If you've just connected to the Internet
Let me warn you first that the worse hasn't come yet
Before you start to yearn for your mailbox to fill,
You may soon eat your words; now you better keep still
For while you sit there and pine for more mail,
When you get what you want, you might start to wail.
Before you ask why, here's a word of advice:
Never join mail lists, no matter how nice
Don't give out your email to people just met,
Don't just join clubs for the email you'll get.
Guard your address, keep it locked if you must,
Give it only to people you know well and trust.
If you still ask why, the reason is this
If you don't do so, your mail won't be bliss.
Do you love mail now? Well in time your mail you'll despise
If you don't follow me, if you're not that wise.
You'll receive tons of mail, that part is true
But the bad part is, none's personally for you.
There are alerts of viruses that have died long ago
And stories of sick kids who'll soon have to go.
You'll get chain letters, and lucky e-things too,
Now those things won't work, but others think they'll do.
A lot of people send these and think they're a big deal
But none of them realize that none of this is real.
There are mails from people who are out to spread
the word of their home pages, which most likely are dead.
And mails from club owners, advertising their clubs,
their surveys, positions, members and jobs.
You may feel flattered that they've sent you a letter,
But what they think is, the more is the better.
Once you receive these, the problems will start
First of all, your mailbox will begin to fall apart.
These things will be sent to hundreds as well,
And make their file sizes as humongous as hell
This type of weight, your mailbox can't bear,
So soon it'll crash, and only you'll care.
Then you'll find out, you've been wasting your cash
To pay for all this that you have asked
For doesn't it cost to access the 'Net?
Isn't downloading those messages part of the debt?
And doesn't it cost when your server take time
When it tries to open a huge message that's unkind?
Alas that's the price that you'll have to pay
For giving your address too many times away
It's also the curse that's fallen on you
A curse that has fallen on many others too.
The curse that goes on through rain, snow and hail,
The curse, oh the curse, the curse of junk mail.
~Carmela F. Sogono