Email etiquette

[PRINCESS VIJA]

This really bugs me, but I am not sure if according to email ettiquette it is ok to do.

So, my sister sent out an email. It isn't a personal email, but rather one of those public interest type emails that ask you to keep it going forward. I then receive an email a day later from someone else on her distribution list that got the same email. He wrote back to the WHOLE list my sister sent it to, basicly chastising her, and anyone else who believed the email for sending out an email that is incorrect, including links to check out "the truth".

I was personally offended. If I got an email from someone that I thought had incorrect info, I would just email back the person that sent it to me, NOT the entire list they sent it too.

thoughts on this?

 

[MariDisney]

This really bugs me, but I am not sure if according to email ettiquette it is ok to do.

So, my sister sent out an email. It isn't a personal email, but rather one of those public interest type emails that ask you to keep it going forward. I then receive an email a day later from someone else on her distribution list that got the same email. He wrote back to the WHOLE list my sister sent it to, basicly chastising her, and anyone else who believed the email for sending out an email that is incorrect, including links to check out "the truth".

I was personally offended. If I got an email from someone that I thought had incorrect info, I would just email back the person that sent it to me, NOT the entire list they sent it too.

thoughts on this?

I am guilty of doing that occasionally. I never hope to chatise someone. But, I do try to share information from a reliable source. I figure if I hit "reply all" it may help someone else from forwarding it on and continuing to spread misinformation. I have always thought that if someone didn't want to read it they could easily hit delete.

 

[VillageMama]

I agree with you to a point. I have been known to write back to the original sender and gently point out the errors in her note. It is up to her if she wants to send a correction out to everyone on her list.

But I have been known... only once or twice... to have emailed a correction to everyone on the original list if the email was so blatantly false and it slandered a person or company.

For instance, one "friend" sent out an email telling everyone that Proctor and Gamble supports the Church of Satan. Good grief, it took me all of one minute to have documented proof of how false that is.

Also, I have family members who work for Proctor and Gamble. I don't want to see their jobs in jeopardy because some ignoramous ignites a massive boycott because of P&G's supposed devil worshiping.

If you heard that rumor and put no effort in determining its truth... and then emailed all of your contacts that hideous lie... you are running the risk of a public rebuke from me.

Maybe this person on your sister's email list had just reached his breaking point. I feel for him. But in general, I either delete and ignore or I say something privately and gently.

 

[GoodFairies]

If the information was incorrect and your sister didn't check it before sending it along to a group of people, then that was rude first. Your sister was also wrong for making the e-mail addresses of people in her address book available for everyone to see. Bad e-mail etiquette begets bad e-mail etiquette I guess.

 

[Heidict]

I have done that on a couple of occasions also. Could probably do it for just about all of those that ends up in my inbox, but I don't have the time. Normally I just delete them and don't bother fowarding them.

What really bugs me is when people foward this stupid stuff and don't bother to check to see if it's true. They just believe everything they read and then foward it on everyone else.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I will evaluate the situation and if it warrants my reply with the "truth", I will usually only e-mail the individual. However, there are some instances where I felt it warranted to e-mail the whole group over the very nature of the untruth that was sent.

And--it is proper e-mail etiquette to verify crap before forwarding it, so I can't fault the guy who replied when your sister should be snoping her e-mails before she sends them.

Too many people forward crap and sometimes you just tick off the wrong person and I can't blame them really.

The guy who replied though didn't need to insult the intelligence of anyone. A simple--"sorry guys, this isn't true. check here....with link" would have sufficed. However, I don't think he is necessarily wrong for replying to all with a correction.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I have done that. If the information on the email could lead someone to do something dangerous I feel it is good to let the entire group know. I do try to be as diplomatic as possible in doing so by starting off saying something like it is easy to see how you would fall for this as the email is so well written and belivable or some such.
I actually think the people who send mass emails to be forwarded are the rude ones.

 

[mjkacmom]

I am SO tired of receiving these emails! I reply to all with a snopes line - if more people would learn to verify information before blindly sending it to hundreds of people, maybe they would stop.

 

[Keli]

I think it's obnoxious and I've been known to send the person being that rude an email explaining the difference to reply and reply all.
Sorry, you want to chastise someone, well don't force me to be the audience.

 

[SamRoc]

I just don't open any forwarded emails

 

[Allison]

People should stop sending the silly false emails. If someone doesn't take the time to find out if the information is correct, then I don't see anything wrong with someone else pointing out the obvious. If the original sender included all the emails, then the recipient isn't doing anything wrong by replying to all the emails.

I don't do it myself but I'm certainly tempted to at times.

 

[Disney Doll]

I wouldn't chastise the original sender, but I might send out a link to snopes to the whole list of people who got the original email, just so they wouldn't be sending around misinformation, especially if it was damaging misinformation.

 

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

I have yet to find any of them true...

EXCEPT this nigerian prince that was de-throned by a radical group but he is stuck in another country and knows a bank account that has millions he can access to transfer and all he needs is my bank account and I will get 30% of the millions in the account, and he says that I am trustworthy because I have an e-mail address in the united states so it HAS to be true!!!

..................

STILL waiting for that transfer of money....any day now!!!!!!



hehehehehhehehehee

 

[disykat]

If the information was incorrect and your sister didn't check it before sending it along to a group of people, then that was rude first. Your sister was also wrong for making the e-mail addresses of people in her address book available for everyone to see. Bad e-mail etiquette begets bad e-mail etiquette I guess.

ITA! I usually just delete those emails with no response at all. But IMO the person sending them is the one "starting it."

 

[angwill]

Believe it or not I lost a good friend by just replying to her and not everyone else with a link to snopes and requesting she check there next time she gets an email like that to make sure she is not forwarding something that could hurt others who might believe it too. I now just delete the junk since you never know if the person will be overly sensetive to the response.

 

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

Believe it or not I lost a good friend by just replying to her and not everyone else with a link to snopes and requesting she check there next time she gets an email like that to make sure she is not forwarding something that could hurt others who might believe it too. I now just delete the junk since you never know if the person will be overly sensetive to the response.

maybe she was not as good of a friend as you thought?

I would get these at work and immediately tell them not to use the work e-mail for nonsense. (then can also get in trouble for that kind of stuff at work)

I had a manager insist that one may be true, until I showed him the snopes print out...and his manager told him to knock it off.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

If the information was incorrect and your sister didn't check it before sending it along to a group of people, then that was rude first. Your sister was also wrong for making the e-mail addresses of people in her address book available for everyone to see. Bad e-mail etiquette begets bad e-mail etiquette I guess.

Ditto.

I have someone that sent open emails and now a person I have been hiding from has my email again and I have to put up with his crap.

If you are going to be rude with sending chain emails, expect rudeness back.

 

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

Ditto.

I have someone that sent open emails and now a person I have been hiding from has my email again and I have to put up with his crap.

If you are going to be rude with sending chain emails, expect rudeness back.

you would figure that they could at least learn to use the BCC function.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Believe it or not I lost a good friend by just replying to her and not everyone else with a link to snopes and requesting she check there next time she gets an email like that to make sure she is not forwarding something that could hurt others who might believe it too. I now just delete the junk since you never know if the person will be overly sensetive to the response.

Well--I don't want to be rude to someone, however--if an e-mail is bad enough that they think it true and shouldn't, I will e-mail them.

I mean seriously--carjacking by post-it note??? Seriously???

I'd say she wasn't a good friend either.

It isn't like you publicly embarrassed her.

 

[Thumper_Man]

I am SO tired of receiving these emails! I reply to all with a snopes line - if more people would learn to verify information before blindly sending it to hundreds of people, maybe they would stop.

I wouldn't chastise the original sender, but I might send out a link to snopes to the whole list of people who got the original email, just so they wouldn't be sending around misinformation, especially if it was damaging misinformation.

I usually do this often myself. I take the time to research the information before I forward it off to other people. If it's true, I'll keep the warning going. Most of the time the information is false, so I'll include the Snopes line that lets people know why it's false information; and hope that I don't get the same e-mail another 25 times.

Plus I've learned when forwarding e-mails, to use the BCC address bar when I'm listing the contacts I want to send the e-mail to. This way my family and friends don't land up on other people's lists.