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Internet Memes a nuisance for all

This article has been updated from the original, which used to be at this link.

Email chain letters a nuisance for all

By Cathy Gillentine

Contributor

Published March 12, 2012

Ever since I began using email, I have been getting messages that irritate me.

I never really had a good reason to be so agitated and — most of the time — the things that riled me up were sent by good friends.

And I am sure they all meant well. Maybe your friends post these same directives, and maybe you feel equally put upon.

Worry no more. The latest instructions countermand everything we have been told and, finally, justify my feelings of irritation and ill will.

How many times have you seen posted, or received directly, instructions to “forward this on to 10 people” (or any number, you pick)? Obedience promises you will have good luck, or something bad will happen if you don’t.

A lot of these even manage to appear inspiring, quoting Biblical references and promising blessings.

Sometimes you are promised something funny on your screen after you send it. (I have never been able to get that kind of a reaction.)

Blessings also may be supposedly showered on all the people who get your forwarded messages or reposts.

Well, I have felt that many of these memes have a threatening nature to them, and I have always been repulsed by something, or someone, who dares me to do something, “or else.”

So I seldom forward a message unless it is something I really want my recipient to see. And I seldom forward one of those “send it to friends and get a blessing or a reward” — or some sort of punishment.

How about the ones in which you add your name and then pass it along or repost? A way to track prospective clients.

You might think you are supporting a great cause, but you are not. You will probably get lots of junk mail, and maybe a virus, trojan or malware.

OK, have you received any number of petitions that seem to support things you favor?

As prolific as they might be, they are equally useless. No petition will be honored by any organization for any reason without a real, signed signature and valid address.

Agree with the cause mentioned in the petition. Pound your fist and yell. But don’t bother to sign an email petition.

A final piece of advice.

When a telemarketer calls, say the three magic words and set down the phone. The words? “Hold on please.”

When you hear a beep, beep, beep, you can hang up the phone. You have tied up a boiler room operation for a long time.

One more piece of advice. If you pick up the phone and there is nobody on the line, it probably is the machine of a telemarketer, checking when you are home.

Hit the pound button on your phone 6 or 7 times as quick as you can. That confuses the machine and knocks your number out of the system.

And spreading confusion is a good thing if you want to fight spammers and trolls.

Cathy Gillentine is a columnist for The Daily News and can be reached at cgillentine1(at)aol.com.

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