The Best Way to Say “Stop Forwarding!”

What is a nice way of telling someone to stop forwarding all those silly emails?

I’ve got a bunch of posts addressing that question on my site and here on my Blog. Why? Because I get asked this question all the time! Three times just this week!

Sadly in my experience, 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!

Stop Forwarding Tips

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 NetManners.com 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 email. Since you forward a lot too, I thought you might be interested as well! HTH! 😉

Courtesy and Good Intentions

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. The best way to say “Stop Forwarding” is to 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.