February 04, 2005

Curious George: Email Glurge How do you deal with office email glurge? You know, the crappy emails that same coworker seems to send every day, usually with pink backgrounds, dancing animals, or multitudes of angels. Do you enjoy it? Do you ignore it? Do you get the IT Department to tell them to quit?

And when you get their emails about famous urban legends, do you respond back to let them know they're wrong? If so, do you use "reply to all" or do you just reply to the coworker? I need help. I'm swamped with this crap and I don't know where to start.

posted by Mickey 19 years ago
  • You call them pigfuckers. It seems to work well around here.
  • You "reply all" and send them to Snopes. And tell them to never let it happen again.
  • For the HTML email, I use a text-only email client, so I don't have to worry about it. I don't really get the urban legends any more, though if you have a bayesian spam filter, just train it with the urban legends, and you won't have to see those any more.
  • they usually get the smackdown pretty quick. Urban legends are RE: with link to Snopes, yeah. After awhile they get it, and if they don't . . . well usually everyone else does. I filter them to trash then.
  • I have the good fortune of signing the paychecks of those who work with me. I fire them.
  • Going freelance did it for me. Now I just get angry or disappointed e-mails from clients.
  • Yes, a quick link to snopes helps. Plus, I always explain that such cahin mail with a hundred emails attached are nothing but spammer bait. However, formatted mail with inline logos and such isn't as easy to curb. You can't tell some company that their crappy 90k GIF logo bloating a simple 'OK we got the files thanks' mail is a waste of bandwidth.
  • If you work for a large company, you may want to reacquaint them with what is know at my work as the Electronic Resources Policy, you must have one. I quote: Electronic resources are to be used primarily for conducting official and authorized Acme Co. business ... blah blah privacy blah ... Any abuse, improper use or electronic resources, or any other violation may lead to discipline up to and including dismissal. Crikey! I could get fired right now. Anyway, scare them straight, as it were.
  • I just hit "reply all" with a snopes link a few hours ago. Makes people much more reluctant to spam you with stupid urban legends if you show everybody else how gullible they are. On the other hand, I routinely get spam from my manager of all people, those e-mails that will "blow your mind," and if you forward them to at least 10 people, you will get your wish fulfilled, but if not you're scr0000000d!!!11!!1 This is a fifty-something woman who's worked professional jobs all of her life. And she is a manager.
  • Filter, filter, filter. If from = "Dopey Q. Marketroid" and contents contain "freakyhoppingmuppet.gif" transfer to trash
  • I'm in the same boat as you, MCT, except my supervisor is younger. She's learned by now to run it by me before sending it to a million people though ... even though I've given her the Snopes and Break the Chain links a million times so she can check them herself. She's kind of an idiot that way. When I get emails like that from others, I only reply to the sender with the appropriate "hoax" link ... I don't want to embarass them.
  • context is key. your boss and you like the job? a polite link to snopes, etc. that aunt who's always a pain at the family gatherings? let 'er rip with a reply all, links and admonishment. I do jump on every bit of trash email I get, unless the sender will never understand (in which case my spam filter usually eats them).
  • Delete key works for me...
  • Being super snarky with them isn't very conducive to workplace harmony. I had this problem as well and I replied to all about what a great site Snopes is for checking things like this out. And they got they hint after a couple of times. As for the cutesy e-mails, either filter, ignore, or send them a nicely worded email telling them that you have so much email to deal with that you'd prefer not to get the cutesy ones. It worked for me and no harm was done.
  • yep, a snopes link is the way to go..eventually with a note.."you should know better!" (insert smiley here to lessen the blow).. You can then graduate to sending a "I accidently deleted your e/mail, I'm sure it was important so I asked the IT guys to try and find it for me" message... then just shoot them! My e/mail frustration today was receiving a group e/mail with over 100 addresses (including mine) in the "to:" field instead of a "bcc" field... lazy frigging people! wait...i'm sorry, it might be "stupid" frigging people...can't tell the difference! (could be both I guess...eh?) I've gotten to the point that I've told some people that I don't use e/mail anymore due to the spam and use the "bounce" feature of my e/mail client to send it back as a bounced e/mail (they are WAY too stupid to figure out that it wasn't bounced)....
  • this makes me glad I am self-employed. I wasn't even aware of this menace before today....
  • Email, is one thing. But... those cutesy or 'funny' Powerpoint slideshows? Complete with all kinds of sound effects, transitions, animation effects? Some dripping with sentimentalism, PC, baby pigs and doggies, angels, unicorns, or pleas for this or that guilt-ridden donation effort? Those long winded, interactive ones, that end up in some half-baked joke, but boggle the mind as to who the f*ck has the time to program them? And... those stupid shock ones, with some autopsy photo suddenly appearing after page after page of kittens and birds chirping? Now, those are funny.. yeah, sure. PPoint authoring should be regulated by law.
  • Thankfully, I work in an office that has a pretty good "acceptable use" policy. In the 5 months that I've been here, I have yet to get one of the offending emails. There are two suggestions that I can provide you with: 1. Mention it to the boss -- fire off a quick note to the offending cow-workers direct supervisor. Pros: Quick, to the point. Typically, email will stop. Cons: If the offending person find out you "ratted them out" to the boss, you're likely to get a cold shoulder for a while. 2. Reply to the email with the words "unsubscribe". Pros: Quick, to the point. Typically, email will stop. Person is less likely to be offended. Cons: Email will stop?
  • I get two or three emails a day from the departmental secretary, usually with the aforementioned graphics (Anne Geddes babies in sunflowers, hearts, and angels, and crappy polka-dotted backgrounds). The last bout of flashing smileycons drove me to disable HTML in my email client. Outlook abuse should be punishable by a hell of having to look at emails formatted with nothing but blink tags. The same penalty should be applied to people who forward every stupid joke email/Photoshop gag/urban legend they get. I don't even bother reading subject lines that start with "FW:" anymore.
  • Subject: Unsubscribe [send]
  • what jim_t said
  • i usually send them to ten of my friends within 24 hours... otherwise my wish won't come true.
  • Wedge does make a significant point there.
  • Wedge - my ploy has been to answer the latest chain letter by telling the perpertrator "I've told you several times that I never send these things on but you keep doing sending them to me. Any bad luck I have in the future will be your fault since you won't stop." It's been years since I've gotten one of those.
  • Grrrrrr. Drives me nuts and I won't open them. Occasionally I get fooled, only to open something that has been forwarded sixty times and has 8 million email addresses in the TO: fields, and >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>which makes it >>>>>>>>>>>harder than >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>hell >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>to read. Sometimes I hate my friends who like to share.
  • reply-all. attach goatse image. problem solved. Rule #1: Never reply-all. Rule #2: See rule #1. It's bad bad bad bad bad bad bad. Just send an email to the original person saying that you're not such a big fan of the cutesy emails and you'd prefer it if she left you off the list when sending them out. Don't make it personal- you just don't like the emails. You could say that you prefer to use the email for work-related stuff only. Don't go to your boss or go around quoting policies and talking about bandwidth either. You'll either put her on the defensive, which could get unpleasant, or she'll be scared that she could lose her job, which would be mean. If you can't make her stop by politely asking, then just set up a filter, or turn off HTML in emails.
  • I send them viruses, after warning them three times to cut it out.
  • I like to reply-all and say simply "unsubscribe." Everyone gets the message, and a few people usually get the joke.