Sebbie on the Webbie

Posts Tagged ‘email’

On Facebook, you can search for people you know through your web based email address book (such as Gmail). You can then send a friend request or invitation to all people or selected people on that address book. If the person is a member, a request is sent to add them to your friends list. If not, the information is stored until that person joins, when a friend request is automatically sent to the person. That is why so many people find you so fast when you join. There is one negative about this though. You don’t necessarily want to have all these people on your friends list.

A simple way to avoid this without going to technical details about privacy settings and the sort is simply use an email address you wouldn’t normally use – create a new one for Facebook only if you want to. Then YOU can go around looking for people YOU want to add and not be ambushed by your bosses ex-wife’s crazy cousin.

Clearly if people will search for you using your name they will find you by default, but it is fairly unlikely your bosses ex-wife’s crazy cousin will be searching for you like that. By the time she finds you, you have learned that it’s okay to decline a friendship invitation and it won’t be such a big deal any more.

Did you know that most heart breaking emails that you get are hoaxes? Kids gone missing, presidents thrown out of their legal position, kittens stuck into a jar and the sort, they’re all a load of bull. Even if you can’t possibly imagine why someone would send a hoax like that, check it. It’s very likely that it’s a college boy’s prank. It’s VERY EASY to find out whether or not you should forward the email by copying a section of the email (names are good) and searching it through Google. Chances are that it’s a hoax and listed in one of the hoax-busting websites. If it’s genuine, you’ll probably find news articles about it or blogs or something, I don’t know, because I’ve yet to receive a genuine one.

I am surprised every time I get a forwarded email that is so clearly a hoax that it could have been written on it: “This is a hoax, but read the story, it’s so heart wrenching that you just HAVE TO forward.” Do you remember Bonzai-kittens? Did you know they were a hoax played by a bunch of students? Did you forward it? Did you get outraged? Chances are you did. Oh boy you are not alone. The amount of children waiting to die of cancer in your email is staggering. African presidents transferring their money out of the country and somehow they trust you to help, a random email reader. Of course, you wouldn’t want to turn your back on anyone in need, whether they walk on 4 feet or two. So how do you know it is a hoax? Read the rest of this entry »