Chain Mail

It all began with chain mail as in actual mail; letters. But in todays culture that is uncommon, it is all over the internet. Like those annoying messages that some people (you know who I am talking about) always decide to forward to everyone they even remotely know. Although amusing (and often more so when you think how actual people actually fall for this stuff) chain emails are usually a waste of time. I hate to tell you this, but I kind of am aware that even if I don't forward this mail I'm not going to die a gruesome death like all of those examples you presented. And in any case, if it does happen it will all be for science, so I can be rest assured that my death would not be in vain.

But much more common is facebook chain messages. They feature some sort of message that assures you that only a small percentage of people will stand up for what they believe and re-post this message so that more and more people are infinitely annoyed. Although some present good points, I usually avoid them mostly because of the principle of it. But there is one that I saw recently that was rather depressing

We all have at least 100 friends on Facebook, but when it comes to needing a friend how many will actually be there? I can guarantee not even 15 friends will like this status. Like this status if you will be there for me. Set this as your status to see which friends will be there for you

By itself there is nothing depressing about it, just your run-of-the-mill chain status. I expected for there to be tons of people commenting "i love u (insert name here)" (notice how I have resigned myself to the belief that the rest of the youth population on this planet do not know how to spell?). But there was not a single like. Not a single one. I think I should probably do it now, if no one else will. But really, that's just sad.

And then there are some chain statuses that parody chain statuses. And usually, these are really, really funny. One I recently re-posted was

PLEASE post this as your status if you know someone who has been eaten by Penguins. Penguins are nearly unstoppable and, when hungry, also breathe fire. 71% of people won't copy this into their status because they have already been eaten by Penguins. Another 28% won't because they are hiding in their showers with fire extinguishers awaiting the coming Penguinapocalypse. The remaining 1% are awesome and will re-post.

Now that is the exact opposite of all the other chain statuses. Really, I can't help but laugh at this one.

But chain messages on facebook are not limited to statuses. One slightly more productive method is chain notes. You answer several questions about yourself and tag a few friends. A nice side effect of this is that people get to know you better. I of course have the belief that it would be best if they, oh, I don't know, got to know you in real life. But still, I don't especially find these annoying. It is a good way for me to practice my skills as a stalker. But really, these aren't that bad. Because of the way society is set up, we can learn more about a person by simply reading a quiz than having actual conversation. Still, I have never made a not, though I was close a few times. I guess it is the whole "principle of the thing". And also the fact that many quizzes focus on love lives, and I don't care about that sort of thing. Except my companion cube.