# Chain email - what's the point? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 12, 2009, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-email-whats-the-point/496224 "2009-05-12T21:56:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-email-whats-the-point/496224/21 "2009-05-14T15:51:06Z")
Ha, what have I created here. 😃 Yes, I meant chain emails, not chain mail as in the armour. The political ones annoy me as much, but at least the motivations are obvious. Very odd that the motivation appears to be amusement for the simple-minded; don’t these people have better things to do?! If they think wasting the time of idiots is fun, TV is gonna blow their freakin’ minds. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-email-whats-the-point/496224/22 "2009-05-14T16:11:51Z")
Chain email represents a goldmine for email marketers what with all those live addresses in there ripe for the picking. You realize that your email address is worth money. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-email-whats-the-point/496224/23 "2009-05-14T16:30:28Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#): > > Chain email represents a goldmine for email marketers what with all those live addresses in there ripe for the picking. You realize that your email address is worth money. Seconded (or maybe thirded-- think someone mentioned this above). However, I can’t help but wonder about this when email first got going. There certainly wasn’t the vast quantity of spammers we have now. I imagine that when the first chains were getting passed around (on BBS accounts or the like), it was just because some wankers realized they could get their stupid chain letter passed much more easily than by mail. This probably made them orgasm just by thinking about it. I blame the wankers. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-email-whats-the-point/496224/24 "2009-05-14T17:22:30Z")
> [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](#): > > I imagine that when the first chains were getting passed around (on BBS accounts or the like), [Chain](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Chain_Letter_from_Heaven.jpg) [letters](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_letter) are much older than the internet. What the hell was the point back when you actually had to write out 20 copies (or whatever) _longhand_? And pay postage? ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-email-whats-the-point/496224/25 "2009-05-14T17:37:28Z")
> [@stpauler](#): > > A thing about misinformation is that for some if it’s repeated enough, it becomes true in their minds. The perpetrators of those emails probably used them to denounce their perceived opponent and since facts don’t work, misinformation might. Yeah, [some guy had a theory](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_lie) about that. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-email-whats-the-point/496224/26 "2009-05-15T00:49:21Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > [Chain](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Chain_Letter_from_Heaven.jpg) [letters](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_letter) are much older than the internet. Did you read the second half of the sentence you quoted from me? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-email-whats-the-point/496224/27 "2009-05-15T04:06:58Z")
> [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](#): > > Did you read the second half of the sentence you quoted from me? 😃 Yeah, sorry to imply that you were mistaken. I’m betting several of our younger posters don’t have any experience with snail mail chain letters, and that also shows why generating lists of valid email addresses can’t be the sole motivation behind them. I just wanted to make it clear that we’re not dealing with a 21st century technological phenomenon, but a centuries-old sociological one. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-email-whats-the-point/496224/28 "2009-05-15T05:43:44Z")
It’s OK, I wasn’t offended :). The chain letter from Jesus you linked to was pretty cool. Actually, come to think of it, one of those crapass young adult horror writers (uhhh… Christopher Pike) wrote a book about people getting killed after receiving a chain letter. I think it was called _Chain Letter_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chain-email-whats-the-point/496224.md?page=1)