Forwarded "Chain Letter" E-mail Mini Rant

[Miss Capri]

Exactly. The chains of emotional/psychological coercion, that's exactly what goes on with forwards and forwarders. They get socked hard in the heart, or whichever buttons get pushed by the forward. Hard enough to over-ride the rational part of the brain that, if given enough time, would question a good deal of this stuff. Factor in the cunning claims added by hoaxers to make their junk seem more credible than it is. "This was on CNN!" Or "The news didn't cover this and they should have, because it's so true, but the media doesn't want you to know!" And then we get the friend of a friend factor. Offline, we all know that "friend of a friend" tales are just that. But when you get an email from a rl friend who doesn't lie, and you are a net newb, you just don't think your friend sends you anything bogus or unreliable. But eventually you find out otherwise, because that friend has made the same assumptions about emails from their friends. How sadly ironic.

No, I will never start a chain letter to see how many people buy into it. As you said, the net is already full of this kind of stupidity. And my being such a chain-smasher, wanting to turn the tables on the hoaxers and help straighten people out in this forwarding racket, however small that contribution is, for me to start a chain letter would be the height of hypocrisy. and I could smash any you started as well if I read them. Hehe. You wouldn't want to see that. You'll have to take my word on this. I'm not kind toward chain letters, even parodies, or, anti-chains as they are known. They get torn apart with some serious venom.

This is partly due to the build up of wanting to scream at my contacts and fellow email list members etc. for spreading these irritating things, and a great deal of rage against the hoaxers who originate this stuff in the first place.

Then you get those who excuse/defend the sending of forwards in reply to a debunk. *Headdesk* No, it's not okay to send it "just in case".

And I had to get pretty unpleasant toward someone once for continuing to send chain letters. This person had their spam mail repeatedly debunked with polite requests and cautions to stop with the forwards, and clear explanations why. They didn't heed. So I had to tell them off several times before they FINALLY took the hint.

The very first person who did this was someone who I just never told when my email address changed.

 

[Smoke]

Any message that includes some king of guilt driven tag will never be forwarded by me.

Things like:
If you love God you'll forward this.
If you hate sick little girls you won't forward this.

Etcetera ad nauseam...

Ditto, if I get those they go straight into the trash.

There are a couple of them that make the rounds on FB every so often that are parodies that end with something like

"If you don't forward this you hate Jesus, Puppies, Kittens and BACON and if you hate bacon the terrorists win"

Those always get forwarded

 

[Miss Capri]

I remember learning about internet chain letters the hard way as a newbie. The one I remember falling for as a newb was one my cousin sent, the Neiman Marcus $250 cookie recipe hoax. And the reason I thought it was real was because that particular set of headers went back to the person who sent it to her. So I thought this was something which happened to someone my cousin actually knew. Imagine the face palming I did a few days later when it came to me again on an email list with no one in the headers connected with my cousin or her friend. "What? Just a lousy chain letter!? Aaaaaagh!" It's a cold hard realization finding out the stuff you are sent by otherwise reliable people offline, is likely to be anything but on the net.

Eventually I came to realize that chain letters also came in the form of faux religion, and sick kid hoaxes. They are definitely not just the basic luck and pyramid scheme sort. they are that plus covering any subject and human emotion-yank possible.

The jokes irritate the living heck out of me too, and they are likely to come in droves around Christmas time. That's also when religious rant chain letters are circulated with vengeance.

Thank goodness people have learned pretty much over the years not to send me that stuff. But I still see it on FB.

The last holiday season I was glad no one reposted any. But there were some the year before.

Now it's stuff from Buzzfeed, Ellen show videos, Upworthy, distractify, 9gag, the oatmeal, viral Youtube videos, and last but not least, George Takei!! Still chain letters, still annoying.

 

[Miss Capri]

Yes, I believe info-collecting is the motive behind especially those that pretend to be super friendly "Let's see who all gets this, what a fun game! Forward to all your friends and be sure to send a copy to me!" Yeah, whoever started that is trying to collect email addresses, signature information (and sigs get appended using work computers) birth dates, location info, you name it.

 

[radar1972]

No chain mail. (there, I made the 10 character minimum)

 

[Miss Capri]

Just smashed another one this morning, a blog quote exchange one, supposedly for "positive thinking" and "fun" :roll eyes: It used that old cliche about supposedly doing a "random act of kindness" *Facepalm* I've always disliked that saying to begin with, but seriously, if someone really wants to do a random act of kindness, here's a concept. How about *drumroll* Sending a personally written note to a friend! One that's actually typed by hand, and with no viral strings attached whatsoever! *Gasp* What an idea!

I guarantee that's a lot more appreciated by at least some of us on the net.

As for this "positive thinking" this chain went on about, well, here's a thought. I positively hate that chain.

And I was still being relatively nice here.

I can get a lot more burning, though without being vulgar.

You'd think with people only just starting to brave up and say "Enough with the recipe exchange chains." that another one wouldn't be started around a quote exchange.

But no. Apparently there's always someone just waiting to kickstart something stupid and someone else willing to get reeled in.

Quotes annoy me in the first place. I want to know what my friends have to say, not what Abe Lincoln or Eleanor roosevelt supposedly said but turns out they actually didn't... Or people reposting quotes from movies, celebs, song lyrics. Oh please! if I want movie/song quotes, I'll get off the dang computer and watch a show.

So this chain letter was two flavours of annoying in one.

But smashing it was satisfying.

 

[A10]

The ones that irritate me the most are the claims that if you don't forward the tripe then you are not a good Christian......I don't recall anything about the interwebs in the Bible...at least the one I read!

BTW, Welcome to the Forum Miss Capri! Tell me, is the name reference a certain clothing style, or a '70s Mercury?

 

[Miss Capri]

The ones that irritate me the most are the claims that if you don't forward the tripe then you are not a good Christian......I don't recall anything about the interwebs in the Bible...at least the one I read!

Heck yes! Those will send me into screaming rages! Seriously, God is no slave to chain letters nor does he work through them. And all the backlash those things cause where anti-theists use them as an excuse to ridicule us "Lulz my crazy uncle sent me this Christian chain email!" Argh, a million times, argh! Those and the sick kid hoaxes, and false stories against other people or companies make me so mad. Others are insanely annoying, but these take it to a whole new level of stink.

BTW, Welcome to the Forum Miss Capri! Tell me, is the name reference a certain clothing style, or a '70s Mercury?

Hehe! *Grins* No. It is my actual name. It's Caprina Marie.

And thanks for the welcome.

 

[walkin jack]

I have been on the internet since 1997. in the beginning like a lot of others that were just starting out I would forward jokes and what have you. But even from the very beginning It always rankled me to get those chain thing. "Forward this to 20 people or suffer the fires of Hell. Blah blah blah! Religious, political or any subject that people tend to get fanatical about I just delete and go on about my merry way.

Most of my friends and family after they see I don't respond to "if this doesn't come back to me then I'm not your friend" eventually took me off their list. Some needed a little encouragement to do so but I'm literally chain letter free these days. It only took about a year to get tired of the jokes and stuff.

 

[Wyatt Burp]

I'm the guy who started this thread and the stuff forwarded to me from that particular friend were also joke stuff, with this occasional guilt trip stuff he feels compelled to pass on. Eventually I would just delete everything that was wasn't directly from him. But one of those chain letters came up the other day and hence, my mini rant. Other annoying stuff, we still get stuff for my mom, including funeral plots. She died in 1993! No big deal I guess, as my recycle bin is between the mailbox and door to the house.

 

[Miss Capri]

Me as well, I started out an internet newbie, needing to learn over time all the various forms chain letters take. Now the warning bells go off at the smallest hint of a viral.

I got tripped up a few years ago with a couple of them, one was a Facebook group which I eventually left and wouldn't rejoin again now that I see what it really was. The other was an anti-chain that someone sent me. *Embarrassed expression* The "I No Longer" where it starts out with "Thanks everyone for sending me your dang chain emails over the past year. Because of you, I no longer drink cola because it removes toilet stains. I no longer use deodorant even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day, because I don't want to get cancer." and yadda yadda.

To think I once laughed at that, and let the friend at the time, know she made me laugh. Not 6 months later, someone else posted it somewhere. I also found it reposted on so many other sites. Gah, stupid chain letter.

There was another one that turned out to be an anti-chain, which was most unfortunate. Something that ended with "I believe the bush will burn in my yard before *this or that* happens" blah. Used to think that one was funny too, until seeing it crop up all over the place. Bleck. another anti-chain.

One has to wonder, though, how in the world otherwise sensible people are fine with sending around such odious stuff as "Send this back to me and I'll know you are my friend. If you get 12 copies back it means you have 12 good friends." do they not realize how that makes them look and how it implies the recipient might be fool enough to buy into that as well? Pretty insulting.

 

[Miss Capri]

I'm the guy who started this thread and the stuff forwarded to me from that particular friend were also joke stuff, with this occasional guilt trip stuff he feels compelled to pass on. Eventually I would just delete everything that was wasn't directly from him. But one of those chain letters came up the other day and hence, my mini rant. Other annoying stuff, we still get stuff for my mom, including funeral plots. She died in 1993! No big deal I guess, as my recycle bin is between the mailbox and door to the house.

Great mini-rant, though, and definitely justified. We can only hold it in and be nice for so long.

What has always annoyed me most about the jokes and viral video links is that I never get them from just one person, or hear about them from one person. Those dang things hit the net and suddenly everybody's on fire for them, sending you the same laughing cat gif with a silly caption or latest video that everyone is yacking about offline as well.

Urgh, makes me want to hit my head against a wall.

If everyone checked via search engine and found out how viral the latest thing to astound them is, maybe they'd think twice about imposing it on anyone else. Maybe.

I still cringe today at the very thought of that Il Divo "Amazing Grace" everybody was sending me that when it went around, and I didn't even like it the first time. I refused to click on it after that.

And that duckling rescue video. Gah, one year, we had ducks nesting in our yard. Unfortunately, that year, a duck rescue viral video was going around, about some guy who got a bunch of ducklings down from some rooftop or ledge thing on some high building. and everyone wanted to strike up a conversation with me about this totally AMAZING video! *Facepalm* 'Yeah I already heard about it like 20 times, excuse me - the ducks in my own yard are far more exciting and important to me than any chain video about some ducks and a guy I don't know from nowhere., so, like, - can we talk about something else now?!?'

Someone once forwarded me a joke, to which I replied with a simple Snopes link debunking the story. and the hissy this person threw, holy ****! They pitched a big tantrum and actually said "I'll never email you again!" And true to their word, they didn't. Gah. Chain letters do not foster friendships and communication, they kill it. They really do. and I'm sick of tippy-toeing around, trying not to hurt the feelings of forwarders who don't even consider the real impact of sending this kruft to people who never asked to get it.

 

[arjay]

I just file it away as old people/don't know any better people syndrome.I have to admit that no one has sent me this junk in years and Ive managed to prune my friends down to just one tin foil hat wearing nuisance ;-)

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

Someone once forwarded me a joke, to which I replied with a simple Snopes link debunking the story. and the hissy this person threw, holy ****! They pitched a big tantrum and actually said "I'll never email you again!" And true to their word, they didn't.

Thank you. I always like to know what actually works.

 

[Miss Capri]

You know, that's another really sad thing about this. Older people, who should know better. They have a bad reputation for spreading chain letters, and a lot of the time it's powerpoint stuff, a lot of seniors seem addicted to powerpoint fwds.

But it isn't just seniors who spread annoying malarkey, nor just Christians or conservative/republican/right-leaning people, though those on the left sure like to make out that it is.

Women of all ages love forwards that promote the idea that women need their egos stroked 24/7 because it's supposed to be "uplifting" and "empowering" her. Tweens love those stupid LMS "Like My Status" chain letters, and they are the ones who keep reposting those dumb Bloody Mary/Teddy/Carmen Winstead/Summer etc. forward-or-die chain letters, all over social networks. As well as "What a true boyfriend is" "How to please a girl" and all such bollox.

 

[Miss Capri]

Thank you. I always like to know what actually works.

Lol.

Of course, what still stunk was that this person was someone I would've liked to stay in contact with. Same as all the others. Without their cruddy chain emails ruining things and their decisions to abandon me for chain emails, we could've stayed friends.

 

[george minze]

I once knew a triple Nobel Prize winner, Pulitzer Prize novelist and world champion in nine martial arts disciplines. He failed to forward a chain letter. The next morning when he woke up he was Justin Bieber.

Ouch!!! a fate worse than death......O Canada...O' Canada take him back!!!!I promise I will love the RCMP, fishing, and Hockey....I Promise, honest Injun...

 

[Mcwsky09]

Yes, I believe info-collecting is the motive behind especially those that pretend to be super friendly "Let's see who all gets this, what a fun game! Forward to all your friends and be sure to send a copy to me!" Yeah, whoever started that is trying to collect email addresses, signature information (and sigs get appended using work computers) birth dates, location info, you name it.

Yep - some people I know strip off all previous email addresses and use bcc to send out so that no one past that points can mine the email for others' addresses.

Also I am pretty sure most of the stupid stuff on Facebook (not that the overwhelming bulk of it isn't) along the lines of bet you can't name a movie without an A in the title etc are simply aimed at cranking up the number of page hits or likes etc. Still surprises me to see the one where Bill Gates is allegedly going to give you some amount of money if you forward the email etc. Stop and think for a moment - if he were to do that for real then before long he would be broke and in order for it to be possible it would mean that he can read all of your email - and that should scare you - of course those things started before Snowden pointed out that the NSA is already doing it.

 

[rwsmith]

Share.......

Share this Angel Kiss with 12 of your friends.

If you hate Jesus delete this email.

 

[mtgianni]

I kill them all from saving babies to Military Vets. Good causes are not marketed through e-mail.