Chain letters can be like wishes in the dark. They can prey on lonely people who are going through a hard time and want a magic answer. (Shutterstock.com)

Chained to superstitions?

Or are you a “chain wrecker,” willing to risk years of bad luck, or even a painful death?

Love them or hate them, “forward or else” chain letters often evoke annoyance, dismay and even dread with dire warnings that something terrible will happen if you break the chain or promises of good luck if you comply.

Spam and scams spread on screens, clogging in-boxes, blogs and social sites.

“Gone are the days of using a chain letter to share recipes, medicinal cures, letters and speeches. The ‘well-intentioned’ chain letter is now a manipulative email chain that leaves recipients fearful of chain humiliation,” says Toronto therapist Deborah Mecklinger, who bucks the chain gang.

Refuse to press send and “will the sender and all my colleagues be at risk of misfortune? Will the 20 willing participants now not win their millions because I refuse to be organized into a mass response that goes on to torture those that trust me with their email address?”

She adds: “Call me a chain letter rebel and send me to email chain hell - but don’t send me an email chain.”

Breaking the chain of fools isn’t easy. According to chain mail expert John Ratliff, founder of breakthechain.org, “the simplicity principle is the key: The easier it is to do something, the more likely we are to comply. Let’s face it, most people can get passionate about a cause if all they have to do is hit the ‘forward’ button and choose names from their address book.”

It’s all about viral messaging today – evolving from the old fashioned pen-and-paper type, to the fax chain letters of the 1980s, to the e-mail chain letter and, most recently, the chain blog/social media post, says Ratliff. “Many of my readers express frustration that all they ever get from some friends and relatives are bogus virus warnings and political rants.”

Dr. Judith Orloff says that chain letters are a way of creating a community by passing messages on to friends, family and an extended community of people who may not even know one another. Some chain letters are innocent, others a hex.

“Chain letters may uplift people’s spirits because life can be so challenging at times that any promise of good luck, love or happiness is very appealing to people,” says Orloff, author of Emotional Freedom.

“Chain letters can be like wishes in the dark. They can prey on lonely people who are going through a hard time and want a magic answer.” 


If you’re inundated with junk, it’s your own fault: “The more junk you send, the more junk you get,” says Ratliff. “That has been one of the guiding principles of BreakTheChain.org since it started. Basically, sending and receiving e-mail chain letters puts your name and e-mail address, as well as those of your friends and family members, out in the public for anyone to collect and use as they please.

“I have received chain letters from folks that have contained, literally, thousands of e-mail addresses in the headers… contacts that would be worth a few bucks to a spammer. When these chains get posted, unchanged, to an online message board, you start to see the problem,” says Ratliff, whose site celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, and catalogs approximately 650 chain letters.

Meanwhile, asks Mecklinger, “How many people want to actually carry the chain on versus the fear of being the one who breaks the chain?”

She points out that the people who are sent the chain mail are often listed so the “chain wrecker” is up for public exposure! “Having said that, the only thing worse than breaking a chain is making it work - and thus resulting in my name as ‘email chain compliant’.”

Make it stop

Chain letters impose on the appropriate boundaries of cyber space and are an intrusion, says Dr. Judy Orloff. “Mark them as spam and delete them. Or you can respond to ‘reply all’ and ask people not to send them anymore.” 
It’s your right not to respond to chain letter, she stresses. “It is healthy boundary setting to know that it is appropriate not to respond if they don’t feel right. You need to trust your intuition and not feel guilty if you delete them,” she adds.

According to Dr. Rick Kirschner, “the only way they can invade your privacy is if you believe them and forward them. I think of this type of mail as a hoax… It’s viral email, no question about it, because there are always going to be at least a few people who will go for it and thus keep it going.”

Kirschner, of theartofchange.com, often returns them with the words, “Please don’t send this kind of thing to me. No virus warnings or petitions, either. Thanks! Call if you want to know my reasons.”

The author and speaker says, “Nobody has ever called after getting that message from me, but I have stopped receiving such mailings from numerous people.” t