Oh, they are fun to read (mostly) and they beg to be passed on.....but  Sometimes, you are made to feel that IF you don't send them to all those you love, that you will be letting them down and dooming them to a life of misery and woe.

I learned a neat little trick and I'm passing it on to you so you won't enslave your friends....

If you WANT to send on these forwards, take the time to do two things:

1.)  Clean them up before you send them on.   That includes deleting all the former forward lines and addresses.  It also means taking out those annoying and cluttering <<<<< thingys. FROM EVERY LINE!  (You might want to run spell check also.)

Does this sound like heresy?  Why should it?  If it is a worthy sentiment, and I'm assuming you don't send off just any old junk to clutter the email boxes of your friends, then it will have much more impact on their lives without the "<<s" and the history of fourteen bejillion email addresses that must be scrolled through before they reach the important part!

2.)  REMOVE or modify any instructions for forwarding the message beyond yourself.  Here are four examples of what I mean.   REMEMBER, it's your email --- coming from your computer.  You can change it.  It is YOUR right to do so. 

(the original)  Send this to six people.  Do NOT break the chain.  This has been around the world three times.  You mustn't be responsible for breaking it!

(modified)   This has been around the world three times.  If you enjoyed this please pass it along to someone to keep the message going.

(the original) You must forward this to seven people within seven minutes.  If you do, you will experience a miracle in seven days.

(modified) I hope you will forward this to a few friends.  They might enjoy it too.

(the original)  You must send this to every person in you address book within 15 minutes or you risk calling a plague of locust upon everyone and everything that you hold dear.

(modified) If you have enjoyed this forward, I hope you will send it along to some of your friends.

(the original - and I'm not kidding on this one, it arrived in my email this morning) Please send this to five phenomenal women today. If you do, something good will happen:  you will boost another woman's self esteem.  If you don't ... your left boob will drop off.

(modified) Please forward this to a phenomenal  woman/women. If you do, something good will happen:   You will boost another woman's self esteem.

I try very hard not to send out anything that will make my family and friends feel anxious or guilty about deleting without taking action.   "Forwards" have a place in this brave new email world of ours.  They can be inspirational, uplifting, informative and just plain FUN!  But remember that every contact in your address book is probably in the books of at least 10-20 other people who may also be addicted to email forwards.  So when you press that "forward" button, do it with a little care.  email forwards may be easier to deal with than those awful snail mail chain letters of old but that doesn't give you the right to place restrictions and burdens on your loved ones, so:

If you LOVE Forwards, as I do, please just use a little common sense in sending them on their way.  The core message won't be harmed by changing the instructions for passing it on, and you will still be sharing.  You are just offering options about how and with whom you and your recipients can share.   The side benefit of this will be that when your email forwards show up in the email of your friends, they won't be afraid to open them because they will know that they don't risk a plague or losing a boob by reading them.~smile~

~Winston Churchill~

A List of Forwards