Internet chain messages- whats the limit?

Isn't it amazing how many people will do something based on a few lines of text a stranger wrote in order to get a virtual reward? take this site, http://www.ihatestacy.com/index.php?id=911fdf366a5f1255896c04cb1e2f4205 (click the link if you don't know what it is, but you don't have to if you don't want to), as an example.

This site has gotten so many referrals that the guy who created it even added a "if you don't want to bother with referrals just pay a few dollars on paypal instead." button!. Now, This doesn't really seem like a big deal, but this site shows how it can be used to, say, screw someone over, the person here being Stacy.

this concept has other uses as well. Lets say someone were to (just a random example) try to use this technique for a site in which people pay for services, such as a game site or porn site,(in fact they already do... often) and made a deal like "for each friend you refer you get x(small) amount of money and each time they make a purchase of at least Z you get Y(larger than X but smaller than Z) added to your account. With this in play, 2 people invite 20 people each who invite 20 people each etc and the number increases exponentially.

So here's the question- If you were to make a site like this what would you do with it? What would this lead to
What COULD it lead to?
would you use it to mess up someone's life? where would anybody go from there?(such as stacy or the messed up guy who made the site, which you would understand if you clicked the link, but you really don't have to if you don't want to)
Use it to get people to join your game site and give them virtual money only usable in your game?
Spread an Idea that people normally wouldn't have?
What do YOU see from the potential of this technique? (What I'm really asking is what do you think the future will be like, where will this annoying concept pop up next? also, how do you think we'll be able to stop it?"

the guy who hates stacy? he probably is. But that's obvious since I mentioned it ruined Stacy. What Im asking is what people on fakku see in the potential of this technique, what could it be used for?

Well first of all why would I ever invest my time to create a chain mail. I thought the whole goal here was to stop the flow of these insipid things? In short if you want to advertise don't do it through chain mail. Nobody likes it, unless you're creepy into cranial intrusion.

While I strongly agree with you, very strongly in fact, as much as we all try to stop it(which I'm assuming we all do) it keeps spreading. Invites to join game sites, the paste this to 10 videos or a girl killed 200 years ago in Arkansas will come to your house on friday at midnight, all these stupid messages keep spreading. I might have worded it wrong before, so I'll edit the top post, but where will it go next is more like what I meant to be asking

Oh I see. I apologies for my impatience. If you're looking for the next step of this it already exists. Chain letters have a long history with being tied to scams. Scare tactics and subtle anonymous harassment to do X task or face Y consequences are the bedrock of human manipulation.

So you're saying that besides stealing money over the internet(an obvious potential development) it's going to force people to complete x(real life tasks) at the risk of Y(example being losing all that pointless internet cash that you scammed so many friends for)?

Oh man. That wall of text was painful to read. Might I suggest using paragraphs next time?

As for any of that shit, I would never do it. Why give rewards for referrals? I absolutely hate any type of chain mail. It's annoying as hell. If anything you create is good, then it'll simply be spread through people without any reward because people want others to enjoy it as well.

As for that jackass on the site. He can just die. Man needs some professional help. Or a machete to the brain.

Looks like a good thing gone great to me! I would never do it, a little too extreme 4 me, but hell, who knows what kind of relationship these ppl were in. That guy may have dedicated a whole 4 years just to her. With that in mind, I may not feel any remorse eather. I would not be so fast to call eather one of these ppl up on who is guilty or not, there is not enough infornation. One thing i do know.... funny as hell.

Maybe not so concrete but chain letters usually fall into two large groups. Control tests and scams. The former of which is basically used to see if a person will actually follow the suggestion contained within the chain letter (IE "forward this to 10 friends by midnight and you'll find your crush" etc etc.) They can be used for either the purpose of gathering email personal information, so on, or to test the willingness of those targeted to blindly follow orders. The latter of the two being almost exclusively populated by scam hooks. ("You won the Nigerian Lottery" etc) These are more malicious but a little easier to spot. (at least if you aren't a pillock) It's a basic strategy used by conmen and manipulators since their conception. Test your mark's gullibility and when you find one that responds to your liking use them for as much as you can.

I've gotten several chain mails before, but tey were all pointed towards compassionate ideas, like support the soldiers and stuff. This is just meh...plus, can't that girl sue him and all of us for invasion of privacy?

First off I go by the topic alone when checking for chains, @nd if 1 didnt work out im forced to read it, then 3 delete...though i cant seem to delete this one for some reason :? fucking chain spam letters!

All those "This girl's a bitch, look at naked pictures of her" sites are probably fake. It's not hard to get naked pictures of a chick (a lot are willing to do nude photo shoots), create some lame story that will interest some people ("Haha, I'm staring at this girl's boobs, and she'd hate me for it!" can actually be arousing to some people), and then concoct a scam to get money from people. It's even easier when your site is a copy of another site that's proven to be successful. Thus why there are so many clones.

On the topic of chain letters and such, it can deal more damage than draining money from the wallets of fools who don't know how to get free porn on the internet. A lot of made-up stories are included in chain letters and spread around, and a lot of people believe the shit is true, just because someone sent them a letter with it. That's why you should never give any information or money to something you learned about from a chain letter. (If an organization exists, it'll have its own website that you can go to, as well as detailed information about its purpose.)

I've gotten email shit from people who aren't idiots that are chain letters. I don't know why, but it's as if when people check their inboxes, their brains leave their bodies. It's horrible, and it's really bad that some people try to scam money out of decent people because of it.

Either that, or it's a money making scheme in which his "girlfriend" and him pretend to have broken up to make cash.

That's capitalism right there.

Same reason for many religions. People simply want to believe that by doing some pointless, random, and sometimes simple task a great divine being who - conveniently enough - cares about the individual to such an extent it will reward them, in one form or another.

When you compare the two, it's really not all that different.

Yes, most religions today deviate from their teachings, telling people "YOU WILL ALL DIE IF YOU DON'T JOIN US!!!" then extort money from them, or use their numbers to show off how big their religion is.

Similarly, Chain letters work at the same way, freaking people out to resend the mail. When the letter returns to the original sender, it gives him/her the satisfaction his plan is working, giving himself an ego boost.

Its like The Game.

Thanks, this was exactly the kind of answer I was searching for, though I didn't expect it...you took the description of chain mail and made it applicable to religion, really shows some thought, and hell, I think we've all thought this at some point in time but forgot about it.