I suppose all of us have that certain person who loves to send along random jokes all the time. When it comes to getting spam from friends, I find that it’s hard to be tactful. Sometimes I want to reply that I didn’t see the attachment and that the person is crazy to open a Powerpoint, Word, or Excel document, or even worse - some unknown executable. However, I find that the people who don’t know better than to open dangerous attachments are not going to get it, and I will be drawn into giving some lesson on the basics of internet security. At the same time, I can’t help but check out the safe things my friends pass along, because they are often funny. I appreciate a good laugh, and I am inclined to thank them for the chuckle. That’s when the problem starts. Once they realize that I’m paying attention, they send more, and they assume that I check all the stuff they send. And they ask what I thought about this or that. And then I’m stuck. Do I tell them I didn’t see that one because I only look at safe things? Then I’m back to trying to explain what safe things are.
In the end, I’ve learned to look but not to admit it. As much as I want to thank the spammer for the laugh, replying inevidably ends with me getting more and getting questions. All I wanted was a laugh.
I got a great spam the other day:
Subject: I can’t respond to any emails today…
I can’t respond to any emails today, something has crashed on my computer
and the mouse is missing.
