We all have our own distinct peculiarities and among
the many of my own, this column is perhaps the
most fitting venue for the revealing confession that I devote much more time than
is called for to reading the header messages of
the e-mails I receive. What particularly interest me are the paths that mail that
gets forwarded to me travels. It's not that I actually care who, besides me, receives
one message or another, but reading these headers offers me a glimpse into the
various inter-connecting communities that I inhabit.
Because, numerous times in the past, I've expressed my distaste for chain
letters, a number of friends pass these on to me - not because they want to irritate
me, but to offer me an opportunity to see what's new (or, as is more often the
case, what's old, but once again making the rounds) among these, and then add
them to my collection. Actually, I prefer to let others collect these. I collect
Nigerian scam mail messages, which for quite a number of years now have been coming
from numerous countries, and not just from Nigeria. It's not something I devote
much effort to, but I save those that arrive in my inbox. This being the case,
I'm sure I've missed many of these, as though it matters. I can recall that many
years ago there was somebody who was kept busy collecting get-rich-quick chain
letters. These seem to have ceased to be popular - or at least I haven't received
any in a long time. Numerous lotteries still inform me that I've won one or another
jackpot, though not only had I not entered these, I didn't even know of their
existence. I trust that somebody is collecting these, or any number of other scams
that today are only bothersome, but that someday may hold sociological interest
to somebody working on a doctorate.
Am I the only
person who reads these headers? There are times when it's painfully obvious that
at least some people who perhaps should be doing so aren't. At least a couple
of times I've received, within the span of a few minutes, the same message at
least twice, one as a "legitimate" forwarding of the
original mailing, and then because I'm on the mailing list of someone else
forwarding that same letter. A quick glance at the list of those who received
the original message would easily have shown multiple
double recipients. Checking through the names on a list and removing those
that are doubles before clicking on send, especially on a long list, can
be quite time consuming. It's much easier to simply forward a message without
bothering to check the list. Which is, I guess, why it happens so often.
If we care to look, occasional
treasures can be found within these lists. The addresses of well known actors,
politicians, academics and more are often scattered
throughout these lists, but though nothing stops us from copying these addresses
into our address books, there's not much benefit in doing so. After all, what
would we write to these people, that we found their addresses on a forwarded piece
of junk mail and thought that, well, since all I have to do is click in order
to send you mail, maybe you ...? So though we may get excited by finding a name
of this sort on the list, the novelty wears off rather quickly.
I
have, however, occasionally benefited by scanning these lists. More than once
I've stumbled upon an address which is slightly different from one in my address
book, and I then realize (let's say because an "e" in a name on my list
is an "i" in the same name on the one I've received) why mail to this
particular person has continually bounced back to me, and I can then correct the
address on my own list. And of course sometimes we find an address for what definitely
seems to be an old friend with whom we've lost contact,
and we tell ourselves "why not write her", and in this way reestablish
contact after many years. Though we can't count on this happening, it's a rather
serendipitous means of discovering "whatever happened to" someone whom
we vaguely remember.
Numerous times I've received
PowerPoint presentations about friendship, or
something similar, with hints that if I really appreciate someone's friendship,
I'll pass this presentation on to those others I care about. Personally, I'm of
the opinion that breaking the chain is the sign of a more real friendship, though
writing friends and telling them "you're my friend, and that's the reason
I'm not sending you a PowerPoint presentation that I've recently received
for the I-long-ago-lost-count time" is not only awkward, it's close to counter-productive.
On the other hand, this doesn't mean that a "have you seen this?" isn't
occasionally called for. Forwarding e-mail not only isn't evil, it's an
inherent aspect of the tool. Still, it should be done sparingly, with an eye
toward the proper fit between the mail being forwarded and the intended recipient,
which only very rarely, if at all, should be a lengthy list of people.
And of course I have to admit that I've inadvertently done some
mass mailing myself, a recent example of which was the impetus for this particular
column. Actually, what happened was that I was in more than just a bit of a rush,
and my hand clicked on "send" without my noticing that I'd placed the
recipients list inside the "To" column, rather than in "Bcc".
In this way I learned that there are at least a few others who read these lists.
Two people called my attention to my mistake (of which I was already painfully
much too aware) while one other person suggested, after scanning the list she
was on, that I should add a couple of people whom
she thought would appreciate getting the mail. Knowing I'm not alone in this somewhat
innocuous vice is perhaps a bit comforting, and quite honestly, it doesn't really
surprise me. It's a good guess that we're still in a rather vast minority. My
experience, however, can at the least be the source of a bit of humility. I know
what brought about my own slip of the mouse-click. It may well be that others
forward mail in a similar fashion, regretting their click on send the moment
the letter in queestion is out of their hands. If that's the case, having it happen
to me might help me learn to be a bit more accepting of the faux pas committed
by others.
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