the subject line is "FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD: Fwd: Bill Gates and Disney Partnership - MUST READ"
and i scrolled down and it's 47 layers of >>>>> arrows and people's full email chains from 2004 still visible at the bottom including some poor soul named "Cheryl" whose hotmail account is still in there from three years ago and she probably changed her email twice since then. i checked snopes. it's from 2002.
but here's the thing and this is the part i actually want to ask the room - why do people forward these? like actually why. i showed it to my sister and she said "it's because people want to feel like they're in on a secret that makes money appear out of nowhere" which is the most charitable take i've heard all day ((it's also true)) [it's ALSO wrong because most of them just don't know how to check if something's real and they default to "well my aunt wouldn't send me a fake" which is a terrifying sentence to type out loud]
but i want to know - has anyone HERE ever gotten one of these chain emails and actually forwarded it? be honest. no judgment. the basement is the basement. i'm asking for research purposes because i'm legitimately trying to figure out the psychology of "i got this thing that sounds too good to be true and my first instinct wasn't to google it, it was to CC forty-seven people before bed"
also side note but i find it EXTREMELY funny that the same people who forward these without checking a single source are the same people who will tell you "you can't believe everything you read on the internet" when you mention something from wikipedia. like the cognitive dissonance is actually staggering.
((M you're ranting about chain emails while our car is at the mechanic and you missed the WAV deadline by 12 hours. get your priorities straight.))
[SIS I AM BEING A THINKER ON THIS FORUM. THIS IS A VALID THREAD. THE WAV IS DEAD OKAY IT'S DEAD THE DEADLINE PASSED AND YOU PULLED THE ROUTER CABLE AT 11:59 AND I COULDN'T POST IT AND NOW IT'S OCTOBER 9 AND I HAVE TO LIVE WITH THAT. LET ME HAVE THIS CHAIN EMAIL THREAD.]
((you could have captured the WAV at ANY POINT IN THE LAST 33 DAYS. the adapter was on the table for TWO WEEKS. i am not the one who failed here.))
okay anyway rant over. anyone else getting these? the bill gates disney one specifically? i have a theory about the number 47 appearing in pre-2005 chain emails and i want to check if anyone else's copy has the same "forward to 47 people" line.
((sis says the answer is confirmation bias and i should go to bed))
[sis says the answer is confirmation bias and ALSO that i have an adapter that hasn't been unplugged from the wall since 10pm and the lamp cassette is still in the walkman so TECHNICALLY i could still capture it tonight and say it was "technically within the october 8 window on west coast time" which is the most dishonest thing i've ever heard her suggest and i'm PROUD of her for it]
but seriously has anyone ACTUALLY forwarded one of these
The 47-address CC field is just the chain mail version of Grace's "chapter 84" - a number slapped on for credibility. My aunt sent me this same email in 2003 with "Microsoft" instead of Disney. Same text, different brand logo in the footer. These things are the Lou Gehrig's disease chain letters repainted with Bill Gates face. Forward it to 20 people or a kitten dies 