The Best Way to Say “Stop Forwarding!”

What is a nice way of telling someone to stop forwarding all those silly emails? You’ll see articles and posts addressing that question on my site and here on my Blog. Why? Because I get asked this daily. I used to have a “Send a Dose of Netiquette” feature where onliners could inform others anonymously to stop forwarding emails. I’ve seen other such services pop up since I removed mine.

The reason I removed my “Dose” feature was because it really didn’t solve anything. Does anonymously telling someone to stop doing something solve the problem? In most cases it does not. What needs to be done here, in lieu of sending anonymous e-mails that scold instead of inform, is to communicate with others in a kind and helpful way. Therein lies the rub…

Unfortunately, in my experience and that of many who write to me, no matter how nice you are, it won’t be nice enough to avoid having the offender get mad or feel as though their efforts were not appreciated. They think they are being thoughtful and by asking them to stop, well… There just doesn’t seem to be a “nice” way — a truthful way, now that’s another answer.

So, we are back to where we started. In running my Dose feature for over a decade it was clear it didn’t work; nor did the recipients appreciate being corrected without knowing who was doing the correcting. So they blamed me. Folks clearly did not embrace being told anonymously what to do. Why should they? They don’t know who sent it to them (so the Dose carried no weight with them) and in more cases than not folks became belligerent and continued their incorrect behavior.

To help onliners out, I have my article “5 Rules for Forwarding” to help to educate forwarders on proper practices. Then, there is also my article How Do I Ask Them to Stop Forwarding All Those Silly Emails? that you can send folks to and let me be the bad guy.

All you have to do is point them “nicely” to my articles and say something to the effect,

I found this site and there is a bunch of good information that I didn’t know about E-mail Etiquette. I wasn’t aware of some of these guidelines myself — including about forwarding e-mail. Since you forward a lot too, I thought you might be interested as well! HTH! ;-)

In my experience, folks are always more open to new information or suggestions that they are doing something incorrectly when it is done with courtesy and good intentions. So, don’t hide behind your screen, assist others to learn what they do not yet know by being a kind voice amongst all the noise that they can count on to help them!

You do have one other option — just hit Delete.

You may also be interested in:

• Stop the E-mail Forwarding!
• “How to Nicely Ask…”
• Respecting Business E-mail Addresses
• Forwarding Other’s E-mail
• E-mail Requires Your Full Attention!