Send This to All Your Friends, You Win Nothing!

As the technical coordinator in a rural school I field all kinds of computer related questions. My community relies on me for instruction on the proper use of technology and for technical support when a computer breaks down. Most computer issues I have no trouble solving. Tightening a loose cord and re-installing drivers fix many things. But most often the questions I hear the deal with using e-mail.

When e-mail works properly, it is a great invention! In my tiny school district we use our e-mail system to send urgent messages to others in the building, pass along helpful teaching tips, and remind our students of important events. We use it for our daily announcements, to send lunch counts to the cafeteria, and to communicate with our contacts outside of the school.

Our school receives e-mail through the K-12 Data center in Pierre. Pierre helps us to avoid many problems and resolve many of our e-mail questions. All e-mail sent through the K-12 system is scanned for viruses and the K-12 Data center has an excellent spam blocker. But even with an excellent system scanning for problems, people still have trouble with e-mail.

Much of this trouble comes from Mass e-mailings. One e-mail managed to crash the entire K-12 Data mail system when many people clicked “Reply to all” instead of “Reply.” Inboxes filled up more quickly than users could handle and the system crashed. Some of the trouble with mass e-mailing comes from spam (even the best e-mail systems can’t catch it all .) But most, I am convinced, comes from forwards.

I classify forwards into three groups: keepers, annoying, and exploding forwards. Keepers are those cute forwards that uniquely comment on life. Sometimes they contain pictures of animals or babies with cute sayings that help us to remember that wisdom truly does come out of the mouths of babes. These are the ones I keep to look at when I need encouragement. These usually don’t cause problems.

Annoying forwards are those that were amusing the first time, but the 2nd or 10th time you receive them they have lost their charm. These rarely cause problems because most folks delete them as soon as they read the subject.

Exploding forwards are those that race through the web exponential because they either promise you something, “Send this on to 10 friends and be eligible to receive a new color TV!” or threaten you, “If you delete this you will suffer 7 years of bad luck!” These types of forwards can be frustrating as well as annoying.

Guilt-tripping is what exploding forwards do best. They try to make you feel bad if you delete them without passing them on. “If you don’t send this to your entire address book today then 1,000,000 Rwandan children will starve!” they claim. “5 cents will be donated for each address this e-mail is sent to.”

But even worse than the “starving children” forwards are the “You don’t love God enough” forwards. These claim that if you don’t harass your friends with e-mail, you don’t love God. “Read only if you have time for God,” is the title of an e-mail I recently received. The e-mail then goes on to quote scripture out of context to prove that if I delete this forward without sending it, I am a wicked person who hates God.

I can’t imagine that God approves of these e-mails! God desires our love out of free will, not coercion. Our e-mailing habits are not the standard by which our faith is measured, nor are e-mail forwards our only testimony. What’s more, those who have true faith in Christ are willing to share it without guilt-tripping our friends. This is why I hesitate to pass on “Religious” forwards.

Do I have time for God? Certainly! I’m not ashamed of it, nor do I keep my faith in him hidden. However, I believe that sending on guilt-tripping forwards is not an expression of faith. It takes no courage to pass them along and the forwards that do the most good are those that contain no threat or promise.