I get several requests each day from mothers, daughters, fathers and sons, friends and associates about how to nicely ask someone they know, like or love to please stop forwarding e-mail to them. Unfortunately, there is no nice way. No matter how nice, how kind, how thoughtful you may be in asking someone to stop forwarding e-mails, they will either have hurt feelings or get downright belligerent in the belief that they can do what they want.
See, the problem isn't really the forwards. It is how they are forwarded. Although the forwarders are thinking they are being thoughtful, they are in fact being proportionality the opposite because they do not forward properly.
All one has to do is stop and think of the person on the other side -- not just what they want to do or what will make them feel important at that moment in time.
The two critical issues here are:
- Forwarding to everyone in your address book. You can bet that everyone will not be interested in the topic of that e-mail. So you need to take the time to choose who you forward to because you know they will be interested.
- Not including a personal comment to the person the e-mail is being forwarded to. Now, that certainly isn't very "thoughtful!" If you cannot type a brief comment to the specific person you are forwarding to about why you are forwarding them that specific e-mail, then don't forward at all.
To all the thoughtless uncontrollable forwarders out there, if you get asked by someone to not forward future e-mails, kindly respect their request. Don't get hurt feelings and certainly don't act like you have a right to disregard someone's legitimate desire to not get e-mails they have no interest in receiving. And know that those who make these requests still want to hear from you -- they just don't have the time or their e-mail volume is such that extraneous forwards about silly, political or humorous topics that they are not interested in are what they no longer want to receive.
If you are sending unasked for forwards to everyone on your list, without comment, maybe you should be more genuinely thoughtful by being selective about what you forward and to whom. A good rule of thumb is that if an e-mail says "forward to everyone you know, all your friends or everyone in your address book" it is best you just hit Delete.
About the Author:
Judith Kallos is an authoritative and good-humored Technology Muse who has played @ http://www.TheIStudio.com for over a decade. Check out her popular E-mail Etiquette Web Site, Articles, Books and Free Tools @: http://www.NetManners.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Judith_Kallos
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/406740