Email Ethics

[seayakin]

How many chances do you give a relative who sends you christian conservative clap trap before simply blocking/ignoring all their emails? (This is assuming you told them you don't want to see this stuff.)

[Blackadder]

If you do still get some mail from them that you value and don;t want to lose contact you can do this:

I would make a filter first. you can do something like this:

If <From said relative> contains <xxxxx> or <yyyyy> or <zzzzz> THEN Mark as spam / delelte / reply.......

For this to work you have to figure out if the unwanted mails contain any xxxxx yyyy or zzzz's that other mails from that person would not contain. Let me know if you need detailed help I can do it in Mozilaa Thunderbird and Microsoft Outlook

[Skeptical Greg]

The delete function is quick and easy .....

[Dunstan]

The delete function is quick and easy .....

So is signing said relative up for porn mailing lists.

Seriously, I have a hard time fathoming what goes through people's minds sometimes. The first time, before the recipient has objected, is understandable -- maybe they misjudged you, maybe they're simply the type the assumes everyone they know shares their religion/politics/whatever.

To repeatedly send someone emails that they've said they don't want, whatever the subject, is obnoxious. If I were you, I would use an escalating set of responses:

1. "Please don't send me stuff like this; I'm not interested."
2. "Please take me off your bulk email list. I already asked you once."
3. Reply to all recipients with (depending on the nature of the email and your inclination) a sarcastic remark, a link to a debunking site, or a counter-argument. Conclude by noting that you assume the sender must have wanted to engage in an argument with you, since you've told her twice that you're not interested in receiving this stuff. (The irritation from the other email recipients over being dragged into an online debate they didn't ask for should help shame your relative.)
4. Repeat #3 with increasing vitriol and/or wordiness until you've reached the limit of time, energy, or nastiness you're willing to expend.
5. "I'm just going to block all of your email as spam."

[Stimpson J. Cat]

Nothing is going through their minds at all. It isn't like they are thinking "Should I send this religious propaganda to Bob? Sure, Bob's an atheist, and he's told me repeatedly that he doesn't want to recieve stuff like this. But maybe this one will convince him and save his soul?"

Unfortunately, what really goes through their minds is more like this: " Wow. This is really great. I'm going to forward this to my friends and families so they can see it too."

At which point they simply forward it to their entire mailing list, without it ever even entering their minds that some of the people on their mailing list have requested not to be forwarded crap like that.

I get forwarded junk like this from my religious family members all the time. It's not so much that they are ignoring my repeated requests to not recieve it. They just don't stop and think before impulsively forwarding something they like to everybody in their list.

Dr. Stupid

[TheDaver]

So is signing said relative up for porn mailing lists.

Seriously, I have a hard time fathoming what goes through people's minds sometimes. The first time, before the recipient has objected, is understandable -- maybe they misjudged you, maybe they're simply the type the assumes everyone they know shares their religion/politics/whatever.

To repeatedly send someone emails that they've said they don't want, whatever the subject, is obnoxious. If I were you, I would use an escalating set of responses:

1. "Please don't send me stuff like this; I'm not interested."
2. "Please take me off your bulk email list. I already asked you once."
3. Reply to all recipients with (depending on the nature of the email and your inclination) a sarcastic remark, a link to a debunking site, or a counter-argument. Conclude by noting that you assume the sender must have wanted to engage in an argument with you, since you've told her twice that you're not interested in receiving this stuff. (The irritation from the other email recipients over being dragged into an online debate they didn't ask for should help shame your relative.)
4. Repeat #3 with increasing vitriol and/or wordiness until you've reached the limit of time, energy, or nastiness you're willing to expend.
5. "I'm just going to block all of your email as spam."
You forgot
6. File a complaint with the police for harassment.

[AndyD]

Consider it a joke email and have a good laugh.

[Dunstan]

You forgot
6. File a complaint with the police for harassment.

Meh. Seems a little disproportionate to me. Unless they're sending you multiple emails a day in a way that evades your spam filter, it hardly seems like a police matter -- I think they'd laugh at you.

I think Stimpson is right in most cases -- these people just have a bulk email list, and they send anything that tickles them to everyone on it without thinking. So all you really need to do is make enough noise that they delete you from that list.

[Furi]

Set up your news client with their email address, and do some posts in alt.test

[Bull13]

I don't block the mail. I usually need a good laugh

[Zax63]

How about replying with the pdf of Kissing Hank's Butt. Link at the bottom of this page (http://www.jhuger.com/kisshankbutt/). Might be too subtle.

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

At which point they simply forward it to their entire mailing list, without it ever even entering their minds that some of the people on their mailing list have requested not to be forwarded crap like that.
Or, in other cases, without it ever entering their minds that Snopes should be consulted first.

~~ Paul

[AndyD]

Or just let him/her know you've added them to YOUR informative mailing list - then send regular updates of almost everything posted at Pharyngula.

When they eventually ask you not to send the stuff any more, you have a starting point for useful discussion regarding your own frustration.

[Miss_Kitt]

Been there, done that. If they don't get it after 3 polite requests, just hit the Delete.
Or, yeah, replying to all with the Snopes or another rebuttal link may do it.