SPRING CLEAN YOUR EMAIL LIST

I decided it was time for a spring clean of my computer and my old email address. Ferreting through my document files and my pictures, I cleared out lots of junk I had kept in case I ever used it. My old email address had been untouched for several months so in I went to clear the spam and junk. I haven’t used it for several years, but every now and again some junk or spam comes in, which I quickly delete.

So imagine my surprise when I found two emails, one two days ago and the other today, sitting in my old inbox. Not an unusual occurrence, I get quite a few, but usually to my current email address. I love the jokes and silly things that come in via my email. I have a lovely friend who sends me copious amounts of emails about all sorts of things and I love it.

What raised my eyebrows was the fact that the sender of the first email and I have never corresponded. At all. The only contact we have ever had is a few lines together in the chat room. The second email was from someone different, but again from someone I had only chatted to a few times in the chat room.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out my name and email address was included in the list of people that it was forwarded to, so the senders had just clicked on ‘send to all’, and hit their send button.
To say I was not impressed is a massive understatement. And if you are sitting reading this, saying ‘well what’s the problem with that?’ I object to my name and email address floating round in cyber space without my knowledge or permission.

If you don’t mind your neighbour getting in your letterbox and reading your mail with you, that’s fine, I object.

And to make matters worse, I gathered twenty three names and email addresses, not including mine, off just these two emails. I know have the names and addresses of people in and out of Chatters. But don’t panic, I don’t sell email addresses to spammers.

So my advice is to watch what you do when you forward emails. It is a very simple step to delete the sender before you forward an email.