On Sun, 8 Dec 1996, David Hofelinh wrote:

hospitals; how many books they give depends on how many emails they receive
from people around the world.  for every 25 emails they receive, they give
one book--it seems like a great way to help a good cause.
all you have to do is email share@hmco.com.
hope you can spare the seconds...and let your friends know.  so far they
only have 3,400 messages...last year they reached 23,000.
****************************************************************
DID YOU READ THAT?? ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION?
GOOD!
send 'em e-mail! it takes 2 seconds to help!

DO NOT SEND ANYTHING.  You don't know how long this notice has been going
around.  For all you know they had 3400 messages at Christmas 1992, "last year"
is 1991, and they're desperately trying to stop the flow of messages now.

Remember Craig Shergold, the dying boy who wanted get-well cards to be put in
the Guinness Book of World Records years ago.  He's been cured by now, and
meanwhile hospitals and associations keep getting hundreds of thousands of
cards with no way to stop.  (And hiring people to sort through cards isn't
free, either.)

DO NOT EVER REPLY TO MASS REQUESTS LIKE THESE UNLESS THEY HAVE AN EXPIRATION
DATE.  And don't send chain letters around, period, while we're at it.