To hate e-cards with a passion I usually reserve for UKIP and Crocs?

[cutefluffybunnes]

My parents are sheltered, technophobic people. As such, they have grasped only little bits of The Internet, and the one thing they've really clawed onto are electronic greeting cards. For Christmas, Easter, St Patrick's day, all birthdays, Professional Plumbers' Day... honestly, every holiday Hallmark has ever seen a £ in.

Thing is, they use a company to send them that lets them know if I have opened the card. If I don't open it, I am sent reminders. If I still don't open it, my father phones to demand to know why I haven't opened that card... If I lie and say I did open them, he produces evidence from the company that I have not.

The cards are always the same, some little song and graphic video, with a one-line greeting at the end from my parents. They do not vary. If they'd just send me an email that says 'happy XXX day', that would be fine! I'd read and reply.

I know this is petty, but what an outrageous concept, to send someone a unwanted gift, which demands to opened and threatens to tell your Mum and Dad if you don't do as it says.

Has anyone else experienced similar harassment? Is it just my parents?

And don't tell me to just open them. I am by now opposed on principle.

Humph.

I am not alone! By the way, my username for this is a typo off the Easter card that I was forced to open.

At least when they sent me bad pen-and-envelope cards, no one was watching to see if I opened the damn things.

My mom does them too, along with those stupid jib jab cartoons and then puts them on my facebook. I just hit like and then move on. :)

I thought this was going to be about those stupid pictures all over Facebook and Pinterest that have a drawing of an Edwardian woman and some 'pithy' comment about having wine for dinner. Those are getting old.

OP, YANBU. Why don't you tell them you don't like the cards?

I think I'd tell them to pack it in.

I have sent a few ecards in the past. Mostly when I've forgotten the card and no time to buy and post. Or when overseas. Always been free. So if your gripe is 'waste of money's it isn't necessarily. Not sure your so upset. Either open and laugh at there shitness but think nice they think of you. Or tell them to leave itt out with the shire cards for every little bloody thing!

Can't you just open them?

I like e-cards, I started sending them in the place of normal cards a couple of years ago (only where possible of course), as it reduces my paper usage and is therefore greener.

I get it, OP. It's intrusive, having these things forced in you. And they are, being forced on you if your dad is ringing you to ask why you haven't opened them. It would really irritate me, especially if, as a PP said, they can't be opened on a phone or tablet.

Forced ON you. Not in you. That really would be intrusive.

are those things still around a few years ago they were all people sent, TUt my mantle piece was bare not had one in years just open them and then delete them , say tot hem though it is a shame you cant put a card up from them

I think you are being unreasonable, but only for grouping cards with ukip. That's hyperbolic.

You should have seen the look on DH's face when he found a ukip leaflet on our mat yesterday. He'd have been less horrified if someone had posted a turd through the letterbox.

I'm contrast, ecards are lovely. Although, and ecard with Nigel farage's face on it... That would be truly evil.

Send it back to their freepost address, Calamitously. It'll cost them money.

Deface it first, so they can't reuse it.

I love ElfYourself by JibJab. It makes me laugh uncontrollably

Oh that's a good idea Toby. Anything that costs ukip money unnecessarily is fine with me.

Here you go, Calamitously :)

Sorry for the derailment, OP!

YANBU. There's no point in sending a card unless it can be displayed on a mantelpiece and the recipient can look at it and think warm fuzzy thoughts about the sender. You just don't get that with an ecard.

Yanbu, - I hate them too, how are you supposed to know if they are genuine and virus free or are a click-on-me-watch-your-pc-die job! + ime most of them are sent by the most ITsecurity unsavvy people you know.

I delete them without opening and all the reminders too. If people ask I say I always delete mail that appears to be sent from an unknown source,that is, if my very high security settings haven't blocked it already.

I really don't want to waste my time googling whatever site they have come from to check if it's malware-free or not, nor do I want to go through the pain of a computer rebuild more than absolutely necessary.

Personally, if sending a 'greeting-card' by email, I'd much prefer just that, a simple nice email.

I was harassed by my neighbour over an xmas ecard!

She sent it, I didn't open it, it sent a reminder, I tried to open it but had to download something to open it so I didn't.

Neighbour sent email saying have you got my ecard?
I said yes, lovely thank you.

She said you haven't opened it.

I said my pc wont do it.
She said you need to download something.
I said my protection software won't let me.
She then got the huff and said she thought my DS would really like this ecard and I should try harder to open it.

This went on for a bit and got really boring and embarrassing.

I ignore them, but have never had any follow up emails, maybe my mum uses somewhere different to get hers. Thinking about it, she's stopped doing it, maybe the software was telling her I was deleting without reading.

I used to have a colleague who would put a read receipt on every email and then follow up demanding to know why you hadn't read it (I only sat 10ft away, so couldn't pretend I hadn't been on the computer). Also all her emails were done in brightly coloured Comic Sans or whatever it's called font, grrrr.

Maybe you could bombard ukip with ecards (featuring pictures of crocs). That might go some way to righting the wrongs of the world.

In laws do this- bit cheap and crap I think