Still Another Forwarded E-Mail Drama--I think I Was Out of Line

[Yarnspinner]

Background:  My SIL, my brother and most of our families are from the Porcupine Party but several are from the Badger Party.  I am a registered Badger at the moment, but plan to re-register as a groundhog since both the Badgers and the Porcupines irritate me.  I HATE all the forwarded political e-mails that come from both sides of the spectrum and usually just delete them.  End background.

Last night I received an e-mail forward from SIL.  It's passed through my mailbox (and been deleted) many times before.  While I know that some of the e-mail is rooted in truth, a lot of it is just hyperbole.  Trying to tell that to my sister-in-law would be a big deal, so I just delete and bean dip.

BUT, just this morning there were two new e-mail regarding the same forward, both e-mails from strangers who had (I think) deliberately chosen the "reply all" option.  One was fairly polite and just said "Please don't forward any more of this type of mail to me."  The next one said "I agree with previous letter writer..." and went on to defame the Porcupines and my SIL.

I deleted that one, too.  Then I got kind of peeved about the whole thing and called back the e-mails and sent the two of them a short e-mail that went like this:

I totally promise not to ever send you anything like this since I haven't got a clue who either one of you are and you don't know me.  For myself, I do agree that this kind of e-mail is suspect and shouldn't be forwarded to whole lists.   I also believe that replies to these items shouldn't be forwarded to the whole list, either.  So, in future, when my beloved sister in law sends you an e-mail, do you think you could just reply to her?  Otherwise you involve and insult the whole list and that's never a good thing.

Now that I have thought about it, I am wondering if I should apologize or just let it go.  I really don't know these people, but I can't believe the replies weren't calculated to insult everyone else on the list.  The group my SIL hangs with are very bright, savvy people, so I don't believe for a second that these guys just accidentally hit "reply all".  Should I let SIL know what I did?

Drama...it just keeps on giving.

[Morticia]

I don't think you were out of line, and I especially don't think you would be out of line to teach your SIL the usefulness of "BCC".

[Genna]

Apologize because you told people to stop forwarding email to you that you do not agree with or have interest in receiving.  No way should you apologize for standing up for yourself.  What you wrote was fine.

[Ender]

I don't think you were really rude, but I do think you should let it go from this point on (even if they respond!). No need to tell SIL.

As far as your SIL, would it cause drama to reply with a link to Snopes?  

[Yarnspinner]

I don't think you were out of line, and I especially don't think you would be out of line to teach your SIL the usefulness of "BCC".

That's the part that kills me...she KNOWS how to use a computer!  I am continually stunned by people who insist on using the CC and including the names of everyone they have ever known in a list.

[Yarnspinner]

I don't think you were really rude, but I do think you should let it go from this point on (even if they respond!). No need to tell SIL.

As far as your SIL, would it cause drama to reply with a link to Snopes? 

Well, it would cause drama in the sense that, if I ever want to spend time with them again, I may not want to do it.     Sis does not take correction, however gentle, well.

[Winterlight]

I think it's acceptable to tell them to knock it off. I don't think you were rude.

[Hanna]

I do not think you were rude; they opened up the conversation by emailing you in the first place.

[O'Dell]

I don't think you were out of line, and I especially don't think you would be out of line to teach your SIL the usefulness of "BCC".

This. Not rude and BCC FTW!!1!

If getting her to use BCC isn't an option, then ask her to take you off the list of people that she sends stuff like that to. You can now use that you're getting emails from strangers and you want your email address to be private as an excuse. A mighty good excuse IMO.