How to Forward E-mail Responsibly

By eHow Internet Editor

Rate: (7 Ratings)

Getting carried away with forwarding is a great way to turn e-friends into e-enemies. Before you send that hilarious joke or virus warning to everyone you know, read these quidelines and keep your forwarding sensible.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Step1
Forward mail on an individual basis; don't create distribution lists of everyone you know. Determine whether a given person will appreciate or enjoy the message before adding his or her address to the recipient list.
Step2
Determine whether the message is a hoax before forwarding it. If it's bogus, delete it.
Step3
Add a brief, personal message to the beginning of each forward that you send out explaining why you're sending it. If you can't think of a reason, don't send it.
Step4
Avoid mass-forwarding to company addresses, since people often have more important things to do with their work e-mail.
Step5
Cooperate with any friends or colleagues who ask not to receive forwards of any kind.
Step6
Think twice about forwarding a message that you've seen before. If you've seen it before, chances are your friends have, and receiving the same forward multiple times can be very annoying.

Tips & Warnings

  • E-mails about so-called "tracking" software, such as messages claiming that forwarding the message will fund cancer research, are always fake. Such technology doesn't exist.

Comments

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Anonymous

Anonymous said

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on 6/30/2006 E-mail messages containing dire warnings of bad luck, which are forwarded numerous times, are nothing more than electronic chain letters. Do the ones you love, your dear friends and family, a huge favor and don't bother them with these time-consuming, virus-laden missives. Dismiss them if any come your way and educate your tormentor about the ills of sending personal spam.

Anonymous

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 Threatening e-mail recipients with bad luck if they don't pass an e-mail on is extremely offensive. E-mail messages that state that the recipient is not a "true friend" if they don't send it back to the sender are inconsiderate.

Anonymous

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 It's also courteous to use the nifty Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) option when sending out forwards. You can just put your own email in the "To" field, and then put everyone else's emails in the "BCC" field. That way, the email addresses are not shown on the actual forward itself, helping to protect the privacy of your friends' email boxes. It is also rumored (rumor to me, because I haven't had anyone verify this) that when forwarding emails, companies are allowed to buy out the email addresses that show on that list and then they can send those individuals junk mail. By BCCing the forwards, there are no addresses for those companies to see or buy out. That's what I hear. If it's true or not, I don't know. But either way, it doesn't hurt to BCC anyway, just out of courtesy.

Anonymous

Anonymous said

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on 7/5/2007 Remove all previous recipients from messages before forwarding.

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on 3/13/2008 This is one of the most popular ways used by spammers to "troll" (fishing) the internet for email addresses. Every time you forward one of these messages, you are giving all your contact's addresses to a spammer list.

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eHow Article:  How to Forward E-mail Responsibly

eHow Internet Editor

eHow Internet Editor

Category: Internet

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