I nip that crap in the bud. Anybody sends me anything like joke mass emails gets a stern reply to NEVER send me that crap again as the list of email addresses will inevitably be picked up by a spammer. I explain that if they want to send ME a joke, fine, but there had better not be any list of hundreds of other addresses with mine included.
So far, knock on wood, over a year with this email address and no spam. Nada.
I know it offends them, but they all admit they get buttloads of spam. That’s one of the main reasons they get so much spam IMHO.
Out of all the people who have gotten this warning, only one guy actually takes the time to forward jokes only to me.
I’m a complete jerk about it. Usually, it will come from a temporary administrative person across the country. It is reported directly to their boss. If it is something remotely offensive, the email is followed up with a telephone call.
In personal email, the person goes on ignore after the second email. Sorry, I don’t have time to put up with this garbage.
Being rude isn’t going to help and it’s stupid to send the information to everyone on the list. I just write back saying, “Please do not forward this type of e-mail to me again.” It usually works.
Humiliation is good in some circumstances, but has to be handled right. Our mailing list occasionally gets someone forwarded an e-mail hoax. I don’t write to the sender; I go to Snopes, get the details, and then write an e-mail contradicting what was said. Completely factual, with no comment on the sender. The sender gets embarassed without my having to say a word to him or her, and asks me before forwarding e-mail to the list.