Fwd: I hate junk mail!

I'm going to rant and rave for a bit, so just bare with me... and I hope that after my little bitching session, I won't be spammed anymore *crossing my fingers*.

I made my peace with junk mail when I signed up for free email services like Hotmail, Yahoo and a host of others. But then, my dad opened up a secondary account on his business email - which, by the way - once a upon a time, was only given to a selective few. The reason behind my snobbish thoughts was for the very reason I am writing this blog post.

I am irrated to my very core. Usually, I check my email frequently - on some days, depending on how busy I am, more than three times a day. In between important correspondence and work-related e-mails, I get the odd "Johnny Joke" or comical porno pic...or even a chain letter - warning me that if I don't pass it on to 10 people within the next hour, I will be doomed.

Trust me, when I see "Fwd...." in my Inbox glaring at me in the subject line, all it takes is a click of the delete button! Easy as that, but when I know I'm going to be offline for more than say, three days, I send out a general email to people asking them ever so nicely to please not send me any thing for the next few days as my Inbox will be clogged with unneccesary e-mails, jokes, pictures, sound clips etc...

I have been so patient, practically begging email-ers to STOP sending me junk. Frankly, that is what it is - JUNK! If it's of no use to me, it's junk. Junk. Junk. Junk. And I don't like junk. I have even gone as far as saying that I will block people from my email list if they continue to jampack my Inbox with things I don't even open. But those go unnoticed and the very next day I receive an email with a header, "Fwd: fwd: fwd: You're never going to believe this!"

For goodness sakes, people - if you pass that email on to 10 friends, it's very unlikely that you are going to win a trip to Disney World or win a Nokia etc. There is no need to pass it on "just in case it's true...you never know" Oh please! If you do that, you're just buying into more spam and filling YOUR inbox just as much as you're filling up mine!

I have been an active member of the cyber community for over ten years now. Believe me when I say that I have heard / read most of the jokes circulated on email lists.... from the naughty things Johnny has said in the classroom to 100 ways to annoy your boss at work...even to how many blondes it takes to change a lightbulb.

And another thing that grates my nerves is when the body of the email message contains the HUNDREDS of people the message was previously CC'ed to. And people, please...if you really have to forward me a message, please at least have the decency to trim the subject line so that it doesn't read: Fwd: fwd: fwd: fwd: fwd:fwd: fwd: fwd: fwd: fwd: Open this quick!

Phew! That felt good ranting and raving...thanks for listening...or rather reading about my pet peeve of junk mail ;)

Why don't you rather send me an email saying, "Hi...how are you?" Tell me what you've been up to etc... I think that even takes less effort that sending a forwarded email. Send me an email like that, and I can assure you I will reply with the most love and affection. Send me a forward, and you will awake the mean monster within me ;)

Have a great week-end, everyone!