| According to Wikipedia a viral email (also known as a | | | | Commercial restrictions on the Internet ended in 1995 |
| "pass-along email") is a certain kind of email which | | | | and Yahoo was founded in that year. While there |
| rapidly propagates from person to person, generally | | | | were probably some viral emails in the earlier days |
| in a word-of-mouth manner. | | | | we can guess that the tradition did not come into full |
| The Wikipedia article on viral emails mentions an | | | | swing until there was relatively wide spread use of |
| archive site called ViralBank. I did a search in Google | | | | the Internet. I bought my first computer and began |
| and found a link. I clicked on the link but the site did | | | | using the Internet in 2000 and the viral emails were |
| not load, as if the server were overloaded or down. I | | | | flying by that time. Today, many people have a short |
| checked the Internet Archive and did find some | | | | list in their email contacts list to whom they forward |
| further information as well as some information | | | | the these emails. |
| through Who-Is. | | | | The proper way to forward these emails is to send |
| The Who-Is information shows that the domain was | | | | them out to your list by bcc (Blind Carbon Copy). |
| registered toward the end of the year 2000 and that | | | | The previous senders addresses should be deleted |
| the domain name registration has been kept current. | | | | from the emails you forward. Some email clients send |
| The first page indexed by the Internet Archive was | | | | forwards as attachments, so this may not be |
| in April of 2002 and the peak number of indexed | | | | possible. It should be possible, in most cases, to copy |
| pages was in 2005. The last update shown was in | | | | the content of the email and paste it into a new |
| 2007. I don't know if the site is still active, but there | | | | email to send on. |
| are some conclusions that we can draw from the | | | | The proper etiquette is to use the bcc function |
| information. | | | | because you do not expose all the other email |
| Since domain name chosen was ViralBank it would | | | | address on your list when you forward the email. It is |
| appear that the purpose of the site was to display | | | | also polite to delete the previous sender's email |
| viral emails. This domain was registered in the year | | | | address so as not to propagate it across the |
| 2000 which means that the viral email phenomenon | | | | Internet and expose those senders to possible spam |
| was taking place at that time. Email actually predates | | | | or threats. |
| the Internet itself, but wide spread use of the | | | | Sending and receiving these emails can be fun. There |
| Internet did not happen until the mid 90's. E-mail came | | | | are good jokes, PowerPoint slide shows, interesting |
| into being in 1965. It started out as a way a way to | | | | pictures, and videos that travel around the Internet. |
| communicate for multiple users of a time-sharing | | | | They can give you a break in your hectic day. |
| mainframe computer. | | | | |