MUST YOU “FORWARD”? - Random Thoughts # 7

I was a person who used to forward every "forward" that I got in my mail box. Feedback from some who really care has made me think – and hopefully, change for the better.

Most of us just send forwards without giving a second thought. There are a lot of inherent dangers, nuisance and the like in forwards. Apart from that the "bulk forwards" do have a tendency to increase the internet traffic to a multi-fold level and also CLOG the net. Long term effects of this clogging are mind boggling. 

If sending the mail was a chargeable service based on either the number of mails or the amount of data sent, ask yourself – “would I still send a particular mail or forward?”, even if the charge was a mere 1 cent/pence/paisa per mail or per KB of data? Only send the mail where you can honestly say “YES” to this question.

Before you decide to send a forward do give some thought to the following and do take the precautions listed.

Many forwards have a built in message of promoting some religious or ethnic group, a business venture, downgrading a rival business or another community or religion, or even evoke some patriotic feeling.

Remember while forwarding any material or content that fits in any of the above categories – you are advertising or selling on someone's behalf (without any remuneration and without your desire to do so) and you are are being manipulated and used as a tool.

Examples of such forwards are:

i. The mail is being tracked by an agency – say AOL, and who will pay a few pennies for the every forwarded mail – maybe for the treatment of some small girl suffering from leukaemia etc.

ii. McDonald's or some other multinational is condemned for practices or quality, obviously the vested interest of a rival.

iii. Cheap Chinese/Indian goods are condemned for practices followed in manufacture – or for contents going into the goods or even for cruelty on animals and the like, again vested interests.

iv. There are beautiful power point presentations which generally show good sayings but end up preaching Christianity or God in the messages.

v. Then you have forwards of links to YouTube of videos which again could be preaching any of those things mentioned above.


vi. We often come across forwards which appear to be historical, but a little google search can often tell us that they are fabricated; this has been noticed lately and have been often created by the Hindu fundamentalists condemning British, Muslims and the like. 

However, then there is another category of forwards that pass on jokes, humorous anecdotes or stories and the like – often they are old stories re-circulated. In either case they are good stories at times. 

Restrict your forwards to these and send to select few who will appreciate them. It is very important: what you forward to whom. Your judgement, discretion and common sense are very important for the judgement. Never use a mass mailing list – else you also be sending it to the person who sent it to you in the first place.

A better option is to put these forwards on a blog – if you have one – as it leaves reader with the option of reading it without flooding his inbox. OR if you are on facebook - put your stuff in the "Notes" head.

There is a very important cardinal rule that must be followed when you do send a 'forward' to a group of people. NEVER, I repeat NEVER put their names in the “To” or “CC” rows. You must put their names in “BCC” - else you are making all your contacts vulnerable to hackers, spammers and the like.


If you still have that itch of pressing the 'forward' button - join us on the facebook group "DAFT DEFINITIONS, KRAZY FACTS, FORWARDs, TRIVIA". You can put your forwards there; you can upload videos, pics, links and not be spamming.

LET US ALL RESOLVE THAT WE WOULD MINIMIZE SENDING FORWARDS.

Okay – take care... Happy Forwarding.

A tip to those at the receiving end: Create a separate “in box” for the mail which contain “FW” or “FWD” in the subject line – so that it does not clutter up with the rest of your mail. Outlook Express/Outlook have these options. Google mail has started a beta version of a “Priority In box” – check it out.