Fearless Forwarding

It's taken me a while, but I've decided that any forwarded emails that suggest any negativity…i.e. if you don’t forward this to at least 8 people you will have a year of bad luck…I will delete!

I hope this will eventually dawn on others who keep sending them.

When forwarding emails, I now BCC the recipients, so that others can’t add them to their own email lists. I've been told too that it is safest to copy and paste to a new email, rather than to forward the original.

Also, it seems to me that if you send something to someone else you should not attach any conditions at all…i.e. if you forward this you will have 7 years of good luck! Why not just let it go?

If I think the emails are good and funny or inspiring or whatever, but they have souring conditions attached, I sometimes edit out that part, and send them on.

Some of my friends have asked that I do not forward anything at all. They feel that all communications should be personal. But I understand that for others, it is simply a way of keeping in touch.

I always get a thrill when I recognize a friend’s name in the lists of spam that arrive every day, no matter what they are sending and whether or not I pass it on. Sometimes it reminds me that I haven’t communicated with them in too long, and so I send a note!