Spam, spam, spam...

[dimity_blue]

I have a friend.

Hang on...let me explain that as I don't want you to think I have just the one who I keep in a box under my bed or anything.

I don't have any friends under my bed in boxes (or any other type of container), but I do have a friend who is addicted to spam.

Whatever piece of junk is in her inbox, ends up in mine. Including all those lovely "pass this on NOW or die a hideous death within 24 hours" emails. Monty Python could have done a sketch on emails if emails had been around at the time.

Today she sent me one of those "forward this and the Make a Wish Foundation will donate 7 cents every time this message is sent on" emails. Now tell me, how on earth would the Make a Wish Foundation know when the email is sent on and to how many people it's been sent? And why, if they wanted to donate money to help the person in the email, would they do it in such a stupid manner?

Btw, the person in the email says that if I don't send this on to everyone on my list, I have a cold heart.

Well, mine must be icy, because I deleted the email.

Comments

[starwatcher]

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Including all those lovely "pass this on NOW or die a hideous death within 24 hours" emails.

Oh lord, I hate those! Even worse is the ones that say, "Show how much you care by passing on this message." Uh - no. Even if it's uplifting spam, it's still spam. I may share with one or two people, but I'm not going to pass it on to "at least ten"; I don't have ten people I'm that close to.

There's nothing you can do about the "hideous death" ones; like you, I delete. For the othere, I seek out an "Urban Legends" page, like Snopes.com. You can do a search, and usually find the exact wording of the email you've received, and whether or not it's true (seldom) or false (usually). I couldn't find the Make a Wish foundation one (although I probably would if I kept looking), but there were several similar ones, all false. For example -

Claim: AOL and ZDNet are donating 32¢ to the care of Rachel Arlington, a child with brain cancer in need of an operation her parents can't afford, for every e-mail forwarded.

Status: False. - and then they give the explanation.

If you have the time, you might check out each of her spams, then send her the reference, with the notation that you don't want any more. Maybe she'll learn eventually. I had to get mean with one of my nieces, but she finally quit sending me such stuff. Granted, it took 6 or 8 angry responses over about two years, but she did learn.

Good luck.
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[dimity-blue.livejournal.com]

If you have the time, you might check out each of her spams, then send her the reference, with the notation that you don't want any more. Maybe she'll learn eventually. I had to get mean with one of my nieces, but she finally quit sending me such stuff. Granted, it took 6 or 8 angry responses over about two years, but she did learn.

Thanks for the suggestion. I asked her a while ago to stop sending me junk and she did...but then she started again. I know she sends on the death ones because it's "send this to everyone or you WILL die!" and she's worried it's true, but it bugs me.

Anyway, I googled this one and found it. As I thought, it's fake (http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_kayla_wightman.htm). I've already sent the link to my friend. Let's see if it does any good.

[starwatcher]

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As I thought, it's fake.

Yep. I'm always amazed at how long these things have been around, once you track down the origin. You know, I learned before I reached high school that "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't true." I wonder about the gullible folks that were never taught that lesson.

As for the "you will die" messages - you might point out to her that it's highly unlikely that God / Fate / the Universe cares whether a message is passed on. Even if GFtU did care, I think He / She / It would find a more reliable messenger, one that couldn't be denied... like, a burning bush. *g*
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[dimity-blue.livejournal.com]

As for the "you will die" messages - you might point out to her that it's highly unlikely that God / Fate / the Universe cares whether a message is passed on. Even if GFtU did care, I think He / She / It would find a more reliable messenger, one that couldn't be denied... like, a burning bush. *g*

LOL! That reminds of this (http://www.softlab.ece.ntua.gr/~sivann/pub/swf/may02-smilepop-soapbox4.swf) little tirade on chain emails. Have you seen it before? I love it!

[patk.livejournal.com]

>>As for the "you will die" messages - you might point out to her that it's highly unlikely that God / Fate / the Universe cares whether a message is passed on.<<

You might also point out that *you* are still alive - despite not forwarding spam messages. *g*

PatK
:-)

[dimity-blue.livejournal.com]

You might also point out that *you* are still alive - despite not forwarding spam messages. *g*

LOL! She knows that I don't send them on, because I told her so. She's probably waiting for karma to slap me into the middle of next week!

And thanks for the idea about the 2nd address book. I don't know if anyone else has complained to her though or whether it's just me.

[patk.livejournal.com]

>>I know she sends on the death ones because it's "send this to everyone or you WILL die!" and she's worried it's true, but it bugs me.<<

I had a similar problem with a friend and solved it by talking her into making two different addressbooks. One she can safely send everything she wants to forward (since the people on it haven't complained yet) and the other for people who *do* complain. *g*

If she gets a "send this to everyone in your addressbook or..." now, she'll forward it to each and everyone on the first addressbook. *g* Hey, the spam-messages talk about "book", not "books". *g*

PatK
:-)