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Q. Help! I can’t even go into my email inbox anymore, not because of evil hackers, but because of my supposed friends. I must be on my friends’ sucker lists because I get dozens of junk emails a day with lame jokes, stupid “cute kitty” pictures and chain letters that promise if I forward the email to 10 friends within 10 seconds I will have good fortune for the rest of my life.
I’m really tempted to just dump these emails in my Spam box instead of trash, but I’m afraid that someday I might miss an important email from someone and then I’ll be caught.
What should I do?
A. The world seems to be composed of two sorts of people: those who love joke/cute/chain emails and those who don’t. One person’s junk is another person’s treasure, that’s why people have yard sales! I have heard quite a few complaints lately from those who don’t like these sorts of emails and, like you, want to know how to stop them.
I suggest these methods:
1. Write them an email telling them to take you off of their distribution lists. Most people send these emails to a group of addresses that they have compiled. The next time you receive a mass mailing from your friend, send a reply email saying something like this: “I know you enjoy sending out these emails to me, but because of my limited time (optional: and interest), I would appreciate your removing my email address from your general distribution list.”
2. If that doesn’t work, you could fight fire with fire and forward all of your friends’ spam emails to other friends who send spam emails. Be sure to include the original sender in your forward list. This could backfire though because then the senders might think that you actually like these emails and send you even more emails, including the ones you just sent to them.
3. Send them this link: AN OPEN LETTER TO A FRIEND WHO PROLIFICALLY SENDS ME NO FEWER THAN FOUR STUMBLEUPON LINKS A DAY.
4. If none of these suggestions work, feel free to put any future emails from your spamming friends in your Spam folder. If they wonder why you haven’t read their emails, explain that you have “unsubscribed.”
Warning: Don’t be too harsh when you ask your friends to stop sending you junk emails. You might just find that you miss the cute kitty videos:
Do you get spam emails from friends? Do they drive you nuts or do you look forward to the next cute kitty picture? If you send out these types of emails, has a friend ever asked you to stop sending them? Let us know in the Comments section below!
* Image by Noah Sussman
** Image by Sybren Stüvel
*** Image by Mary
Maybe it’s just me, but I like it when frineds send me these emails. I always laugh or am touched and I am glad that my friends send them to me. I liked your blog anyway and want to know what others think about this.
Hi Sue, Welcome back to The Wonder of Tech! You’re right, plenty of people enjoy these emails. I enjoy them too, but I don’t get a lot of them. Some people, like the person who asked the question, get lots of these emails every day and either don’t enjoy them or get too many of them.
Thanks for your visit and your comment!
Hi Carolyn,
I enjoy emails like this as well, but only if I get a few of them a week. If I would get them every single day, I don’t know what I would do, but I would probably start by asking my “friend” to stop sending them, or tell him to send less of them, or use a filter, where all of his emails would end up in a folder, and then I would read them once a week 🙂
Hi Jens, I agree, wouldn’t it be great if we could fill out a form for these friends for the types of emails we enjoy? Check the types of emails you like: amazing stories, jokes, cute pictures, inspirational videos and/or chain emails. That way we could get just what we enjoy!
I like your idea of a filter where these types of emails can go into a folder for you to read later. I have a “Fun Stuff” folder, but that’s only after I read the emails and enjoy them.
Thanks so much for your visit and helpful comment!
I get a few, but not many of these types of e-mails now. It’s nice to be included every now and again. I don’t reply to the ones requesting a forward/send back to me so I guess the senders have caught on by now.
I have asked friends not to send personal e-mails to my work address.
I like the filter suggestion by Jens.
Hi cho cho, Welcome back to The Wonder of Tech! Great point, many of these chain mail emails ask you to send the email to 10 friends and back to the sender. If the sender doesn’t get any responses, she might get a clue that people don’t like chain emails!
Thanks for your visit and your great comment! 🙂
Gosh, I just delete them. They waste my time, though. I get a lot of e-mails that promise great life if I forward the email to other friends and woe betide me if I don’t. I am going to experience horrible things. 😀 Some people do really buy this stuff. They even make copies and distribute them outside!
Hi Mouh, Yes, you have to be very careful to avoid lifetime curses with these emails! I do wonder who comes up with these chain emails. I have even seen them through messages on Facebook, but not lately. I prefer joke and cool photo emails to those that promise me eternal damnation if I don’t forward it to 10 of my closest friends.
Thanks for your visit and your comment, Mouh!
Hi, Carolyn.
While I am honored that my friends email me, like Mouh, I simply don’t have time to read spam messages. Most of the time, I just delete the message. I can usually tell by the subject line if it’s important.
Unfortunately, I have sent some emails to my spam box, which I check from time to time, just in case. I do reply occasionally, but disregard most spam from friends. No harm intended. I just don’t have the heart to ask them to stop… It’s sad, but true.
Hi Allyson, You’re absolutely right, it is important to check your Spam folder from time to time. Even if you haven’t sent friends’ emails there, you never know when an important email will land there.
It’s interesting that you say you don’t have the heart to tell your friends that you don’t have time for their emails. The people who complained to me about this issue felt the same way as you do. But I wonder if the senders would really be offended if someone asked to be taken off of their distribution list. They might be, I just don’t know. You have brought up a very interesting point.
Thanks so much for your visit and your thought-provoking comment!
Great Blog. I have someone who sends me up to 20 a day. I read some occasionally but most go in to spam..
Hi Jerry, Wow, 20 a day is a lot of spam! Maybe it’s time to take some of the steps I outlined in this post? Or maybe your friends will read this article and get the hint…
Thanks for your visit and your comment!
Hi Carolyn.
I used to get a lot of such spam mails from friends and I agree that it wastes a lot of time.
I usually employ a strategy that I read them only when my mind is idle and I am not doing any productive work.
Also I employ filters to send them to the folders. Later I can glance at the folder and read important mail while right click and delete others.
Best regards,
Ashvini
Hi Ashvini, Welcome back to The Wonder of Tech! Your strategies for dealing with spam email from friends sounds like a sound one. There may be a gem in one of the emails that you would enjoy, so reading them during down time is a great idea.
Thanks for your visit and sharing your clever email strategy with us! 🙂
Nope I don’t send junk emails but I do get them from two good mates. It doesn’t bother me though as I can easily delete the crappy ones and some of the others actually provide good material for one of my blogs.
If they did get out of hand I would just email and let them know. Most guys would just suck it up, I’m not to sure about the women folk 😉
Hi Sire, what a great idea to use the ideas from friends’ emails for your blogs. Sometimes these sorts of emails are very interesting.
Speaking of interesting, men were the ones who asked me about how to handle spam email they got from friends. Maybe we women enjoy these emails more? Difficult to say.
Thanks for your visit and your comment!