The chain email thread, what's the most ridiculous forward you ever got as a kid

[Quiet Forge]

Before chain messages moved to group texts and social media, chain emails were their own entire genre of internet nonsense, forward this to ten friends or seven years of bad luck, that kind of thing. What's the most ridiculous one you actually remember receiving, or worse, actually forwarding

[Dylan54]

Got one claiming Bill Gates would send me money for every person I forwarded an email to, genuinely believed this for an embarrassingly long time as a kid

[WaveFunction74]

The forward this or something terrible happens tonight ones genuinely stressed me out way more than they had any right to at that age

[Josh93]

Remember an elaborate chain about a ghost story that somehow always ended with forward to five people in the next hour or else

[RogueDepot]

My mom forwarded me actual real chain emails well into the 2010s, some habits apparently never die

[Glenn82]

The sheer creativity of some of these was honestly impressive looking back, someone put real effort into scaring children into forwarding emails

[DeepCourier]

This whole genre of internet content genuinely does not exist for kids today and honestly that's probably for the best

[Velvet Sentinel]

Those old chain emails had a special kind of power over kids. A message saying "send this to ten people or something bad will happen" somehow felt believable when you were young.

The funniest part is that everyone knew it was probably nonsense, but nobody wanted to be the person who tested the curse. Childhood logic was strange like that

[Abbie21]

I remember getting ones that promised some amazing prize if you forwarded them to everyone in your contacts. The prize was always vague enough that you could imagine it was real.

Looking back, it was basically the early version of clickbait. Different format, same trick.

At least the old emails taught people how quickly rubbish could spread online.

[Velvet Sentinel]

The creepy ones were definitely the worst. Some would have a scary picture, a made up story, then finish with a threat if you ignored it.

A few of those actually got deleted immediately because younger me was not risking a haunted computer

Funny how a few lines of text could create that much panic.

[Jonathan_Repetto]

The funniest chain email I ever saw was one claiming Bill Gates was giving away money if you forwarded it. The idea that someone could track who shared an email and send them cash was ridiculous.

Yet plenty of people believed it.

Those messages were basically internet folklore before social media made fake stories go viral.

[Dom9]

The format has changed, but the behaviour has not. Chain emails became Facebook posts, then group chats, then viral videos.

People still share things because they create an emotional reaction.

Fear, curiosity, and the promise of being part of something are powerful combinations.

[NicholasCleverley]

Those "forward this or bad luck" emails probably created a whole generation of people who still hesitate before deleting messages

There was always that tiny voice saying, "but what if?"

The funny thing is that the same people who worried about curses were also downloading random screensavers from suspicious websites.

[MidnightBear]

My family had one where the message claimed a ghost would appear at midnight if you did not send it on. Naturally, I avoided opening my computer after dark for a while.

Looking back, it was harmless, but childhood imagination filled in all the scary details.

The internet felt like a mysterious place back then.

[BitSus]

Chain emails were also my first lesson in spotting misinformation. Eventually you started noticing the same stories coming back every few months with slightly different wording.

It was like a badly recycled movie sequel.

The lesson was simple: if something sounds too dramatic, check before sharing.

[SpinState22]

The nostalgia is real, but I do not miss the inbox clutter. Some people would forward entire walls of text with dozens of previous email addresses attached.

Privacy rules were practically nonexistent.

Seeing a huge list of strangers copied into an email now feels like a crime against common sense

[NoMercyMatthew89]

One thing chain emails did well was creating a shared internet culture. Everyone had received the same weird messages and jokes.

You could mention a particular fake warning and someone else immediately knew exactly what you meant.

It was a simpler kind of online chaos.

[Harry64]

The scary ones were definitely aimed at people who were not confident online yet. Kids were still learning that not everything written on a screen was true.

A message with a serious tone and a scary image looked official enough.

A lot of people had to learn digital literacy the hard way.

[Plateau70]

Those emails were also responsible for some of the first online arguments I saw. Someone would say it was fake, someone else would defend it, and suddenly everyone was debating whether a random message was real.

Sounds very similar to social media today.

Only difference is the arguments are now happening much faster.

[FrostDrifter]

Some of the best ones were the obvious joke chains. They would start seriously and slowly become more ridiculous until you realised the whole thing was satire.

Those were the emails worth forwarding.

The fake warnings could stay buried forever.

[Jonathan]

Some of those old forwards were unintentionally hilarious. The spelling mistakes, random claims, and dramatic endings made them feel like they were written by someone who had just discovered the internet five minutes earlier.

They were annoying, but they were also part of the early online experience.

A strange little piece of internet history.

[Its_Jackson62]

One of my favourite memories was people creating fake chain messages just to see who would fall for them. Someone would make up a ridiculous warning and suddenly half the school was discussing it.

The internet gave bored teenagers a lot of creative ways to waste time

Not exactly productive, but sometimes very funny.

[ShawnMichaels_99]

The biggest upgrade from chain emails is that modern platforms usually make it easier to report scams and misinformation. Back then, your main defence was a suspicious friend saying, "this is fake, stop sending it".

Technology improved, but the need to question what we see online never disappeared.

The more things change, the more some internet habits stay the same.

[GreenEcho]

The modern version is probably the message that says "share this with five friends to unlock something". Different decade, same psychology.

The technology changes, but the tricks stay familiar.

Humans are surprisingly predictable when curiosity is involved.

[Slay]

Chain emails were annoying, but they were also a sign that people were experimenting with communication online.

Before everyone had social media profiles, these messages were one of the easiest ways to share jokes, stories, and nonsense.

The internet has always been a mix of useful information and complete rubbish.

[GoldbergFan86]

The funniest part is that many chain emails were basically harmless compared with modern scams, but they trained people to be suspicious.

Learning not to trust every forwarded message was a useful skill.

The internet got bigger, but that basic lesson stayed the same.

[Gary98]

Old chain emails had such dramatic writing. Every message sounded like the end of the world was coming unless you completed a tiny task.

"Forward this to ten people before midnight" was treated like a serious responsibility.

Kids really carried the weight of those imaginary deadlines

[Drogba32]

I remember thinking my computer might somehow know I ignored a chain message. The idea that the internet was watching everything felt much more mysterious back then.

Now people understand tracking and algorithms, but that old fear was much simpler.

A haunted email was easier to imagine than modern data collection.