to be really annoyed with my friends

[aquasea]

for forwarding me bullshit scare stories about rubbish like women being accosted in parking lots by people pretending to sell perfume or (even worse) sick children with brain tumors who AOL are going to give money to according to how many times an email is forwarded? These are intelligent people forwarding this crap. How do they not see that it's total bullshit? To take the last example, as if AOL would even conceive of doing this. For one thing I don't think it would be possible to track but for another it would be totally heartless and mercenary of them. Stop sending this crap on, people!

Yanbu so tell your friends to not forward you these emails. To not cause offence, tell them your mailbox gets full of spam etc you only want genuine correspondence. If they still fwd these emails, just delete anyway.

Just type in 'LOOK AT www.snopes.com you dumbfuck' and hit Reply each time you get one.

love it madamez! (the dumbfuck bit especially) Webgirl, you are so right and sensible... but it just really pisses me off that people can be so stupid to believe this crap. What's worse is they're either about fake dying children (beyond horrific) or preying on women's fear. Either one makes my blood boil.

(what's snopes?)

Snopes is the best "urbanlegend" buster there is!

Look at their website when you receive any of these emails and then bounce them back with the link to the person who sent them.

And if you are the sort to believe these sort of emails then check out the website BEFORE you forward them - it'll save you lots of embarrassment.

For example - this is their comment on the AOL/sick kid story that the OP refers to

www.snopes.com/inboxer/medical/shwartz.asp

I love snopes

Snopes is good - or just google relevant bits of info and the word 'hoax', and you'll normally find a page on it.

I get depressed about how many otherwise sensible people pass on this shite - we had someone sending some rubbish 'forward this email lots, someone is monitoring it and will give money to someone' shite to a mailing list I'm on.

Snopes is great- saved me from many an embarrassing situation!

You're right Aqua- how many chain mails do you get from supposedly sensible friends saying "ooh I daren't risk deleting this one"?? My pet hate chain letters/mail

What really annoys me is when these friends don't even take two seconds before they forward to delete all the addys at the top.

An IT chum of mine said if everyone did that every time we send on a joke or story, it would help stop a lot of SPAM.

Really annoys me too, when supposedly intelligent people do it. Do they not even think about it for one minute?

I always felt bad about deleting those messages (but still did) Glad I did now. There are one or two people who send tham to me. To be honest I sometimes delete before I even open them.

Message withdrawn

i delete all fwds before even opening them i hate them i have one girl who send me 15 at least every day i cant stand them !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My friend used to send me loads of those forward to a friend e-mails but she's given up on me now. Will check out snopes.

I used to fall for theese. I lost count of the number of times i bombarded poor dp with tales of unmarked police cars, msn charging or closing, mad men leaping out of parked cars or hiding in the back seat etc. Twas dp that intorduced me to snopes, and every time i get one of theese mails now i reply with a link to snopes and ask-kindly, unless they don't listen- to check with snopes BEFORE sending these things to me in the future.

Send this wonderful reply back:

Re: Fwd: FWD: NEW SCAM?PLEASE READ!!!!!!!!!

This happened to a friend of mine---this is real!!! please PASS THIS ON!!!

-------
Fwd: FWD: NEW SCAM?PLEASE READ!!!!!!!!!

Guys ? thought u should all know about this!

FWD: NEW SCAM?PLEASE READ!!!!!!!!!

---------------- --
WARNING!!! BE AWARE!!!!
There is a NEW scam out there which you should all be aware of --- PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY AND FWD TO YOUR FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES!!!!!! >>>
People are sending out emails warning you of new and scary ways YOU AND YOUR FAMILY could become the VICTIM OF BAD CRIME. It will seem hard to believe you have not heard about this from someone else!!! It is really scary! BUT?!!!! THESE ARE NOT REAL!!!! Someone has made them up. BE AWARE!!! >>> The hoaxers want you to forward these messages to everyone you know. BUT YOU WILL LOOK LIKE A FOOL BECAUSE THEY ARE OBVIOUSLY MADE UP!!!!! Believe this, it may seem unlikely but it REALLY HAPPENS ---- IT CAN HAPPEN TO YOU!!!! If you receive these emails DELETE THEM and whatever you do DO NOT FORWARD THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!

Or this equally brilliant rejoinder:

Dear Family and Friends

I'd like to extend my heartfelt appreciation to all of you who have taken the time and trouble to send me "forwards" over the past 12 months. Thank you for making me feel, safe, secure, blessed and healthy.

Extra thanks to whoever sent me the email about rat crap in the glue on envelopes - cause I now have to go get a wet towel every time I need to seal an envelope. Also, I scrub the top of every can I open for the same reason.

Because of your genuine concern, I no longer drink Coca Cola because I know it can remove toilet stains, which is not exactly an appealing characteristic.

I no longer check the coin return on pay phones because I could be pricked with an infected needle. I no longer go to the cinema for the same reason.

I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day.

I no longer go to shopping centres because someone might drug me with a cologne sample and rob me. In fact I rarely go out!

I no longer eat KFC because their "chickens" are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers.

I no longer worry about my soul because at last count, I have 363,214 angels looking out for me.

Thanks to you, I have learned that God only answers my prayers if I forward an e-mail to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes.

I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl on the Internet who is about to die in the hospital.

I no longer have any money at all, in fact - but that will change once I receive the £15,000 that Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special on-line email program.

I have just sent off my bank details and will soon inherit 5 million pounds from a dead uncle I knew nothing about, who lived in Nigeria.

Yes, I want to thank you all so much for looking out for me that I will now return the favour! If you don't send this e-mail to at least 144,000 people in the next 7 minutes, a large pigeon with a wicked case of diarrhoea will land on your head at 4:00PM tomorrow afternoon. I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of my next door neighbour's ex-mother-in-law's second husband's cousin's beautician.

Lots of love

xxx

krang --- classic !!

lol