MetaChat - How many times

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09 September 2008

How many times do I really need to tell my aunt that Bill Gates cannot track how many times she forwards an email, and even if he could, he'd be unlikely to send her thousands of dollars for hitting "Forward"? →[More:] Because, seriously, years of sending links to relevant Snopes articles does not seem to have done anything. Sigh.

(And this woman is an engineer who's about the most logical person I know. I don't get why she keeps sending me emails that start out "PLEEEEEEEEEEASE REEEEEEEEAD!!!")

post by: occhiblu at: 12:10 | 17 comments

My mom's been doing that about every new Internet rumor that pops up, and a few old ones.

It's maddening.

posted by danf 09 September | 12:14

Ouch. I hope she's not sending money or money orders to anyone. :(

posted by Melismata 09 September | 12:24

whatever Occhi. How do you think I support my extravagant lifestyle?

posted by special-k 09 September | 13:04

How many times? Eighty bajillion.

posted by trondant 09 September | 13:08

Oh YAYYY, welcome to Earth life dear Madeleine Eleanor!

Congratulations dear gaspode and Mr. gaspode! How wonderful you survived your birthing ok.

Now you have a place to put those adorable hats.

Big hugs and love,
Nicky

posted by nickyskye 09 September | 13:19

You need to tell her once, then it is on her. If it takes more than once, she can never be taught and you shouldn't bother to try.

posted by King of Prontopia 09 September | 13:22

The world may never know.

posted by Hellbient 09 September | 13:50

The people who send crummy emails, the stupid forwards with bogus viruses, the chain letters dooming one if not forwarded, the true cyber drek, never seem to get that they should check the forward on UrbanLegends or Symantec. Maybe it's that superstitious mindset that some people can't get out of?

Religious people send this stuff the most. But maybe an engineering type might have a gambler mindset and it looks like a good bet?

On preview I *love* that how many licks to the Tootsie roll video! Thanks for that Hellbient.

posted by nickyskye 09 September | 14:17

Last week my mom asked me if I opened the funny file she sent me. I said no because I didn't want a virus. She responded that she wouldn't send me a virus. There's a disconnect that moms and aunts just don't get with this stuff.

posted by Hellbient 09 September | 14:41

At least once more, would be my guess. I have the same problem with my Mother.

posted by dg 09 September | 15:28

This week one of my coworkers forwarded the OMG Telemarketers are going to call your cell phone email to our entire company (about 70 staff).

Several people apparently responded with links to snopes and etc. because she later emailed an apology. I almost feel bad for her. Almost, except that she sent a very similar one out about 3 years ago and someone told her about snopes then, too.

posted by misskaz 09 September | 16:02

I am a Mom, and an Auntie, and I only forward things I think are funny, like that animated gif on the front page of Hil not kissing Bill, and kissing Barack. Your auntie has contracted the Gullibility Virus. Oh well, hitting delete must burn a few calories.

posted by theora55 09 September | 17:06

Say hey theora55, *high fives another MeCha aunt. woot!

Glad you liked that Hil not kissing Bill, and kissing Barack mid-air pucker animation.

Yeah, I'm an aunt too and I'd never send that cyber schlock to anybody.

But once in a very blue moon I get suckered. Like an old friend emailed me info about Osama being Muslim and not a citizen of the US. And I thought "This friend is highly educated, globally traveled. Could be something in this." What did I do, posted the link on PoliticalFilter. It was the first deleted post of the site, LOL! *sigh, smacks forehead

posted by nickyskye 09 September | 17:21

Bill Gates gives me a dollar every time someone explains to a relative that he can't track their email-forwarding habits.

posted by pompomtom 09 September | 19:13

+1 pompomtom. I'm paying your mortgage, btw.

posted by desjardins 09 September | 20:56

Yeah, my mum does that, too. She and the friend who forwards this dreck to her also fail to clean out all the email addresses before they send something on. This came in handy when Mum sent me a steaming pile of anti-Muslim bullshit (they want to kill all non-Muslims! A prison Imam said so!), as it gave me the satisfaction of sending the Snopes link along with a diatribe about how it took me 30 seconds on Google to debunk this crap, please don't send me hate any more, maybe think about what you're forwarding and, I dunno, check it out, you morans...to the last five people who had forwarded it. Heh.

posted by elizard 10 September | 14:35

She and the friend who forwards this dreck to her also fail to clean out all the email addresses before they send something on.

My aunt used to do that, and I did, after sending Snopes links directly to her several times to no avail, end up sending them to everyone on her distribution list, figuring *someone* would get the message. (I was, however, extremely polite about it.) This time, though, it's "undisclosed recipients."

So I guess at least *that* part got through to her. :-)

posted by occhiblu 10 September | 14:47

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