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Dec 01 2002

Many times you receive an email forwarded from someone else which had been forwarded from others as well. Here are some simple rules on such emails.

1. Make sure never to edit out the email addresses of others along the forwarding trail. It’s nice to allow spammers and other curious people get new email addresses to harass.

2. When you send the forwarded message, put all the varied recipients in the TO box. Don’t hide their names by putting them as BCC. This advice is a corollary to #1 above.

3. Don’t edit out those several-line headers that appear again and again each time the original message was forwarded. This allows manual dexterity from your readers as they have to scroll through them.

4. If there is an attachment that you have no idea where it originally came from or what it could do to a computer, make sure to pass it along. Who knows what mischief you can stir up?

5. If the forwarded message advises you of a possible virus attack, make sure to pass it on without checking to see if it is a hoax. It’s fun to see how long a hoax message can make the rounds and how many thousands of people will be warned about something that does not exist. Heck, I have seen some that survive for years.

6. BE SURE TO WRITE YOUR EMAIL IN ALL CAPS! This is the equivalent of shouting your message and makes it easier on email recipients who may be hard of hearing.

7. If you must email something that anybody in their right mind would know is complete bunk, be sure to tell all recipients how honest and true the email is and that they should immediately forward it to everyone in their address book without an iota of critical analysis (or editing).

8. For goodness sake, whatever you do, make certain to never spell check your email before sending it. After all, Dyslexics are teople poo. Besides, how ar kidz going to lurn ennything if kompooters do all the wurk?

9. Leave in all of those great forwarding marks from all the previous recipients. Example:

|||A guy who used to work for Disney, but who is now a programmer at Microsoft told me that if you open up a pair of Mickey |||Mouse ears, you'll find a tracking chip that sends signals to Orlando, FL and Redmond, WA.
|||
|||I know it's true because somebody I've never heard of sent it to me in an email.

Not only do the forwarding marks look cool, but, like the rings on a tree, you can count how many people have bothered to pass it along. Heck, with all of the email addresses you harvested from the non-BCC header, you could probably write each one of these people and ask them why they didn't remove the forwarding marks either.

10. Don't think before you forward. Don't check anything out. Assume complete validity in all emails you get. "Forward and forget it;" that's the best policy. Do not check the facts at http://www.purportal.com before forwarding. Hey, don't be a spoilsport. If it weren't for Chinese good luck totems and chain letters from the Dalai Lama, some people wouldn't have any religion at all.

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