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The other night, after a long day at work, I opened my personal inbox to find more than 100 new e-mails piled up since the night before. Nothing unusual, since I have many friends who are, for lack of a better phase, active forwarders! Some are Internet veterans and some newcomers, but they all have made e-mail forwarding a habit. So I started, as I normally do, quickly skimming through each e-mail, deciding whether it was worth spending time on or just deleting. That's when it hit me that the act of cleaning my inbox every day is taking precious time away from daily schedule. Is there a solution to this?
Who's a Forwarder?
If someone sends multiple e-mails of various topics to a large group of people in their address book on a regular basis, regardless of the recipients' specific permission or interest in those topics, then the person is a Forwarder. Of course, Forwarders mean well and are sharing the e-mails as an act of informing, entertaining, and bonding with their friends. But assuming that the recipients always appreciate receiving such e-mail may be false.
Forwarding Etiquette
Here are some simple rules to follow before hitting the Forward button:
• If you cannot take the time to write a personal comment at the top of your forwarded e-mail to the person you are sending to – then you shouldn’t forward it at all.
• Think carefully about if what you are forwarding will be of value, appreciated (something the recipient needs) or humorous (do they have the same sense of humor as you do?) to the person on the other side. Or do you just think it is worthy? If you cannot think of why the person you are forwarding to would like to receive the e-mail – then don’t forward it. If on company time using company e-mail — think not twice, but three times if forwarding is worth the risk of your-on- the-job credibility and your professionalism being diminished.
• It should go without saying that forwarding of chain letters; regardless how noble the topic may seem, virus warnings or anything that says “Forward to everyone you know” simply shouldn’t be forwarded. Always check Snopes.com to make sure the warning you're sending is not a hoax.
• If you must forward to more than one person, put your e-mail address in the TO: field and all the others you are sending to in the BCC: field to protect their email address from being published to those they do not know. This is a serious privacy issue! Do not perpetuate a breach of privacy started by other forwarders who included their contact’s addresses in the To: or Cc: field by continuing to forward those visible addresses to your contacts! Remove any e-mail addresses in the body of the email that have been forwarded.
How to Deal with Forwarding
So how do you ask someone to stop forwarding you e-mail without hurting their feelings? Is it better to keep deleting the emails and not say anything? Well, that all depends on you and your relationship with that person. Usually a simple e-mail with a kind and logical tone does the job, without damaging your relationship with that person. Assuming you still want to maintain your online relationship, ask them to send you e-mail that they know would be of specific interest to you.
Another option is to continue to spend the time to delete the e-mail you don't care to read. And if you really don't care to receive any e-mail from the person, you can simply block their address in your e-mail program. That way all their e-mail will go to your Spam box. But keep in mind that if the person ever sends you a personal e-mail, you will not receive that either. So think carefully before using this option.
Of course, the best way to address Forwarding is to increase awareness. Next time you're talking with a group of friends or family, ask how many of them are tired of forwarded e-mail. You'll be surprised to see others' enthusiasm about this topic, and how much they'd appreciate hearing about a solution!
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