Thought this was an interesting read & re-iterates the importance of removing everyone's email addresses if you do forward an email.

Not everything written below is correct, however there is some good advice


" The man that sent this information is a computer tech. He spends a lot of time clearing the junk off computers for people and listens to complaints about speed. All forwards are not bad, just some. Be sure you read the very last paragraph.

_________________________________________

He wrote:

By now, I suspect everyone is familiar with snopes.com and/or truthorfiction.com for determining whether information received via email is just that: true/false or fact/fiction. Both are excellent sites.

1) Any time you see an email that says "forward this on to '10' (or however many) of your friends", "sign this petition", or "you'll get bad luck" or "you'll get good luck" or "you'll see something funny on your screen after you send it" or whatever --- it almost always has an email tracker program attached that tracks the cookies and emails of those folks you forward to. The host sender is getting a copy each time it gets forwarded and then is able to get lists of 'active' email addresses to use in SPAM emails or sell to other spammers. Even when you get emails that demand you send the email on if you're not ashamed of God/Jesus --- that is email tracking, and they are playing on our conscience. These people don't care how they get your email addresses - just as long as they get them. Also, emails that talk about a missing child or a child with an incurable disease "how would you feel if that was your child" --- email tracking. Ignore them and don't participate!

2) Almost all emails that ask you to add your name and forward on to others are similar to that mass letter years ago that asked people to send business cards to the little kid in Florida who wanted to break the Guinness Book of Records for the most cards. All it was, and all any of this type of email is, is a way to get names and 'cookie' tracking information for telemarketers and spammers -- to validate active email accounts for their own profitable purposes.

You can do your Friends and Family members a GREAT favor by sending this information to them. You will be providing a service to your friends. And you will be rewarded by not getting thousands of spam emails in the future!

Do yourself a favor and STOP adding your name(s) to those types of listing regardless how inviting they might sound! Or make you feel guilty if you don't! It's all about getting email addresses and nothing more.

You may think you are supporting a GREAT cause, but you are NOT!

Instead, you will be getting tons of junk mail later and very possibly a virus attached! Plus, we are helping the spammers get rich! Let's not make it easy for them!

Use Bcc at all times unless you absolutely want the others recipients to know whom you are also sending to.

ALSO: Email petitions are NOT acceptable to Parliament or any other organisation - i.e. Centrelink, etc. To be acceptable, petitions must have a "signed signature" and full address of the person signing the petition, so this is a waste of time and you are just helping the email trackers."

Thanks, Mums.

I have a few friends who will not use the Bcc. I have urged them to do so, but I think they just don't want to take the time to do it. I even showed my aunt (bless her heart) how to do it and she still don't, so a lot of the time I won't even open their mail. I tell them that but they send it anyway.

I didnt notice that part to be honest & have now removed that sentence. I dont think alot of people realise what consequences there are to forwarding an email, without firstly removing all the email addresses. Althought not everything written is correct, like you said, there is alot of good advice anyway which is why I thought it worth posting

Good advice indeed regardless of source.

I have family members blocked because they refuse to use BCC or even better refrain from sending me all that crap.

Thanks mums for bringing this up again.... always a good reminder.

I've several people I do not forward emails to for the same reason.

Mums I completely agree! It's hard to understand why folks don't, if for no other reason than common curiosity, remove emails from forwards.

Question. If you get these forwards in your inbox and dont open or look at them at all, just delete from inbox, does the cookie still track you, or is it only if you open the mail?
I mostly go down and tick them all and delete without reading most of them. I also gave an email addy I dont use much to people, just in case, and that keeps the spam in one addy if they turn out to be the forwarding type. The trusted ones, I pass my more used email addy after a few months.

I always use BCC when emailing anything> I have told alot of people the harms of not doing this and putting my email addy out there for just anyone! It's really not a hard thing to do it seems people a just to lazy do it!!!!

janz if the email was just sent to you, then the email address shouldnt go any further. If it was sent to alot of people & they in turn forward it, then any email address it has been sent to will be forwarded with it (unless they use BCC to forward it) Hope that makes sense lol