Break the Chain… PLEASE!

For some reason I’ve been getting an unGodly amount of forwarded email chain letters, poems, and jokes lately so I decided I should finally take the time to write an “informational” email to family and friends on my contact list. I actually have some “Chonic Forwarders” in this list (who btw never use BCC) but I haven’t asked them to stop before now because I’ve always been afraid of hurting someones feelings.

Well, thanks to this recent barrage of junk and the following paragraph from a BreakThe Chain.org article, I have now conquered this fear.

“Do not get defensive in return, this will only make them more defensive and escalate matters. To make them understand your point, you have to help deflect their guilt/doubt. Tell them that you appreciate them thinking of you, but it embarrasses you to see your friends falling for hoaxes, lies and half-truths. They did what they believed was right and you’re doing what you think is right.”

I’m glad I got over this fear because every time I get one of these things it causes me severe pain knowing my email address has once again been exposed to any possible number of spammers or shady third-party characters out there as it gets forwarded along to the rest of the universe.

So - I spent some time this morning carefully crafting an email that hopefully will not be taken the wrong way by someone who might be having a sensitive day. I included a copy of the email below, if you are in a similar situation please feel free to use it freely yourself if so desired. (but of course, use bcc

Hi Everyone! Hope you’re all doing well.

I just wanted to quickly let you know that the email about Bill Gates is a hoax… like ALL chain letters of this nature, it’s a fake. Even “Christian” email chain letters that look like petitions for good and worthy causes are fake and are ineffective forms of activism. Some chain letters have even been known to contain hidden viruses embedded deep within the html underneath the surface. Here is a link for more info on this letter specifically…

Share Microsoft’s Millions?

If you ever want to see if something like this is real or not, this is a good site to check out. The following link is a page with a lot of good information on email chain letters and scams. Some of them can be pretty harmful even though they may not appear that way on the surface.

www.breakthechain.org/library

From the site:
“Some try to argue that they know it’s a hoax, but forwarded it because it was fun. Almost inevitably, the same question is proffered: ‘what can it hurt.’ Well, most directly, sending junk will lead to receiving more junk. Forwarding e-mail chain letters exposes you and your contacts to more spam, scams, viruses, and other junk mail.”

And Please Use “BCC”:
There are way too many spammers, scammers, and stalkers out there today to not use BCC when sending emails to groups of people. Not many realize it but this is the number one reason why you have so much spam, spammers harvest your email address from these messages!

Here are a couple of links with more information on how and why you should use “BCC” in your email software to protect your contacts and loved ones when sending email messages to more than one person.

Email Etiquette
Don’t Brush Off Privacy!

I hope you found this information helpful, and please don’t hesitate to call or email me if you have any questions about this stuff, I’d be more than happy to help!

Cheers!
Brad

Here are some more articles from Break The Chain that I thought you might find useful as well.

How to Research a Chain Letter
An Open Letter to E-mail Users
E-Mail Forwarding Etiquette
C’mon, What Can It Hurt?
Armchair Activism

Hope this helps someone somewhere.

tags: chain letters, email, netiquette, spam, hoax, Break the Chain, etiquette