Dexter Daily Statesman

What a colossal waste of time

Posted Tuesday, August 7, 2007, at 9:43 AM
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Have you ever just sat down and thought about how many people sit around all day creating the junk mail, e-mail and faxes we get.

Between the three methods, I probably get on average 20 or so pieces a day. They all go to the same place: directly into my trash can (or folder when applicable).

Everything from the $199 7-day Caribbean cruise to "male-enhancement" methods to stock tips and even fake online greeting cards. How pathetic do you have to be to receive FAKE greeting cards?

I've finally reached the point to where I don't let these things waste too much of my time. I instantly recognize them as the garbage they are and they're gone that fast.

Do you think they really believe I'm going to dish out my SSN and credit card information in an e-mail to a person I don't know? It's not going to happen. It's as simple as that.

The funny part, is that there are companies that pay people to do just that. We're talking legitimate companies, or at least sort of.

Most of these are the companies that want a few hundred bucks up front and pay one-percent commission on any hits received from what you send out. Not exactly a money-maker if you ask me.

What's the craziest thing you've ever received in your e-mail?

Comments
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I have won the Nigerian Lottery numerous times......haven't seen the money yet...haha.

-- Posted by blessed on Tue, Aug 7, 2007, at 12:11 PM

Corey Noles' response:

Wow! Me too!

Have you heard the latest about e-mail greetings -- even ones from legitimate-sounding sources like Hallmark and American Greetings? They're supposed to have a worm and we all know what worms can do. Trash 'em all! Wonder if it's someone's sneaky way of getting us back to sending good, old-fashioned greeting cards by snail mail?

-- Posted by peachpal on Tue, Aug 7, 2007, at 2:39 PM

Corey Noles' response:

I get at least 2 of those a day, but I don't generally have the virus problems. In the newspaper business, everything is done on Macintosh computers and it's all I have at home. Most viruses are written for specific operating systems so while they do come in through e-mail and other things, they don't usually have an effect. They can, but it's quite rare.

123greetings is another one I get all the time. Now they've started showing up with a card supposedly from people in my address book. It's more of a nuisance than anything. Marking them as trash doesn't even do much because the way those things are sent out they almost never come from the same address twice.

You've really hit the nail on the head, Corey! I just deleted a Freewebcards.com email and a 123greetings yesterday.

I also really dislike the alarmist emails, which urge you to hurry and send them to everyone in your mailbox -- and it turns out to be some silly hoax, like the one about "In God We Trust" being taken off the new presidential dollar coin. If those people would check the story on snopes.com, they'd know it was a hoax before they pestered everyone in their address book!

-- Posted by goat lady on Tue, Aug 7, 2007, at 4:55 PM

Corey Noles' response:

Anything, even if sent from a friend, that tells me if I don't forward it I will have bad luck, goes directly into my trash. That stuff drives me nuts. Because my dad was into computers I was playing around online much earlier than many people and I'm here to tell you that stuff has been here from the start.

Some of the same emails are still around even. One talking about how the feds are going to tax e-mail and the same emails about missing kids have been floating around since the beginning.

Several times a day I get advertising for viagra. It ususally has the affected human body part displayed prominently at the top of the page. Any advertisement, particularly those, gets automatically deleted, unopened. Thank goodness for the preview window.

Some of those old emails have been around so long they're like urban myths. "Bill Gates will donate ten cents to this poor kid's medical fund for every person to whom you forward this message." Yeah, right.

-- Posted by Ducky on Wed, Aug 8, 2007, at 1:25 PM

I know this will sound irreligious, but I really dislike the messages which say,"If you don't forward this prayer within 5 minutes, it means that you are ashamed of God."

-- Posted by goat lady on Wed, Aug 8, 2007, at 9:16 PM

By the way, Corey, I didn't know that Macintoshes didn't usually get viruses. Mmm...I guess they're good for something...

-- Posted by goat lady on Wed, Aug 8, 2007, at 9:20 PM

Wonder why they spend so much time on things that end up in the trash? I tear mine up and throw them away without opening them. And junk them if they're emails. BUT- people actually do read them and fall for these scams. It's hilarious. Have you heard the latest scam- people will send you a couple thousand dollars if you send them a couple hundred first? Duh! Who falls for that? "You've won the lottery but first you have to pay." Don't think so. Obviously it's working though- enough people fall for them.

-- Posted by vambfly on Wed, Aug 15, 2007, at 7:28 PM

I despise all these credit card offers I never applied for. I take the contents, the envelope it came in, rip them up, and return EVERYTHING to them in their prepaid envelope.

Let them deal with shredding at the old round file basket #13. This is how I give job security to others-lol.

-- Posted by Yellow Rose of Essex on Thu, Aug 16, 2007, at 4:13 PM

LOL

That is a really good idea!

-- Posted by vambfly on Fri, Aug 17, 2007, at 8:39 AM