 2 printers to your harddrive?

No, it doesn't take away much ink to print in B&W, especially if you're printing text stuff. There are two cartridges, one black and one 6-color. Another thing I love about the Epson is it has an ink monitor which tells you how much ink you have left in each cartridge - very handy!

You can hook two printers up to your computer, sure. If you have a printer hooked to the parallel port of your computer, you can "daisy chain" two printers together with cables. You would only be able to print on one printer at a time that way, though.

If you have any USB ports in your computer (they look like small rectangles with no holes for pins in them), you could get a USB printer and still keep your old parallel port printer hooked up as it is now.

Whatever you decide to do, there's lots of help available online for setting up your printers, and I'd be glad to point you in their direction if you have any problems. :o)

We kept our old HP, for the time being, anyway, to print "junk" documents on for our own files. We use the Epson for photos, graphics and stuff that we want in higher resolution (like Priority Mail labels containing a bar code) and stationary.

Gee, and here I thought I was the only one who refused to forward chain letters, etc. I have been guilty of the forward button, however, but in the future will use bcc as a matter of course.

Agapanthus, my reasoning on this subject might not find much support, but I think the fact that chain letters are illegal for snail mail is enough reason not to send them by e-mail. The reason for that legislation was that many people sent money and expected to get a lot of money back, and just like so many of the scams where only a handful of people can come out ahead, it preys on the less informed or more vulnerable people. It's different in cyberland, but there will always be people looking for and finding ways to exploit. If a chain letter might help them to amass contacts for the purpose of exploiting in any way, I don't want to be part of it. Many years ago, a dear friend ignored my plea not to become involved in a game called Airplane, and he ended up spending a lot of money on legal fees, as well as suffering the humiliation of seeing his name in the paper in a list of participants. I recall how impatient he was with me when I wouldn't help him by adding to his list so he could advance closer to the level where he would be rich. We have never discussed the outcome, but he is a little cool to me now, years later, and I think it is because he is still embarrassed. My point is, these things might seem harmless, but you probably have no idea who started them or what their true purpose is for making the internet rounds. And you might not like the future repercussions, which could last for the rest of your life in terms of mental effect.

Amen, Amen, Amen. I hate forwards! I hate chain letters! I delete them without even opening them but it still aggravates me that someone sent them to me in the first place. Brenda