sorry to hear about your family's loss FR. terrible news.

tell them outright. I did that to my Mom and she stopped...

I simply told her: "hey, email me if you have something to say, I understand that you want to share things and tell me that you love us in a round about sort of way but I get enough emails that are """"junk"""" and just fill up my in box. I appreciate your kind wishes but please stop"

then I told my sister a different statement:
"quit sending me that sh**"
she stopped too..

Sorry about your loss.

For email, many ISPs give you several email addresses.

What I do is give out my main address to my close friends and family.

When I sign up for other stuff, whether it be bulletin boards or whatever, I use one of the other email accounts.

I then setup multiple accounts in Outlook Express so that each one is scanned for new incoming mail.

Then, if one email begins to spew BS, I simply change that email address.

Of course if it is your friends and family that are sending the email, that is a different story.

In that case, you can "manually" return a reply to those messages, as if it came from an automatic system.

For example, return an email something like this (comments in quotes):

******* WARNING *********

Mass email detected by ISP Robot Scan (or something cool sounding).

IAW Federal Regulation 33CFR10.12 (make something offical sounding), this transmission may be subject to fines and penalties as provided by law (be vague here, don't actually say they did something wrong, so that you don't actually get in trouble yourself). The sender of this email is put on notice that further such transmission will be processed according to the policy of the email provider. A copy of the policy can be obtained by writing to Email Compliance Clearing House, 121 Federal Way, Orem Ut. (or some official sounding place).

This is an automated message - do not reply.


So maybe you can intimidate the sender without them knowing it is you, but rather make them think it is an automatic system message.

There is profit in confusion.

Either that or use the direct approach and simply tell them to knock it off.

FR, sorry to hear about your loss...
I have nothing to offer in your email quandry, but I can relate. The Link Parrot_Head sent is a keeper...

Don't bother with tact.
People who send this stuff won't understand it.
You can always reply with links to the Glurge Gallery
at Snopes.

Nuff said.

Sorry about your loss.

FR, please accept our condolences. Best of luck in dealing with your e-mail problem. I usually tell people who send stuff like this to me to knock it off. If they take insult to that and choose not to speak to me thereafter, I probably didn't need them hanging around anyway.

My condolences, FR. As far as the emails just tell them straight up "Please Stop" and you will find most will and won't take offense. Others will at least reduce the number sent.

I get these emails from the Vice President of my company! He mass mails them to the whole sales force and anyone with a brain and an extra two minutes can find them on snopes.com. How do you tell your boss's boss that the crap he is sending is false?

Have your boss tell him and if he gets fired then you will know to thank the VP for the great info the next time you see him!

I had an uncle that used to send me the ultra right wing junk accusing Clinton and the Democrats of everything under the sun. Finally I just sent him back the Snopes link debunking it. He was embarrassed, but not mad. And I don't think I've got one from him since.

FR - terribly sorry to learn of your recent loss.

My MIL forwards stuff all of the time. Any time that I see something from her that has FWD in the subject line, I delete it w/o hesitation. Only those emails from her that do not include the tell-tale "FWD" in the subject line do I open.

I also worry my Mom will get scammed because she forwards stuff too that is false. Some day she'll believe something from the wrong person.

on the same vein ... how about those Christmas Letters that some people send detailing every minute little detail of their life for the past year ??!

has there ever been a better reason during the Christmas Season to get the ol' shotgun off the rack and chug a couple shots a Jack?

Friends got sick of the Christmas letters and one year wrote a spoof letter and sent it to all of those who typically sent them one. About half of the letters ceased to show the following year. The worst thing about them is they are exagerated more than a desperate MBA's resume.

I have to be honest, the Christmas letters don't bother me. Perhaps that is because I only receive 2 or 3.

The forwarding of the angel emails and all the other crap drives me crazy.

Thanks everyone for the support and advice.

The wife doesn't seem to mind all the silly junk mail, even if she never does read it, so I fixed the OE on my computers to make HER mail go to HER own folder, so I don't have to see it.