Oh no! A Chain Letter!

There aren't many things I hate more than getting a stupid chain letter. I seem to get them all the time.

If you have in the past, or plan to in the future ever include me in your mailings to ward off the bad luck and misfortune you seem to think will descend on you, you could surely expect; if you haven't seen it already, to receive the below response:

To Whom it may concern:

This letter is being sent to you because recently, you were sent a chain letter, which you apparently have passed on (to me).

This is an anti-chain-letter letter. It originated at Portland State University. Its purpose is to put a stop to all of the silliness of chain letters and their complete lack of connection with luck, fortune, or anything else. If you receive this anti-chain-letter letter, keep it until you receive a chain letter. Then instead of spreading the chain letter, send this letter back to whoever sent that obnoxious piece of junk mail to you. If you sent one recently, send this along to the same people.

If we get lucky, maybe this will spread all over the world and eventually get back to those goons who have nothing better to do than write meaningless letters that prey on people's superstitions. (How do they know how many times a letter has been "around the world" anyway?)

If you don't, your car will not break down; a close relative is not going to die; and you won't lose all of your money. If you do, you probably won't win a million dollars, receive a promotion, or suddenly find true love. (Although I sincerely hope you do anyway.) However, you will feel much better about ignoring chain letters in the future.

Regards,
Pero

There are thousands and thousands of chain letters circulated around the internet every minute. It's insane! I've been online since the Internet became available to the general public, and was a member of many Bulletin Boards [What we had prior to the www] before that. I have seen just about every type of chain letter people can come up with; from the type that bring good fortune or promise doom.

The next time you are sit ting at your computer cussing and spitting over the lag you are experiencing; blame all of the junk e-mail that is being circulated all over the world. Chain letters do no more than generate MASS mailing lists for spammers to send you MORE JUNK MAIL. I get the feeling most of you hate junk mail as much as I do.

Here are some examples of what you get for FREE if you insist on sending chain letters, and forwarding EVERYTHING you get in your e-mail: You get to be included on a list for spammers to just download text files with literally hundreds of e-mail addresses! Don't believe me? Next time you get a multiple forward e-mail; look at how many e-mail addresses can be easily harvested from it. Also notice how some people put your full name in their address book. So much for your privacy.

If you feel you MUST send chain letters in the future please leave ME out of the list of poor souls you send it to. I would greatly appreciate it and it will prevent me from having to set my e-mail to refuse mail from your address. (Most addresses are currently blocked).

As for the "you are my friend... pass this to all of your friends and the person that sent it to you too" type... Don't be offended, but you won't be getting that back from me, and very likely I will mention to you that I don't want to be on your list for such mailings.

TRY the BCC feature. By putting everybody's e-mail address in (parenthesis) -- or using the blind copy feature in your address book, you can send a BLIND COPY, meaning that the other recipients' names cannot be seen. Put YOUR e-mail address in the main addressee box; and you will get a copy of the letter, and a complete list of everyone you sent it to.

Again, I feel that chain letters are a waste of time, energy and internet use. Please help keep them to an absolute minimum since we both know we can't eliminate them all together.

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05 Feb 2002 - perotheus.com
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