This has nothing to do with language, but since I'm not the first to bring up a thread that has to do with other aspects of modern-day life, I feel OK to indulge in a little rant here:

How many of you have received 'The Dalai Lama's 19 maxims for a good life in the new millennium'? (or titles to that effect...) I have gotten 6 of these E-mails in as many days. I'd received this once before, maybe a year ago, and thought it was pretty good. But now I'm getting them as part of group mails from people I don't even know , I guess because some have been couched as threatening chain-letters (don't think his holiness would be pleased.)

I guess what bothers me the most about this is that so many folks have not learned to use the blind c/c option when sending group mails, so my E-mail address is apparent to everyone else on the list (and vice-versa).

I'd like to find an E-mail "netiquette" site I could just zap to thse people - especially the ones who send those stupid urban legends and virus warnings without researching their validity first (I do have a site for that: http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/library/blhoax.htm?pid=2733&cob=home)

Thank you for your indulgence. End of rant.

AnnaS, some here hate the word, but this looks like a good general purpose netiquette link, one that you could quote from perhaps. http://www.albion.com/netiquette/book/index.html

Anna

This annoys me too. I got one e-mail, specifically forwarded because of the interesting e-mail addresses it contained. I'd rather that mine was not passed around so liberally.

I seem to get very few of these things these days, I think it is going out of fashion to forward e-mails endlessly. Either that, or no-one likes me any more!

Anna, this is part of a site that sounds really helpful to people not very familiar with the internet. I really need to take the time to read it all, myself, but a certain
bulletin board tends to occupy my on-line time.

This page from that site may not be all that helpful for your specific problem, but you never know, so:
http://www.ker95.com/internet101/html/spam.html

This may not be a solution, but it is a panacea. If you are using M$ Outlook as your email program you can download a patch for it (an inbox assistant) which allows you to deal with known incoming email. Exchange Server has it built in, but the clients that you and I use don't. You can set up rules which can be triggered to simply delete email from unwanted senders, or to delete emails with certain words in the subject field or any one of a number of other criteria.

You can find it for Outlook 97 at http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/downloadDetails/ruleswiz.htm?FinishURL=/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseID=18098&redirect=no.

I bet Netscape, Pegasus Mail and the others have something similar.

Alternately, you can learn how to flame (send huge amounts of unwanted and meaningless emails over a period of time) an email address, but that can get you into trouble with the Man!

In reply to:

---

Pegasus Mail and the others have something similar.

---

The outstanding Pegasus (sourced in your turangawaewae, CapK) does have very good filtering options. I don't use them, as I use its selective download feature instead. I check the headers of my email before downloading them from the server, and delete spam straight off my ISP's server, so that it never even clutters up my own trashbox.

> The Dalai Lama's 19 maxims for a good life in the new millennium'? (or titles to that effect...) I have gotten 6 of these E-mails in as many days.

The Dalai Lama himself received these messages - 9 of maxims were news to him.

so many folks have not learned to use the blind c/c option when sending group mails, so my E-mail address is apparent to everyone else on the list (and vice-versa).

(Dear AnnaStrophic,
Oh, Oh, Oh, please tell me how to do this and whether it works in Outlook Express?
(Eternally grateful emoticon)
I have learned that in forwarding I can erase previous addresses and generally clean up the copy. Even though it is time consuming for me I feel it is only polite to do the clean up for the person whose privacy I am invading by forwarding stuff. One must have respect for the other person's time, too, n'est ce pas?

wow

Thanks, guys, for the spam filter info, though that's not really my problem. This has hardly ever happened to me, just a few times from well-meaning friends (of friends). I will check out that "netiquette" site, thanks, Max; and the site you posted, too, thanks, Jackie .

wow, I am a die-hard Mac person so I don't know from Outlook. My E-mail program has an option called "blind c/c," whence I learned the term. It might be called something else in Gatesville. If you don't see something like that, your option might be to create a group mailing list and then send the E-mail to yourself to preserve the others' privacy... not sure about that, though. But there are lots of folks here to help you.
Bravo to you for cleaning up forwards before sending them on. You and I must be among the 100th of 1 percent who do so. It's only courteous.

The Dalai Lama himself received these messages - 9 of maxims were news to him.

Avy, you jest, eh?

Wow, for reasons best known unto their deranged selves, the goons who foisted Offal Express upon the world hid the BCC option. Here's the relevant passage from the "help" files
To send an e-mail message
On the toolbar, click the New Mail button.

In the To and/or Cc boxes, type the e-mail name of each recipient, separating names with a comma or semicolon ( ; ).
To add e-mail names from the Address Book, click the book icon in the New Message window next to To, Cc, and Bcc, and then select names.

To use the Bcc box, click the View menu, and then select All Headers.


In the Subject box, type a message title.

Type your message, and then click the Send button on the New Message toolbar.

I hope that helps you, and I hope that using the most insecure, virus-friendly email client ever written, doesn't create too many problems for you.

Mr Mac and I thank Max for that.

AnaaS mentioned that My E-mail program has an option called "blind c/c,"

BCC in itself is an example of how usage shifts. I was always taught that it stood for Blind Carbon Copy, but now that e-mail has become so well established, BCC is now explained as Blind Courtesy, or Blind Complimentary, Copy. Saves having to explain to one's 5 year old what carbon paper was, I guess.

I hope that using the most insecure, virus-friendly email client ever written, doesn't create too many problems for you.
Sigh!
Dear Max, Thank you . I printed your reply and will try it out. I bought the McAfee system and all I ever get from them is scary alerts every other month that they can fix for $19.95. The original program came with a "two year free update" promise. HA! Even writing to their realmail address elicited no response and there is no "contact us" option. Argggghhhh. McAfee can go fry ice for all I care. So there! (Not you, dear Max, but them.)
wow

> Avy, you jest, eh?

Yes - Jazz inspired, but it is really quite possible those messages have found their way to computers at Dharmasthala or orther tibetan settlements here.

The Dalai Lama has a good sense of humour. I heard him speak once when I was a schoolgirl.