Old People on the Internet - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

KTrain · 03-10-2009, 06:50 AM

Every morning I wake up to my email inbox full of forwarded jokes, "funny" pictures, warnings about dangerous food/drivers/criminals/missing kids, etc. My Blackberry will buzz throughout the day with various "if you don't send this to 10 people you'll have bad luck".

They all come from my 60 year old uncle who got the internet a couple years ago.

I don't want to be rude and tell him to take me off his email list. I also can't block him because occasionally he'll actually send me a message. I'm going to just grin and bear it.

Anyone else have someone like this who sends them this kind of crap continually? Are you one of these people?

SportsJunky · 03-10-2009, 06:56 AM

I just received another "joke" email from my 64 yr old aunt who thinks her daily emails are hilarious. It doesn't matter that I never send her anything in reply - she just keeps them coming. Also, I finally hooked my retired mother up to the internet and I know this can only get worse for me now.

the crispy badger · 03-10-2009, 06:57 AM

my mom does this as well..I think she needs to go back to Internet School.

Daradon · 03-10-2009, 06:58 AM

Haha, you have to be firm with these people. I used to have friends that did that. I told them firmly to stop.

I found the culprits were more often girls I knew than guys. Especially with the warnings. Or the pass this on because someone is thinking of you crap with teddy bears and dancing hamsters... UGH!

Every once in a while I'll get a joke I haven't seen, but that is super rare.

I don't mind getting a joke (or fwd) if it's from a person who doesn't do a lot of forwarding, I know they've read it and are just passing on the good ones. By the same token, I'll pass something on if it's a real knee slapper and I haven't seen it before, but that is SUPER rare.

But when it's a person who fwds a message every day, or every time they e-mail, then I get angry. The stupid chain mail fwds.

I guess it comes down to the person for me. I don't get mad at a fwd here or there, but when it's one of those people who sends on everything, then I get mad. It's usually very easy to tell the two apart.

I dunno what you do about your situation. An older family member does make it harder, but you'll probably have to let them know gently that it's not really your thing. Especially if you're paying for that data.

GreenTeaFrapp · 03-10-2009, 07:07 AM

My mom used to send me internet hoaxes all the time. I'd do a reply to all with a link and quote from Snopes about how it was a hoax. I think she eventually got the message.

nik- · 03-10-2009, 07:10 AM

I get a ton of these from my Grandmother. I don't read them, but it doesn't bother me that she sends them since it's just an email and it's not affecting my day.

I'm just happy that she's getting some enjoyment from the internet.

SebC · 03-10-2009, 07:13 AM

Yep, that would be Mom.

Maritime Q-Scout · 03-10-2009, 07:51 AM

My dad did that to me once. It was one of those e-mail forwards about a new drug on the playground. I told him the e-mail was a fraud, picked it apart, then sent him the link to snopes, and that particular story.

I haven't had an e-mail forward from him since, haha.

CaptainCrunch · 03-10-2009, 08:12 AM

My dad does it to me, mostly with political stuff. If you guys think I'm on the right side of the spectrum, the old man is even more old school.

jtfrogger · 03-10-2009, 08:27 AM

I think that this is common from anyone that is new to the internet, regardless of age. I get this from preteens that just got email accounts as well as from older people. When I was in university and the internet was brand new, I got it from all of my friends that were new to the internet. My mom did it a couple of times, but learned quickly. I think it took my sister a little bit longer.

If they are jokes, I just just ignore them. If they are the hoax emails, I usually do a reply all with the link to the Snopes article and politely ask everyone not to forward it any longer.

bigtmac19 · 03-10-2009, 08:36 AM

I get this too, always from people older than me.

Phaneuf3 · 03-10-2009, 08:36 AM

send them to 4chan. Lots of jokes there. They'll probably stop e-mailing you (or talking to you altogether) after that.

Sample00 · 03-10-2009, 08:38 AM

I've done this
3 different times and every time within a 1/2 hour
my wish comes
true!!!
&
My best friend did this an wished for a promotion and she got the call
this morning and she got a promotion!!!

I'm SO sorry about this, but I had to keep it going. The last time I
sent this exact e-mail out, I got a new job and now I'm superstitious.

Start thinking something you really really want, cause this is
astounding.. the person that sent this to me said their wish came
true ! 10 mins after they read the mail so I thought what the heck.

****
******
*******
******
******
**********
( , )( , )
^
*.....*
YOU HAVE JUS T BEEN VISITED BY DR. SUESS'S CAT IN THE HAT.
He will
grant you one wish.

3 Justin 3 · 03-10-2009, 08:44 AM

My Grandpa sends me about 3-5 a day. The odd one is pretty good, and sometimes he actually sends me an actual message, but if it makes him happy, I don't mind.

My younger cousin is a different story, she is only 12 so she sends me all those "if you don't send this to "x amount of people" you will not fall in love, or die, etc." those are annoying.

troutman · 03-10-2009, 08:56 AM

Define "old".

habernac · 03-10-2009, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by troutman

Define "old".

LOL! I was going to post the same thing.

mykalberta · 03-10-2009, 09:13 AM

Ban them, damn geezers.

Old is defined as... If you spend more time in the hot tub+sauna than you do working out at the gym, then you are old.

Rathji · 03-10-2009, 09:20 AM

My mom and grandma used to send me these. I sat them down and said:

"Look, I don't care how much you send me, I don't care what it is, but if I do have one rule about email that comes to me if it is forwarded to you, you must not forward it to me. You must take the entire contents of the email, remove any arrows ( >>>> ) from the beginning of each line and the addresses of the 72 people who forwarded it to you. You may then send me whatever is left. If you cannot do this, then I will put your email into my spam box and that means I will never get any important email from you. This is your choice."

Now that is a lot to ask of someone who is used to just hitting 2 buttons to send this hideous (and quite useless) email to their entire contact list. Now my mother only sends me things that are worth her time to clean up. My grandmother, bless her soul, ended up in the spam box, so I only need to talk to her when my Grandpa opens an attachment on his email or deletes his entire inbox of get rich scams he bought off the internet.

llama64 · 03-10-2009, 09:22 AM

Git off of mah strings! Damned kids.

Crispy's Critter · 03-10-2009, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nik-

I get a ton of these from my Grandmother. I don't read them, but it doesn't bother me that she sends them since it's just an email and it's not affecting my day.

I'm just happy that she's getting some enjoyment from the internet.

That's how I feel about my dad sending me stuff. Glad he's getting the enjoyment, and it only takes a few minutes to clean them up. ( I have it set so his stuff goes into it's own folder, and I can choose to read them or not) The only thing that bothers me is when him and everyone who got it before him forward stuff as attachments. Sometimes I have to click the paper clip 10 or 15 times to get to the actual message.(not always worth the payoff of course) But other than that no big deal.