In a message dated 12/14/2002 3:03:05 AM Mountain Standard Time, NJ-MEMORIES-D-request@rootsweb.com writes: > I'm a firm believer in that delete key also. That and being selective > as to what I answer keep my 200+ e-mails at bay. > Just to fill you in . . . I do use the delete key on spam and stuff from unknown sources as well as anything I know I don't want. The problem with forwards from friends is that first of all, most of them send really good material, especially inspirational material that happens to be sent right at the time when I need it (or when another friend needs it -- many of you have commented that something I forwarded to you was just what you needed at that time, and you wouldn't have gotten it if I'd deleted it without reading it); and second, many of them also append family or friendship news or prayer requests (which I really don't want to miss) to forwards that they send to me. If I indiscriminately delete every item that says "Fwd" in the subject, I'm risking missing something really important. In fact, I've already had that happen several times -- and later on I'd find out that there was something I really needed to know in that e-mail along with the forward. The only way I can be sure not to have that happen is to open each and every item that friends send to me. I figure, though, that if I ask friends to please limit their forwards to one a day, they'll understand and pick the very best one and add their news or prayer requests to that one. That can cut my mail volume by close to half and get it to within manageable levels. I've been sent a few e-mails that have implied that there must be some problem with me, since the writers hold down full-time jobs and still manage to handle their e-mail volume. Actually, there is a problem with me . . . I have Attention Deficit Disorder. What that means is that because of my high level of distractibility, (1) ordinary chores, like household stuff, take me twice as long as they would for a "normal" person; and (2) the same e-mail note that might take you five or ten minutes to dash off could take me a half hour or more. A detailed one can easily take over an hour. Some of you have already gotten e-mails from me that took you probably five minutes to read but me an hour and a half to write. This one that I'm writing right now, I started thirty minutes ago, and I caught my mind wandering several times through it. Hopefully you'll understand where I'm coming from and try to keep your mail to me strictly limited. The only alternatives that I'd have otherwise would be to drop the list entirely (I've already done that once, and I found out that I missed people too much to stay off) or to change my e-mail address and give it only to very special people, and I don't want to do either -- and I don't think that you want me to do that, either. Doris in Colorado (Up2Nutrix@aol.com) "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." -- Jim Elliot, missionary and martyr