Not forwarding those sentimental and inspirational emails

I never forward them on I agree with the others there is something a bit manipulative about them..

JessM, I couldn't agree more about the email addresses. I keep getting soppy,schmaltzy mails - sometimes funny - from someone in the US in my gardening list, and if by chance I do decide to pass anything on, I always delete the former addresses.

Oh yes I forgot, sometimes they are a way of helping hackers garner email addresses...

I quite often delete without even reading them! Sometimes pass on funny jokes to selected few, but always delete all the preamble with email addresses. Hackers must love these emails giving them all this info!

Some of them are harmless. Some of them carry viruses. Some of them are misinformation (e.g. plastic causes breast cancer). Some of them make feel people anxious (chain letters). Petitions aren't petitions.
My all time favourite was the one that said Mars would shortly appear in the sky, bigger than the moon!!!
Delete the lot I say.

I wondered why I hadn't been getting them Elegran - so that is why I haven't been winning Euromillions etc !!

A good friend frequently sends me these, often very loving with a message about women being sisterly together etc., but I never send them on. For some reason they annoy me. They are so manipulative. I think my friend must know because usually I am asked to include her in my list of recipients.

I too always break the chain. The possibility of a virus is a great deterent to passing them on.

granny23 And now you have available to you all the email addresses of the other people the message has gone through, and the CarbonCopy addresses they also sent it to. If you were a spammer, you'd be delighted!

Is she aware that her email address is being distributed around the globe like this? If you pointed that out, she might learn how to delete all the repetitious stuff.

I have a 'friend' who sends reams of these things. Unfortunately she does not know how to delete the preamble or endy bits, so every one is topped and tailed with a long list of who sent it to whom and which virus checkers have been used + disclaimers from the many companies, councils or the NHS whose employees have sent it on during 'working' hours. I told her how to delete this stuff before forwarding but she cannot manage that. She told me that she just resends to everyone in her contact list, which includes her church, garage, Doctor's surgery, even the Undertaker.

My new computer can cope but my old one used to seize up trying to download or delete these lengthy files.

Gransnetters are not gullible enough to clog up the net with this junk.

I too find them irritating and I don't care if the sky falls down on me in six days time if I don't pass them on.

I always get rid of these stupid emails, why would I sit and send them to six other people ? It is amazing how many come from work addresses too, it is not what you go to work for.

I'm another one who always 'breaks the chain' and just deletes them. The quasi religious sentimental ones really get on my wires, and the ones with threats of cosmic catastrophe just make me laugh.

Thanks for the quackwatch site!

Thanx Elegran

I have a friend who sends these quite regularly - a recent one contained a virus and she had to warn everyone on her list...........fortunately, I am an Apple user and so did not get the virus. I do feel guilty about not passing them on but now I just bin them as soon as I get them

My pleasure, Annobel The more of us who know where to look for sensible comment on these hysterical emails, the more likely they are to die out - though it could take a long time.

I've often had earnest-sounding emails warning me about viruses that they claim will wreck my computer. I always Google these so-called viruses and invariably the emails are hoaxes, some of which have been circulating for years. Then I 'reply all' to the recipients of the email. Thanks for the information about Quackwatch, Elegran.

Quackwatch is a site which looks at all the dodgy stuff that circulates on the net, mostly about health issues. They dig up the truth and publish it. It is very interesting. They get some extremely angry reactions from snake-oil sellers! Google it and have a look.

I pick and choose ...only sending something on if it will resonate with that individual. Personally ...they often make me smile ...and I never send on any to a fixed number of people.

Elegran what's 'Quackwatch'?

If something is obviously rubbish, I find an explanation in Quackwatch or Urban Myths and send back a reference. I don't know how much my debunking is appreciated, but I feel I have made a tiny contribution to stemming the tide of misinformation.

Once something gets into the email circuit, it can go on for ever, gathering believers like a giant snowball. Some have become legend, like the one supposedly about a boy with cancer who wants to collect as many get well cards as possible. He has now been recovered for years, but the postman still staggers up to his door with sacks full.

If there's something funny or pertinent, I'll forward it to my daughter and vice versa. Otherwise, I delete. Threatening chain letters/e-mails are horrid and should never be forwarded.

I never forward these, as they are too much like the old type of chain letter. Last week my daughter sent me one saying that I would receive money within 4 days just as a Premium Bond cheque came through the door!

I delete immediately those chain-type emails. If I get one that makes me laugh, I send it on to the friends and relatives who share my sense of humour.

My daughter sends me several of these a week, most I delete, the odd one I`ll forward to maybe one or two people, not a whole string of folk.