When I get a chain letter by e-mail, I usually reply to the sender (and sometimes also to the other recipients) to tell them that chain letters are almost the same as spam and fake virus warnings, and therefore just as bad.

Careful: Don't reply if you don't know the sender, because it might be SpamMail rather than a chain letter. If you reply to spam, you will get more spam because you confirm that your address works. If you believe that the message was sent from a real person, then you should reply.

Here's a typical reply. You can use this if you're looking for arguments, and I use it as a template so I don't have to write the whole thing again each time. Remember, if you reply to people then be polite and helpful, not rude. They passed on the message because they thought it was real. Teach them, don't tease them.

There are many good resources to identify bad chain mails:

• http://www.breakthechain.org/
• http://urbanlegends.about.com/
• http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/HBChainLetters.shtml

Hi all,
sorry to reply to all of you, but please PLEASE don't pass on the chain
letter - and if you did, send this text to the same people. I'll try to 
keep this short. (How did I get your address? It was listed in the mail 
I received. I won't use it again or give it to others, and that's a 
promise.)

Usually I only respond like this when I receive fake virus warnings 
(because they do a lot of damage and cause fear among computer novices), 
but this chain letter plays on the exact same lies and qualifies as "bad 
mail".

Folks, this chain letter is a hoax (a fake, a trick, a lie, a fraud). 
There are lots of those around, and passing them on is generally not 
good. Nothing will happen, nobody will get rich or sick or lucky or 
saved, and the only result is that the Internet will become more crowded 
with useless noise and people will continue to believe these things work.

So please, take a moment to hear me out, and think of this if you see 
more of these messages in the future.

Thank you. Here goes:

1. Why are chain letters bad?
2. How can you tell this one is bad?
3. What can I do about it?

__________________________________
1. Why are chain letters bad?

A virus is called a virus because it's annoying, spreads fast and is 
hard to stop. It also relies on people that know too little about this 
and can be fooled into spreading the virus without their knowing. Chain 
letters are just like this, so you could say that a chain letter is a 
virus itself. Stop the virus -- and the chain letter -- by learning to 
recognize it and delete these kind of messages instead of passing them 
on. Don't be fooled by them. 

Chain letters are no bit better than spam mails or fake virus warnings. 
They clutter our mailboxes, bring no benefit, and are based on false 
assumptions and lies. Granted, sometimes a chain letter can be funny or 
spread love, and I'm not opposed to those. But the chain letter I am 
responding to has no benefit -- the only effect of passing it on is to 
fill your mailbox with worthless messages. Further, when spammers get 
hold of these messages, they can extract many valid addresses from the 
headers, and you will get even more spam than you do today.

__________________________________
2. How can you tell this one is bad?

This message was easy to identify by the following characteristics.
  a) The message urges you to NOT think about it, just pass it on 
quickly, and please don't interrupt the chain. But if you DO think about 
it, you might realize that it has no value - and then you would delete 
the message.

  b) The message states that this is "for a kid's school project! This 
is for a science fair project." Remarkably, there is no background at 
all. Who? When? Why? What fair? -- And exactly how will this chain 
letter help the project if you don't send it back to the school as well?

  c) These kind of messages typically do not come from the quoted 
source, but from an individual you might or might not even know. The 
source is just mentioned to make the fake mail sound convincing. If you 
ask the alleged source (if they exist at all!), they will most likely 
deny the statement.

  d) Read more here: http://g-b.dk/mail = "Stay away from Bad Mails!"

There are many ways to expose hoaxes like this. You can search on Google 
for parts of the text, or you can visit sites that specialize in 
exposing these messages.

After a simple Google search, I found that this particular message has 
been around for a long time. For instance, here is a person describing 
it more than a year ago:
   http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_name_survey.htm
and also:
   http://www.hoax-slayer.com/first-name-chain-letter.html

Here's an article about chain letters and other hoaxes:
   http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/weekly/aa060299.htm

Here's the Google search I used:
 
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22DON%27T+ASK%2C+JUST+PLAY%22+chain+letter


__________________________________
3. What can I do about it?

It's really simple. If you get a bad chain letter like I've described 
above, then you should do two things:
a) Delete the message, don't send it on.
b) Write back to the sender (and other recipients) with a text just like 
this one. Inform the sender that it's a hoax. Be helpful and polite, not 
rude.

If you do this, you help in two ways: First, you help stop the hoax 
because you didn't pass it on. Second, you help stop the hoax because 
you educate other people that they shouldn't believe everything they see.

If you are unsure, try to find out. Search Google. Ask people whom you 
trust to know about this. Ask me - my address is below.


__________________________________
You're very welcome to e-mail me if you have any questions about any 
part of the above. I will promise you an answer.

-- 
Torben Gundtofte-Bruun..........torben(a)g-b.dk
Stay away from Bad Mails! -- http://g-b.dk/mail