first of all — AAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!
no. sorry. still not enough. here comes a rant.
i swear by all i ever held holy or meaningful, if i get one more piece of unsolicited bullshit urban legend trash sent to me by someone i know, i’m going to drive to their house and fucking kick them in the face.
i do not like thinking anyone i know could be this stupid. not to mention rude in relation to either spamming ten pages of recipients or forwarding their addresses all over fucking creation.
NOT TO MENTION BLITHELY SENDING SHIT TO THEIR WORK ADDRESS IN A DAY WHEN MANY COMPANIES WILL FIRE YOU FOR THIS SHIT.
today, someone i know sent me yet ANOTHER version of the fucking ‘boycott gas for a day’ hoax. and they managed to hand my email address to yet another (roughly) three hundred idiots who by association are high on the list of probables for doing this to me.
my reply… which i think was rather polite all things considered:
On Mar 13, 2008, at 4:21 PM, [idiots name removed] wrote … well…. nothing, actually, he just forwarded something that was already spam forwarded to about 100 or so people to STILL ANOTHER 200 people.
First and foremost, kindly note that I am sending this via blind carbon copy, which is the respectful way to do this, as it doesn’t put people you care about on massive spam forwarding lists that they usually do not want to be part of and which, in some case, would endanger their jobs.
Secondly, if you receive this and I am in your email address list, kindly note that I simply cannot afford to receive this kind of email at my work address. If you have any care or concern for me as a working professional, please REMOVE me from this manner of mailing.
Third, if you want to understand the economics and what is actually causing these prices to remain high DESPITE the reality of falling demand (and why this idea being spammed all to heck and back simply will not work), the following links to educate yourself:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,druck-538412,00.html
http://www.dinocrat.com/archives/2008/03/01/a-few-more-points-on-oil-prices/
Fourth and finally, keeping up to date on the various and quite historical version of spam that have been floating about will insure that you, too, do not contribute to the number one reason your internet service costs continue their slow upward climb (e.g, unsolicited, unwanted, emails… be they commercial in nature [spam], or simply and reflexively sent along without any investigation [spam], or yet another 2 – 50 page header filled nightmare of the ‘latest and greatest funny thing in the universe’ [spam].
Here are a few relevant links on this (and how to avoid ticking off your geeks friends and winding up without free technical support when you want it). First, a definition for you to work with:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_an_urban_legand
Second, the place you should go before ever sending this kind of thing to someone else:
http://www.snopes.com/ (urban legends archive)
Third, the link demonstrating this particular legend/hoax/spam has been floating about since roughly 1999 so obviously it does NOT WORK.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/nogas.asp
Unless, of course, you enjoy looking foolish, in which case, feel free but please… not to me.
Thanks.
the lesson here? well i certainly fucking hope it is ‘don’t be an idiot.’ but i suspect it likely is just ‘there she goes, being all optimistic again…’
grrrrr.