3 questions to think about before forwarding chain emails
Many people forward me different kinds of emails everyday. These emails range from topics like cancer patients needing attention to the moon coming closer to planet earth and so on. Some emails are good; most aren’t. Next time you get an email forwarded to you, let the forwarder know of the following 3 basic guidelines that they can follow before they forward you anything else in the future:
- Can the information in the email be verified?
- Who started the chain email in the first place?
- Do the claims made by the email make sense?
This is the most important question to ask. If some information cannot be verified, do not forward it to other people. I get emails forwarded to me every week that claim that Mars is coming closer to Earth or that a cancer patient is dying and everyone needs to help her.
This is the second most important question to ask. Who was the person who forwarded the first ever version of that email? If you cannot trace the source, then it is a strong indication that the email being forwarded is not worth reading. Credible emails with credible information usually list their sources clearly and explicitly so that they can be verified easily by anyone.
Sometimes emails contain technical or some confusing information that cannot be verified directly, thus making it harder to track down the source or information mentioned in that email. In such cases, simply think if the email makes sense. Some emails still claim that if one forwards them, Bill Gates will pay them $10 each. To date, there is no publicly available technology that can track all the people that forward a specific email. If a claim doesn’t make sense, such as to why Bill Gates would pay $10 of his money to anyone who spams others, there is no need to forward that email.
Those three basic guidelines should help people understand that forwarding an email does not make one cool unless the information contained within the email is accurate and can do real good.
Loading ...
( August 24th, 2006 at 5:44 am )
i only read forwarded emails when im really free. and i have an email account which contains forwarded emails mostly, which is my yahoo japan email. thats why i was surprised when you sent me an email to that address. i find that forwarding emails dont make sense, unless i know that the forwarded email is related to someone somehow.
since im stuck in hilton, maybe i can entertain myself reading the forward emails and start forwarding it to everybody. im bored….really bored…
( August 24th, 2006 at 12:16 pm )
LOL, I don’t forward e-mails anymore. The only ones I “forward”(actually, post up on Myspace), are the ones that have good stories(not true stories, just good inspirational stories), and that’s it. Forwards are just pointless now. I’ve never really forwarded those e-mails that said that they’re going to close your account if you don’t forward and such… Hehe…
Anyways, off-topic here… Why aren’t you on AIM but you’re on other messengers?! Are you trying to avoid me???
LOL! I hope you’re day is going awesome!
( August 24th, 2006 at 8:25 pm )
[...] read more | digg story [...]
( August 25th, 2006 at 3:21 am )
That’s a strategy. The yahoo.co.jp email situation makes sense, yes. I sent you email to that account since my emails are always junk, no?
I usually depend on the built in junk folders to do the job for me. Hmmm, stuck in Hilton? That’s good, I have and always want to be stuck in Hilton or something similar instead of my house. You should do that; forward everything to everyone whenever you’re bored at Hilton. That’s the requirement; if you’re bored only at Hilton, start forwarding. Otherwise, pass time by sleeping or something.
( August 25th, 2006 at 3:23 am )
“Anymore”? :O So you stopped after I filed all those complaints against you?
j/k.
MySpace was built for spamming and forwarding, no? So you did the right thing there.
Hmmm, I was updating AIM and forgot to turn it back on. Trying to avoid you? Not trying, actually doing it. Hmmm, j/k before you take it seriously. Hope your day went smooth.
( September 23rd, 2006 at 9:34 am )
I only forward those mails which are interesting. And for mails about dying cancer patients and mars coming closer, I just delete them.
( September 26th, 2006 at 4:22 pm )
That’s good; I love emails which are interesting.
Those cancer emails and mars coming closer; rofl, I wish mars came really close. Off to junk such emails go.