I know that the recipient can forward my email to others without my knowledge with every email that I send. So even though most know that you should never forward an email sent to you to a third party without the original sender’s permission, the fact is people do it all the time.
This week I received two site visitor emails upset that someone they trusted, in this case, friends, forwarded their emails to others without their knowledge. They understandably felt betrayed.
They found out after the fact. Someone who received those emails ratted out the unscrupulous forwarder.
What You Forward and How, Speaks Volumes
Think about this…
If you forward one person’s email to another to play one against the other, that’s called being manipulative.
If you have questions for one person based on another person’s comments, type a new email with your concerns and address them to that person.
Don’t forward without the other party’s knowledge with a “See what they said?” tone. That is unless you want your trust factor to take a hit. Those you forward to will wonder if you are doing the same to them.
If you forward personal emails from one friend to another without the original sender’s permission to say, “Can you believe this?” you are not a friend—shame on you.
If you forward jokes, silly forwards, or political commentary to everyone in your address book simply because you want to — don’t. Can’t take the time to type a personal note to the person you are forwarding to because it applies specifically to them? Then don’t bother forwarding. Your contacts will appreciate this extra effort.
You will be perceived as lazy and demanding if you forward without comment. What do you think it says about a person who cannot take the time to type a Hello, add a brief instruction, and a TIA? Bossy, selfish, and discourteous?
If you forward emails that are not right for the workplace and think that putting NSFW (Not Safe For Work) in the subject takes you off the hook — it doesn’t. Doing so shows you have no respect for your job, employer, or that of whom you are sending to. Nice…
If you think those whose emails you forward will never find out, don’t count on it. Your forwards can be forwarded back to them without your knowledge. Paybacks a…
Worth the Effort
Every effort you make online or feel is unnecessary will determine what others think of you. So think very carefully about how, what, when, and who you forward to.
The topic of unwanted forwarded emails is one which I get contacted about almost daily. “Please advise a nice way of asking them to stop forwarding me all those [jokes, political commentary, feel good] emails.”
