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16 December 2006

Ask MeCha What's the polite way to tell someone I really hate getting electronic greeting cards, and could they please just send me an e-mail or a real greeting card instead?→[More:]Seriously those things are annoying. If I could read the custom message without going through the goddamn flash pages, then I would. Seems like sending an e-mail would be way easier.

post by: grouse at: 22:09 | 17 comments

I just tell people that I never open such things from fear of viruses and the like. However, thank you for the thought, how's your mother?

posted by caddis 16 December | 22:21

I hate those, too.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 16 December | 22:25

However, thank you for the thought, how's your mother?

We're talking about my mother.

posted by grouse 16 December | 22:28

It's the thought that counts.

posted by jonmc 16 December | 22:40

I recently had to admonish my mother for giving my spam-free "real" address to a company hawking housewares. One of those "mail this info to a friend" type things.

There really needs to be an effort to educate people to "NEVER EVER give someone's address to a stranger without permission." Explaining that this one way to get on spammer's mailing lists works for most people.

posted by D.C. 16 December | 22:42

I have a friend who forwards me every damn christian forward that she receives, and then she gets pissy because I don't reply to each one. I've told her countless times that if she wants a real reply then she has to send me a real email. But no-o-o...

heheh, I love her to death anyway.

posted by mischief 16 December | 22:54

how about "i really hate getting electronic greeting cards, could you please just send me an e-mail or a real greeting card instead?"

there. that wasn't so hard, was it?

posted by quonsar 16 December | 23:56

Threaten to murder them, that'll put an end to the problem one way or the other.

mischief, you could reply by fisking the letters and pointing out, in excrutiating detail, why and how they are wrong. But it would take a while to do. You could also start forwarding them the weekly Satan is Lord newsletter.

posted by fenriq 17 December | 00:48

I had to tell my mom not to send me anything that she wouldn't consider printing out, putting in an envelope, and mailing to me. It filtered out most of the Jesus-chain-type stuff. But I guess it wouldn't work on electronic greeting cards.

posted by black bile 17 December | 01:02

every damn christian forward

I was delighted to discover there's actually a name for that stuff: Glurge.

There's a whole website for collecting it.

And if you like, you can send back some anti-glurge.

posted by Miko 17 December | 11:18

You know after losing two of the most beloved people in my life this year and standing by as a third nearly died and watching a fourth die slowly, the only thing I can think is that I would take every irritating thing they did in exchange for having them alive and well with me today.

I envy you.

posted by Frisbee Girl 17 December | 12:52

So sorry to hear that Frisbee Girl. I don't feel like it would kill the person in question if I asked them not to waste their time picking out these things. Don't you think you're projecting just a bit?

posted by grouse 17 December | 15:02

frisbee girl, hug. I get christian forwards from one friend, stupid maddening zionist crap from a relative, and stupid greeting cards from my dad, but i won't swear at/haxx0r them because I love them..

posted by By the Grace of God 17 December | 17:36

I just delete them without opening the message. Mostly, peope who send generic electronic greetings do so because you aren't important enough to them to bother with something more relevant and I treat them accordingly. This may not be the case with your Mother, but maybe she is trying to send you a greeting in a way that she thinks you would appreciate, what with you being all Intarweb-savvy and stuff?

Disclaimer: I have not met your Mother and know nothing about her, so am talking completely out my arse. I suggest you ignore my comment entirely

posted by dg 17 December | 19:43

"It's weird, these links don't seem to be working on my computer anymore. But thanks for the birthday/anniversary/Friday wishes! What's up?"

This works for me, though usually it's not a lie, as my office computer doesn't deal well with Flash so such things usually do crash it.

Especially if it's from your mom, it's just a "Hey, thinking of you!" reminder. Unless she's quizzing you on the animated contents, ignore the card part and just send a quick thanks for the thought.

posted by occhiblu 17 December | 20:40

I just got a New Yorker one, a simple interface (no Flash) and a mildly amusing cartoon, and didn't mind one bit.

posted by altolinguistic 18 December | 04:27

Jesus. Lighten up, people. They're fun. Ignore them if you don't like them.

Does every little thing have to generate so much ire? Life is too short.

posted by mike9322 18 December | 08:14

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