All would agree, I’m sure, to delete the message.

All would agree that one should notify the sender with correction documentation.

The disagreement is solely whether one should notify the sender only, or everyone on the distribution list. I firmly advocate notifying the sender first, and give him or her a chance to correct the email, instead of correcting en masse for two reasons:

1) It is much less embarrassing to the sender, and good relations and people take priority over stopping e-junk (which most people recognize immediately).
2) You risk you reputation not only with the sender, but with all those who receive the correction. There are likely people in that distribution list, like me, who are offended by a public correction.

In many seminars, listening to many business people, I’ve heard this echoed. I do not recommend a public correction to all recipients. The value of one’s reputation and the good will of the email chain outweigh the annoyance of e-junk.

Your analogy to falling on ice in public is so well expressed, but give the sender an opportunity to right themselves, so they don’t need to climb back up. It is better for them and for you, too.

I do see and accept your point that it’s very important to be careful when correcting co-workers. And unfortunately, you are right about personalities. However, in all my years of correcting e-junk, only one person has reacted negatively.

If I do happen to offend someone by correcting e-junk, I’d want to know. That way I’d have a chance to apologize for any hurt feelings, explain why I did what I did, and gently remind him/her to please verify the information before uncritically passing it to the next person.

I don’t see my reputation as being damaged when I send out a correction. If a person knows where to look, it only takes a short time to verify whether that e-mail is worth forwarding. If the person isn’t aware of urban legends and how to spot them (and there was a time when I fit into this category), then being corrected is a chance to learn so he/she doesn’t make that mistake in the future.

For me, sending out an e-hoax/rumor/urban legend is the Internet equivalent of yelling “Fire!” in a room full of people. Do I want to discretely tell the person it’s a false alarm and hope he/she corrects the mistake? Or do I want to yell, “False alarm!” at the top of my lungs to prevent a stampede? At that point my reputation isn’t as important as getting the truth out to as many people as possible.

I can see from your examples that some people have been hurt by corrections, but anyone can make a mistake, and mistakes committed in ignorance should be easily forgiven. I don’t see it any differently than falling on the ice in public: Yes, it can be temporarily embarrassing. However, the mature bystanders will either quickly forget about it or walk more carefully so they don’t slip, too. Meanwhile (barring any serious injury), you just get up, brush yourself off and move on. If that’s not the case, then I would bet the person is dealing with some relational and/or personal issue, in which case the consequences resulting from being corrected may be a symptom of a much deeper problem.

Sending e-junk is a breach of e-mail etiquette. It would be helpful if netiquette experts could get together and develop a protocol to help us properly deal with it. It’s one thing to say, “Don’t do it.” Dealing with it after it lands in the in-box, is another matter altogether. RIght now, the most common responses seem to be: Delete the message; Correct the sender only; or Correct everybody via “Reply to All.” Hopefully the netiquette experts can come to a better consensus someday.

Thank you for showing me a different side to this issue.

Consider audience perception (always in business writing). While your response is not at all intended as a personal attack, it may be perceived as that, depending on the personalities and who’s on the email distribution list.

I worked with a client who mistrusted a colleague who publicly corrected his email error, since their mutual boss was part of the message. Another client shared that she was “shamed in front of my mother” when someone publicly corrected her email.

Give a writer a chance to correct an error, and if they don’t, then correct it. E-junk is a nuisance, but not worth risking your reputation to stop it.

However, always make an immediate correction if time of is the essence for a work project.