Net Ettiquette: Forwarded Emails

It's very common for Internet users to receive forwarded emails from friends, colleauges and family. The content is usually humorous or contains advices and announcements. But the problem is sometimes the email is illegitimate and misleading in nature. Sometimes it also could contain viruses or malicious programs so be careful but I won't elaborate on it today. We focus on the type of content for today.

The type of email I hate the most is the one that says if you don't forward the email you will suffer dire consequences and if you forward it you'll be blessed by God. This is an absolute insult to us as a Muslim who believe that only Allah S.W.T can grant any blessing or cause harm as a test to human being. A mere email couldn't possibly affect our daily life so please, don't forward such kind of email anymore.

The next scam is the one that happen in online services such as Friendster. Messages abound circling among the users saying that Friendster is about to be closed and you can only save it by forwarding the message. What a lame scam, do you think the system administrator would like unnecessary use of bandwidth with messages like this? Any announcement should come direct from the system administrator straight to your inbox. Or else you check out the press release or news section of the website. Most website have it and that's where legitimate official announcement is posted. Do verify it with a reputable source every time.

Last but not least is the email that claims for every email forwarded you will contribute some sum of money for a charitable course. Trust me, such method would not be used for donation. It's unreliable and mass forwarding would incurr unnecessary use of bandwidth. Once again, please check and verify the source, there's so many con artists around.

That's it for now and rest assured that I'm very annoyed with above stated emails. Well my friends, please help make the Internet as a better place for everybody. Do not forward emails unless deemed necessary.