[SallyintNorth]

I have just received one of those 'life-affirming' emails, at the end of which I am urged to pass this letter on to all of my friends.  If I do so I shall enjoy good luck; the more friends I send it to, the more good luck I will enjoy.  Nothing wrong with that, perhaps, except that this one, as some do, threatens me with bad luck if I do not pass it on. 

This is my response.

Dear Friend

Thanks for the nice thoughts and I unreservedly send them back to you.

But please do not ever again send me anything with a threat of bad luck in it.  I really do not like the feeling of having to decide whether I am prepared to make any of my friends feel like I do right now. I never am prepared to do that, so I have to absorb the risk of the bad luck myself. 

I once had a handwritten chain letter with this sort of a threat in it and would not pass that on to my friends.  I was so upset I contacted the police, who were sympathetic but not prepared to do anything.  That year I sprained my ankle badly and it's never been completely right since.  And my 10-year old bitch developed an aggressive cancer in her leg which resulted in her being put to sleep.

I know you would have thought only nice thoughts as you sent this on to me and I apologise for any bad feeling my response has caused.  I wish you all the good luck in the world for the next week, month, year and the rest of your life!

My very best wishes
Sally

[Bionic]

Sally,
I received an email from a friend recently wishing me good luck and urging me to pass on to 4 other friends.  Apparently when the 4 friends respond you then get your good luck.  I don't think there was any mention of bad luck but nonetheless I haven't passed it on.  I have a real aversion to chain letters/emails.

Well done to you for responding in the way that you did.

Sally

[deepinthewoods]

sally (s)
your too polite, i would tell em to luck off!

[Old Shep]

Proper friends wouldn't even send these emails!  I spot them and don't even read them - just delete!!  Then I don't know what has been promised or threatened 

[YorkshireLass]

If they are the "your wish will come true if you forward" type, then one could "wish" for something horrible then delete. Ha!

I hope your response is enough to make the sender stop and think - too many people just pass it on without really thinking about it.

[robert waddell]

and this is national friendship week              if it were not for bad luck there would be no luck at all

[Rosemary]

I just delete them - always have and I'm one of the most fortunate people in the world, IMHO 

[doganjo]

I do read them, but don't think I could have had much worse bad luck than losing two husbands so just delete them!   All they do is clog up the Internet and it will eventually grind to a halt! 

[ellied]

I used to get so upset about these emails that I sent replies similar to yours - some folk got upset that I thought they intended what they had sent me and some were too scared not to forward it - that about says it all really

I now just delete them and if someone keeps sending then I do a similar reply but if they don't like it I just block them as a sender cos frankly life is way too short to have friends like that

I also don't like cute photos of puppies or chimps or sunsets, angels or wise quotes of the day   Sadly it seems most of the people I know think these are wonderful ways of keeping in touch without actually making any personal contact whatsoever - hence I have few real friends by my reckoning but better that than joining them in the rounds of rubbish forwarding

[doganjo]

oops, I think I forwarded some cute photos to you once, Ellie - my apologies!   Won't do it again, promise!

[jaykay]

Good reply Sally.
Yes, not nice to have been threatened with bad luck, especially when some serious bad luck seems to have come your way after the last one 
I just delete them too - maybe that's my mistake.......

[Brucklay]

Glad you all delete them - I do too and it's my silly sister that sends them (I do love her but...) I don't like the idea of pressuring someone else to post this rubbish on - and I am stupidly superstitious so I don't like it

[Sylvia]

Forward to ten friends they say. I haven't got ten friends Anyone worried about not sending these ridiculous things on, send them to me and I'll delete them. (lookfar@blueyonder.co.uk)