| The trash folder in my main inbox hit 4000 | | | | misinformation and emailed back to the sender |
| today. Since I never throw anything out, I | | | | with my findings. Eventually I became the "go |
| know that what's in there is courtesy of my | | | | to girl" for accuracy and everyone I knew |
| email filter which is set to automatically | | | | would send me the email and ask me if it was |
| delete anything that is forwarded from my | | | | real. Flattered to be considered "the expert" |
| work account from a certain person. That | | | | among my friends I dutifully did the |
| "person" is our spam filter that insists on | | | | background work and reported back but hey, |
| sending me, the administrator, a notification | | | | I'm a mother of 3 and work full time and as |
| when it blocks an email. It's also set to | | | | honoured as I was to be the "go to girl", it |
| delete some other mail automatically, those | | | | got to be tedious. That's when I started |
| would be that come from addresses that have | | | | sending people links to reliable sources for |
| sent me spam. So I have 4000 of these in my | | | | them to find their own answers.I was pleased |
| trash. Yippee.The compulsion to hit the | | | | when the "go to girl" mail slowed to a |
| forward button is alive and well even with | | | | trickle as did the forwarded email from |
| the plethora of information available on the | | | | people I knew. That is until several of those |
| web about the downside of doing just that. | | | | 2 million new users a month were people I |
| But I have a theory.According to one website | | | | knew and it started all over again!First came |
| I visited "The rate of growth of Internet use | | | | my husband's "Auntie" who's feelings were |
| in the United States is currently two million | | | | hurt when I asked her not to forward these |
| new Internet users per month." 2 MILLION new | | | | messages any more with an explanation of |
| internet users a MONTH?? It all makes sense | | | | course. She was "only trying to be helpful!" |
| now. There are too many newbies out there | | | | She replied. Well, of course she was, isn't |
| running amok with a computer, a mouse and an | | | | that why everyone forwards these messages? To |
| internet connection clicking the forward | | | | be helpful.Then came my niece who politely |
| button!But who can blame them really? Before | | | | asked my permission to send me a few chain |
| I learned the downside of forwarding this | | | | letters. Being the softie that I am I agreed |
| cyberjunk and more importantly, learned that | | | | to a "few". This was my introduction into |
| most of it isn't even true, I was among the | | | | teen angst via email. Since I was far from |
| forwarding faithful, sending on mountains of | | | | teenaged when I became an internet junkie, I |
| useless information to everyone I knew as | | | | hadn't been exposed to the suicidal poetry |
| quickly as it arrived.Perhaps it was the | | | | and advice on being a good girlfriend end of |
| first thing I got that I knew wasn't true | | | | the chain letter spectrum but soon I got more |
| that turned on the light bulb, or perhaps it | | | | than I could handle since all her friends |
| was the first thing I got that just didn't | | | | started adding me to their address books! |
| make any sense, after all, who in their right | | | | (And I was expecting what?)Finally my |
| mind would believe that Bill Gates was | | | | brother-in-law of only several days forwarded |
| sitting around tracking forwarded emails and | | | | me a notice that the government would soon be |
| would actually pay you if you "passed it on"? | | | | taxing email on behalf of Canada Post! |
| I may be gullible, but that one was just too | | | | sigh.It was time to make a choice - either |
| hard for me to swallow.I started to look into | | | | reinstate myself as the "go to girl" again, |
| these warnings and threats and found that the | | | | ignore and delete and let the forwarders |
| majority of them were either not true at all, | | | | click away in blissful ignorance, or do my |
| like the Bill Gates hoax, or, if they were | | | | part in passing the message along that |
| true, they were so out of date that they were | | | | forwarding every piece of junk that comes |
| no longer relevant, like the | | | | into your in box is not cool.Of course, never |
| Phenylpropanolamine Drug Warning which | | | | knowing when to shut up won over the other |
| continues to make it's rounds almost 5 years | | | | choices. Hopefully the idea will catch on and |
| later.By this time, I had accumulated a vast | | | | people will go the extra step and rather than |
| number of contacts, friends and family that | | | | just delete that hoax, do the sender a favour |
| didn't bother to check and just hit that | | | | and reward them with some useful information |
| forward button.Originally, I did the research | | | | that might just help reduce the clutter in |
| myself upon receiving a new piece of | | | | everyone's inbox. |