The Evils of Email Chain Letters
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008
Loading ...No matter how much I preach to my family members not to forward these annoying pieces of internet junk, I always seem to get at least one email chain letter a week.
This may come as a surprise, but generally people hate getting junk emails. No matter how funny, cute or inspiring an email might be, many people don’t like having an inbox littered with the latest jokes and hoaxes. Sending junk email to people who haven’t requested it, can cause the loss of friendship, profane email responses, and other nastiness. Mostly, it annoys the crap out of people. So pause for a moment or two before clicking that send button and forwarding unwanted email to your friends and family.
I don’t want the junk and I bet neither do you!
There are all sorts of junk emails floating around the Internet: bogus virus warnings, urban legends, offers of easy cash, letters that promise to help sick kids… the list goes on.
Do not forward chain letters, no matter how compelling they might seem. Propagating chain letters is specifically prohibited by the terms of service of most Internet service providers and you could lose your account.
Chain letters are a form of spam where the recipient is encouraged to forward multiple copies so that its circulation increases exponentially. By its very nature chain letters are dangerous because of the resources that it takes to stop its progression and the time it takes for each recipient to read and either destroy it or pass it along. Additionally, they can cause damage to an organization’s reputation when associated with a legitimate company or cause.
The primary goal of chain letters is to flood servers with thousands of pieces of email. If the number is ten, the first recipient would send ten emails, the ten recipients would send one hundred (ten each), their recipients would send one thousand, and so on.
Chain letters that request money or promote pyramid schemes are ILLEGAL. Where the recipient is asked to send a certain amount of money to those above and in theory would receive money from those below them on the pyramid. Electronic pyramid schemes are no different than their paper-based cousins, their goal is to separate you from your money and they are ILLEGAL.
The Anatomy of a Chain Letter
Chain letters are comprised of three components:
- Hook - Attention grabbing subject so that you will read the rest of the email.
- Threat - Plays to your emotions and fears in an effort to keep the chain intact.
- Request - Usually a demand to distribute the letter to as many individuals as possible.
It is very difficult to determine the originator of a chain letter.
When you receive a chain letter, delete it. Don’t resend the letter. By doing this, you break the chain. If you recieve these type of emails on a computer at work, you should let your network administrator know.
Remember that generally people hate getting junk email and you may not like the response you get from your friends when you continue to send them unwanted emails. Especially after they have asked you to stop. If you are doing this using a computer at work, you know the one your company has so graciously allowed you to use, you may lose your job.
EDIT: The poll has been up for a while now, but, I can tell you the correct answer is not #2 as most have selected.
