Forwarding Other People's E-mails

[Sierra]

Should you ask the sender's permission first? This is not in the workplace, but private emails.

 

We now have an ugly situation because the recipient of an email forwarded it to another family member. It wasn't gossip, but something that if we had wanted that person to know, we would have told this other family member ourselves. There is a good reason why we didn't.

 

Personally, I pride myself on my ability to keep my mouth shut when necessary and can't understand why some people put everything on Facebook. The people involved are not teenagers, they are all mature adults.

[Top Cats Hat]

Anything sent from a postcard to a letter to an email becomes the property of the recipient, therefore the way I would look at it is 'once I send this, I no longer have any control over who ends up seeing it so do I really want to send it?'

[Sierra]

Anything sent from a postcard to a letter to an email becomes the property of the recipient, therefore the way I would look at it is 'once I send this, I no longer have any control over who ends up seeing it so do I really want to send it?'

 

This very sentiment occurred to me, my mistake was assuming I could trust my own father.

[ECCOnoob]

Unfortunately unless there was some clearly defined agreement that the contents were strictly confidential there is very little you can do.

 

Your father has not forwarded "other people's emails". He was the recipient and party to the email. He was the correctly intended receiver and once in his possession is freely able to do what he liked with it.

 

Maybe he had good reason to forward it. That's a matter for you and him. Nobody knows the circumstances and you can only provide one side of the story which makes it impossible for anyone to give a reasoned opinion.

 

As others have said, once you have sent it its out of your control.

 

Ultimately, you should never put anything down in writing that you might not want someone else to see unless you are very careful how you handle it, store it or transmit it.

[Sierra]

I suppose I'm just more disappointed that instead of being supportive and expressing his concern, he chooses to run his mouth instead.

[Ontarian1981]

So many people put their foot in their mouths when using e-mails and social media outlets like facebook and twitter to vent their anger or disdain only to backtrack and apologise when it's too late. They have made themselves look complete fools or worse, they lose their jobs and their friends and family member's trust. I wonder just how many people, worldwide, have pressed the send or submit key and lived to regret it.

[Sierra]

So many people put their foot in their mouths when using e-mails and social media outlets like facebook and twitter to vent their anger or disdain only to backtrack and apologise when it's too late. They have made themselves look complete fools or worse, they lose their jobs and their friends and family member's trust. I wonder just how many people, worldwide, have pressed the send or submit key and lived to regret it.

 

True story: my husband's aunt passed away. Very nice lady. One of her daughters (my husband's cousin) put it on Facebook. Her father, a very private man asked her to take it down. He had people calling him and wasn't up to dealing with all that yet.

 

She refused. When asked why, as her father had specifically asked her to please remove it, she replied that "it's important for other people to know how I feel!" Cousin is 54 years old.

[Top Cats Hat]

One of her daughters (my husband's cousin) put it on Facebook. Her father, a very private man asked her to take it down. He had people calling him and wasn't up to dealing with all that yet

 

This is slightly more complicated as the person complaining has played no part in the posting of this information publicly.

 

There definitely seems to be a growing acceptance that people have the right to post anything on facebook including information and photographs of people who have definitely not given their consent.

[Jeffrey Shaw]

So many people put their foot in their mouths when using e-mails and social media outlets like facebook and twitter to vent their anger or disdain only to backtrack and apologise when it's too late. They have made themselves look complete fools or worse, they lose their jobs and their friends and family member's trust. I wonder just how many people, worldwide, have pressed the send or submit key and lived to regret it.

I agree. Maybe there should be a compulsory cooling-off period of ten minutes before anything prepared for posting electronically is actually sent.

[Top Cats Hat]

I agree. Maybe there should be a compulsory cooling-off period of ten minutes before anything prepared for posting electronically is actually sent.

 

I believe there are apps that put electronic communications into a digital 'drunk tank' at a pre-assigned time at night and won't send them until they have been reviewed later.