Klarinet Archive - Posting 000791.txt from 1998/12

From: "Tim Roberts" <timr@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Re: russianoff project
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1998 12:21:33 -0500

On Sun, 20 Dec 1998 14:55:38 -0500, corrie jagger wrote:
>...I do have one last request, and that
>would be that we develop this into a chain letter of sorts. Send my address
>to fellow students and teachers, if you would like, the more names I am able
>to include the more impacting I feel this request will be.

Please do not do this. PLEASE. No matter how good the intentions, starting a
chain e-letter in this way is ALWAYS a bad idea. The problem is that these
things take on a life of their own. Two years from now, someone who is just
starting into the field will read your request somewhere and forward a copy to
everyone they know, thus starting another unwanted chain reaction.

I've made a hobby out of studying the proliferation of chain letters, and a
quest out of stopping them. Even if it seems like a good idea, it is not.

There was a note on the evening news this week that several of the major ISPs
(AOL and Hotmail in particular) were experiencing delays of three or four HOURS
in e-mail delivery, strictly because so many people were forwarding so many
copies of the cutesy animated Christmas cards to everyone they knew.

--
- Tim Roberts, timr@-----.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.

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