Originally Posted By wonderingalice One of my former coworkers (a very bright gentleman retiree) sent me a bunch of photos under this caption: "South Africa Tree with Carvings" It had come from a VERY broad e-mail distribution stream from ALL over the country... Wheeeeeeeeee! Before I even glanced at the first photo I knew... It was this: <a href="http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/parks/attractionDetail?id=TheTreeofLifeAttractionPage&bhcp=1" target="_blank">http://disneyworld.disney.go.c...e&bhcp=1</a> And I've never been there! *LMAO* Happy Saturday, my wonderful Disney friends!!
Originally Posted By jdub >>It had come from a VERY broad e-mail distribution stream from ALL over the country.<< WHEN will people finally learn to use the "BCC" option in their group e-mails, to protect others' privacy? It's difficult to say anything to people you know may well get offended (although it is they who are committing the infraction in netiquette), but I have been known to politely ask someone to either utilize the "BCC" option, or remove me from the group e-mails.
Originally Posted By wonderingalice I hear ya, jdub... Most of my friends are pretty good about the bcc: thing; others... not so good. And this gentleman is pretty good (sometimes) about sending me stuff he's unsure of for "verification"... He should have done it this time. ;-)
Originally Posted By SuperDry Fortunately, most of the people I know are smart enough to simply not forward those mass email things to me. For the most part, they don't get them themselves, for the same reason. It is interesting that there's apparently an entire subculture based on "information" spread in this manner.
Originally Posted By wonderingalice I have three who do it... Lucky for them they're people I've known for a long time - I'd be less tolerant otherwise. Now, I just laugh and let them know when they do something stupid. *L*
Originally Posted By Mrs ElderP I don't get very many any more. My Grandma used to forward often, but she's not been able to email since her stroke. I would gladly take her forwards back if I could get all of her other fun comments too. In general I use snopes when I get the rare forward, as I'm sure you all do too.
Originally Posted By jdub >>Fortunately, most of the people I know are smart enough to simply not forward those mass email things to me<< Thank you...no health warnings, please, no warnings about presidential candidates' alleged religious affiliations, no cartoons, cute stories, stupid lists, jokes--just, NO!
Originally Posted By x Pirate_Princess x I use the BCC feature when I'm sending to my Yahoo Groups, because if someone hits "reply all" (Which I almost never do, unless it's a close group of friends) I don't want their emails trying to get through to my other Yahoo Groups. On a note about trustworthy email sources, whenever I get anything with a warning or some sad sob story about a 4 year old with alzheimers, I always always always check www.snopes.com before I forward it. If it turns out to be a hoax, I email the offender with the link, telling them it's a hoax. But the next week, I'm getting another stupid email from them. Why do *I* have to do all the work???
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< I always always always check www.snopes.com before I forward it. If it turns out to be a hoax, I email the offender with the link, telling them it's a hoax. But the next week, I'm getting another stupid email from them. >>> It doesn't work. This is why I indirectly referred to the people that constantly forward these emails as being not so smart. Even when it's pointed out to them that lots of what they send is simply false, they just believe the next one and send it on out anyway. Especially in this day and age, it doesn't take but a minute or two to do a bit of research. Also, so many of them fall into familiar patterns that are more or less screaming "I'm a fraud!" For example, any email that refers to an event that happened or will happen on a particular date, without actually mentioning the date is almost certainly false. It's just so easy to spot, but doesn't seem to matter.
Originally Posted By lilgoofymom I don't mind the silly stories, cute pictures and jokes. I have only 2 main e-mail buddies. I don't think either one uses the BCC, cause there are always other people's addresses at the top. Heck I'm not even sure what the BCC is. When I forward something to one of them, I remove the other addresses before I hit send.
Originally Posted By mawnck The silly stories, cute pictures and jokes are a primary way viruses are spread. Those emails also frequently come with hidden code that sends the email addresses, including the BCC ones, back to the spammers that originated the emails. Best thing to do is to insist that all your contacts not send them to you, and set up a special hotmail account for the ones who just won't take the hint.
Originally Posted By Lady Starlight XPPX, I do the same exact thing when it comes to emails trying to scare me in some way or warn me of something. I go directly to snopes and check it out. Then I email the person who sent the email inthe first place with the snopes colum copied and pasted and let them know that its a hoax and they should have checked it out in the first place. ALthough I have gotten kinda snotty about it to some because they continually send me things of "warnings" and whatnot's and have failed each and every time to check them out befor sending them , wich can cause mass histeria for some people. I have even asked a few people to please stop emailing me completely due to this. What a crabby pants I am huh? LOL. I don't do sob stories either. LOL
