About.com reports about 210 billion e-mails are sent every day. That’s over 2 million sent every second. I’m guessing more than half of those are caused by those pesky chain e-mails that keep getting forwarded. What do you do? Your computer dings, dongs or makes whatever sound when you’ve been hit with an e-mail. The chain letter says you should pass it on or you’ll have 20 years of bad luck, your stocks will crash, your house will burn, your spouse will leave you, your soul will burn in hell and you obviously don’t care about the person who sent it to you. Sufficiently guilted, shamed and frightened you hit the forward button and dump every name of your employees, company, team, managers (maybe just your entire mailing list) in the address bar.
STOP!
Please, we’re already getting too many e-mails to keep up with and get our work done. Let me share 10 Don’ts of E-mail Forwarding so you won’t ever be considered Too Forward. Before we get to them, I’m sure there are exceptions to each of these rules. Please don’t harangue me with those exceptions. If you have an exception, let it be that…an exception. Recognize these as general rules that should generally be followed to preserve your career, your work relationships and the respect of your team.
1. Don’t send it unless you know it’s true.
I am so sick of receiving e-mails about Madelyn Murray O’Hair’s petition to get rid of all religious broadcasting. NEWSFLASH: She’s dead. She doesn’t have a petition out there and never did. That rumor started back in 1975 and is still going strong. I even once had a guy knock on my office door to get me to sign a petition to block O’Hair’s petition. FCC denies it. Of course, they could be in on the conspiracy.
Anyway, don’t send it unless you know it’s true. We already have enough misinformation out there. We don’t need any more.
2. Don’t send it with an admission that it might not be true.
I know some of you are sick of getting e-mail replies from people like me when you forward a message that’s not true with rebuttal and evidence. Please, please, please, do not start copping out and saying, “I don’t know if this is true, but…” Refer back to rule #1. If you don’t know if it’s true, don’t send it. By the way, even with your cop out, I’ll respond if it’s not true.
Okay, I’m not saying you need to spend hours of research with every forwarded e-mail. At least check out Snopes.com before you send it.
3. Don’t send it unless it is fair to all involved.
Listen, I’m no political fan of Barak Obama. However, I’m tired of getting e-mails that misquote his books in order to accuse him of being anything from an Islamic seditionist to the antichrist. Even if it’s about politicians we don’t like, when we are passing along information intended to defame someone (especially if it violates rule #1) it is still gossip and slander. Don’t taint your relationships with that.
4. Don’t send it if its crude, vulgar or prejudiced.
I don’t want your jokes about black people, Arabs or the Chinese. I don’t want to see pictures of the plumber’s butt crack. I don’t want to read the joke about the telephone repairman and the stripper. Of course, I don’t think you should be passing much of this around anyway. However, you should especially not forward this to co-workers, employees or managers. It’s inappropriate and offensive. Even if you think it is the funniest thing you’ve seen or heard in 25 years, not everyone will agree. You don’t need that kind of tension with your co-workers or team. If you must pass this on, reserve it only for your friends you’re absolutely sure will enjoy it.
(Okay, my guilty pleasure on this one, blonde jokes might be an exception.)
5. Don’t send it if you really didn’t want it.
This rules seems almost like a no-brainer. However, I’m sure there are tons of e-mails sent everyday by the very people who complain about getting all these forwards. I don’t get it. But I know it happens because I’ve heard people who have forwarded junk to me complain about all those forwards. I don’t know. Maybe it’s an addiction. Maybe some people just can’t help but hit the forward button. Here’s the deal, if you thought it was an intrusion on your day, so will almost everyone you send it to. If you thought it was stupid, so will most others. If you didn’t want to get it, don’t pass it on. Chances are no one else will want to get it either.
6. Don’t send it if you’re only doing so because you feel guilty or ashamed.
Personally, I have a rule that even if I liked the e-mail, if it has some guilt-ridden shaming statement at the end trying to manipulate me to pass it on, I can it. Sorry. If you go the rest of your life thinking I don’t love you just because I didn’t pass on your e-mail to 10 people and send a copy back to you, that just shows you have emotional issues. There are 12 step programs for that. Avail yourself of them, please. Jesus never asked me to forward your e-mail so I could go to heaven. The stock market and the safety of my home is not predicated on how many times I send out your e-mail. If my work fails, it will not be because I don’t care about the children in your e-mail. My teeth won’t fall out. Neither will my hair. I won’t get in a car wreck. I won’t die a painful death just because I didn’t pass on your e-mail. I refuse to be manipulated by attempts to shame me or make me feel guilty.
You don’t have to have as firm a rule on this as I do. However, if you wouldn’t sent it on because you want to but are only doing so because the last paragraph made you feel like you weren’t a good enough Christian, like you didn’t care about people, like you don’t love soldiers or whatever, don’t send it.
7. Don’t send it if it will guilt and shame other people.
Maybe you really liked the e-mail even though it had all that shaming language in it. If you want to pass that on, cut out all the shaming and guilt stuff and just pass it on for the fun of it. Let the other person decide if they want to send it on. Don’t try to guilt them into it.
“But this is really important and I’m afraid they won’t forward it.” SO!? If it’s not important enough to them to forward it on their own, it’s probably not that important. If it really is important or moving or funny, they’ll likely forward it to friends on their own.
Please, quit trying to manipulate people to get them to send stuff to others.
8. Don’t send it unless it will increase goodwill and better relationships.
I’m not a Rotarian, but I love their 4-Way Test. I love this part of it. You see, I’m not saying never forward anything. I’ve received some of the funniest stuff ever in forwarded e-mails. I’ve read some of the most beautiful poetry and watched the most moving videos and pictures. I’ve received lots of awesome forwards that I passed on. I received one just yesterday that led me to a great video. But with each one, I thought it was a blessing. I was convinced it would bring a blessing to the recipient and to our relationship. Don’t send it unless it will increase goodwill and better your relationships.
9. Don’t send it if it will steal time.
This is specifically a rule for co-workers, employees, etc. Don’t send an e-mail if you know it’s going to steal time. I’m sure that game you found last night is great. However, if you forward it to your team, they’re going to want to check it out. Three hours later they’ll still be checking it out. Don’t send them those funny pics from that hilarious website if it will cause them to look up the website and spend hours browsing the hilarity. I’m merely suggesting caution on this one. I’ve received some great stuff that I loved in the moment, but three or four hours later wished I’d never seen it. Don’t do that to your team.
10. Don’t if you’re in doubt.
Are you unsure if you should pass a particular e-mail along? Don’t.
There is 1 Do for e-mail forwarding.
1. If you get this post in your e-mail feed, forward it to as many people as you know.
If you don’t, you will forever be inundated with inane e-mails that fill you with guilt or steal your time. If that happens, you may lose your job. Your spouse may leave you. Your kids may hate you. Your house will burn. You’ll probably lose your soul. It will mean you don’t love Jesus, the little children, those starving in Africa or me.
Sorry, couldn’t help myself.
Please, don’t be too forward.
