How to Forward E-mail Responsibly

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.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computer Desks
• Internet Access
• E-mail Accounts
• Computers
• E-mail Software

1. 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.

2. Determine whether the message is a hoax before forwarding it. If it's bogus, delete it.

3. 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.

4. Avoid mass-forwarding to company addresses, since people often have more important things to do with their work e-mail.

5. Cooperate with any friends or colleagues who ask not to receive forwards of any kind.

6. 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.

Who Can Help:

• eFax is the world’s #1 Internet fax service.  Send and receive faxes by email and kiss your fax machine goodbye. 30-Day Free Trial

[rajsharma]

on 11/11/2008 you are not change

[JesusKryst]

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.

[JesusKryst]

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

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.

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.