Fw: Re: Fwd: Etc.
Warning: Rant and excessive use of italics to follow.
Today I received an e-mail from the former president of an organization I've belonged to for quite some time. The e-mail came to the e-mail account that I reserve exclusively for writing-related communication—querying agents, submitting work, conducting writing club business—you know, official writing stuff.
That e-mail addy has my full name in it because I've heard agents say both online and at conferences how important it is for a writer to have this kind of addy so the agents and editors know who is sending the e-mail and so the e-mail doesn't get caught in a spam filter.
Now, I certainly would never use that e-mail account for spam. I don't send spam. I. Just. Don't. (Time out here: Literary agent Janet Reid recently addressed the problem of authors sending spam e-mails to her.) I use that e-mail account for official writing stuff.
So, I was disappointed that the e-mail I received at my official writer e-mail account was actually spam that had been forwarded and forwarded and forwarded. Yeah, it was an inspirational poem, etc. etc., etc., but it was still multi-forwarded spam.
Now, as this inspirational e-mail is forwarded again (though not by me!) all over goodness-knows-where, my e-mail addy rides along with it and becomes spammy by association.
Another thing that bothered me is that no author was given credit for this poem. I don't forward anonymous writing and I don't think others should either. It's an insult to the author.
I won't quote the whole inspirational poem because it's all over the Internet in a couple of different versions, but here's the opener:
I received the 2007 version where the kid's daddy died in Iraq (Oh, I've spoiled it for you. Sorry!), but there's also a 9/11 version where the kid's dad is a fireman who dies when the World Trade Center collapses.
But the poem isn't really anonymous. A quick visit to snopes.com produces info about the author—Cheryl Costello-Forshey—and the original version of her poem. According to the author, the poem was a "fictionalized account of what [the loss of her father] meant to one particular little girl and by extension what similar losses mean to all children who lose parents." See the original poem and the full explanation at Snopes.
At Snopes you'll also learn that the poem has been published in two places: Chicken Soup for the Parent's Soul and Stories for a Teen's Heart (book 2). It's under copyright.
I already send and receive a lot of e-mail. I don't need to receive inspirational messages that have floated around the Internet since 2000, are referenced in a gazillion places, and even have You-Tube videos made of them. Especially inspirational messages that end thus:
Now that last part is what rankles. I haven't "forgotten my friends" unless forgetting to spam them somehow equals forgetfulness. Adding this passive-aggressive crap onto Costello-Forshey's poem does her work a disservice.
Upstream in the e-mail forwards, the person who sent this to the person who sent it to me, wrote this: "I shed a few tears, too; am sending it to my writers group I recently joined; will also fax to local papers; hope one of them will publish it."
Uh, no. Reputable newspapers do not publish anonymous inspirational poems. For one thing, there's that sticky copyright issue in case the real author, whose name was omitted from the first several million times this thing was forwarded, comes forward and threatens a lawsuit. For another, few newspapers reprint poems, period. Not poems that were written nearly a decade ago and already copyrighted. It's not news.
OK, rant over. Now for some advice:
Today I received an e-mail from the former president of an organization I've belonged to for quite some time. The e-mail came to the e-mail account that I reserve exclusively for writing-related communication—querying agents, submitting work, conducting writing club business—you know, official writing stuff.
That e-mail addy has my full name in it because I've heard agents say both online and at conferences how important it is for a writer to have this kind of addy so the agents and editors know who is sending the e-mail and so the e-mail doesn't get caught in a spam filter.
Now, I certainly would never use that e-mail account for spam. I don't send spam. I. Just. Don't. (Time out here: Literary agent Janet Reid recently addressed the problem of authors sending spam e-mails to her.) I use that e-mail account for official writing stuff.
So, I was disappointed that the e-mail I received at my official writer e-mail account was actually spam that had been forwarded and forwarded and forwarded. Yeah, it was an inspirational poem, etc. etc., etc., but it was still multi-forwarded spam.
Now, as this inspirational e-mail is forwarded again (though not by me!) all over goodness-knows-where, my e-mail addy rides along with it and becomes spammy by association.
Another thing that bothered me is that no author was given credit for this poem. I don't forward anonymous writing and I don't think others should either. It's an insult to the author.
I won't quote the whole inspirational poem because it's all over the Internet in a couple of different versions, but here's the opener:
Her hair was up in a pony tail,
her favorite dress tied with a bow.
Today was Daddy's Day at school,and she couldn't wait to go.
I received the 2007 version where the kid's daddy died in Iraq (Oh, I've spoiled it for you. Sorry!), but there's also a 9/11 version where the kid's dad is a fireman who dies when the World Trade Center collapses.
But the poem isn't really anonymous. A quick visit to snopes.com produces info about the author—Cheryl Costello-Forshey—and the original version of her poem. According to the author, the poem was a "fictionalized account of what [the loss of her father] meant to one particular little girl and by extension what similar losses mean to all children who lose parents." See the original poem and the full explanation at Snopes.
At Snopes you'll also learn that the poem has been published in two places: Chicken Soup for the Parent's Soul and Stories for a Teen's Heart (book 2). It's under copyright.
I already send and receive a lot of e-mail. I don't need to receive inspirational messages that have floated around the Internet since 2000, are referenced in a gazillion places, and even have You-Tube videos made of them. Especially inspirational messages that end thus:
Now that last part is what rankles. I haven't "forgotten my friends" unless forgetting to spam them somehow equals forgetfulness. Adding this passive-aggressive crap onto Costello-Forshey's poem does her work a disservice.
Upstream in the e-mail forwards, the person who sent this to the person who sent it to me, wrote this: "I shed a few tears, too; am sending it to my writers group I recently joined; will also fax to local papers; hope one of them will publish it."
Uh, no. Reputable newspapers do not publish anonymous inspirational poems. For one thing, there's that sticky copyright issue in case the real author, whose name was omitted from the first several million times this thing was forwarded, comes forward and threatens a lawsuit. For another, few newspapers reprint poems, period. Not poems that were written nearly a decade ago and already copyrighted. It's not news.
OK, rant over. Now for some advice:
- If you just absolutely have to send stuff to friends, give credit to the stuff's writer. If you don't know who created something, don't send it.
- If you send a group e-mail, at least don't make the e-mail addresses visible to everyone.
- And if you really urgently have to forward something, remove the e-mail addresses from the previous sender.
~
posted by Becky Mushko | 2:45 PM
3 Comments:
Great post! And one more thing...Most people like me don't have time to read stuff like that, and that doesn't make me or anyone else a bad friend.
I have one of the "writing only" emails and it served me well until someone added me to some list and forwarded it. Now it gets a lot of spam. All it takes is one fool. Unfortunately there are a lot of fools out there.
Ninety-five percent of the time I just don't open forwarded e-mail. And I'm usually sorry about the 5% I open. I don't have enough hours a day to get done what I NEED to do, much less spend it on forwarded junk, even though occasionally some of it is sweet or funny.
Post a Comment
<< Home