I've just done something stupid...

@liquorice (3887)
September 1, 2008 6:54pm CST
An old friend invited me to join a social networking site called Hi5. I hadn't heard of it before, and it looked a bit rubbish, but I joined anyway as I wanted to get back in touch with her. In the joining process there was a screen where you could see whether any of your Hotmail friends are already on the site, so I put in my Hotmail password and it found a few people. I clicked ignore when it asked me if I wanted to make friends with them and sent a message to the friend who had invited me. The next thing I know, a different friend emailed me to say "I'm afraid I'm going to decline your invitation to join Hi5, it looks a bit rubbish". Well, I didn't (knowingly) invite her to join, but this set off some alarm bells. Then my husband asked me "why did you just invite me to join Hi5?". It turns out that I've somehow invited my whole contact list to join this really awful site!! And I've never deleted any Hotmail contacts, so it's basically anyone I've ever met in my life. I don't really want some of those people coming back from my past ! Should I just ignore it and hope no-one notices? lol! Or should I send an email to everyone, explaining that I invited them in error? (Or should I do something else?) What would you do?
5 people like this
12 responses
@Ldyjarhead (10233)
• United States
2 Sep 08
I wouldn't send out another mass email just yet. If people come to you and ask why you sent them an invitation, simply reply that it was a mistake and apologize. Most people ignore those kinds of things anyway, especially from someone they don't really know. The most that will happen is they'll go look at the site and see for themselves if they want to join or not. I wouldn't be too worried about it.
1 person likes this
@liquorice (3887)
4 Sep 08
Thanks, that's very good advice. I can see now that it would be best to not do anything. I think most people seem to be ignoring it so far. I was worried at first, but now I'm not worried at all, and have better things to worry about!
1 person likes this
@liquorice (3887)
4 Sep 08
ruellm, thanks for your advice too. It's a good policy to answer only when asked!
1 person likes this
@ruellm (145)
• Philippines
2 Sep 08
same advice to the original poster.. Explain only when they ask.
1 person likes this
@Feona1962 (7526)
• United States
1 Sep 08
I would change my name and move to another state...LOL..I haven't done anything like this so I really don't know what you should do...I would just let it go..some may not even exist anymore...and if you're lucky those that you don't have contact with won't even consider your invitation... It was an innocent mix-up and things will work out..
1 person likes this
@Feona1962 (7526)
• United States
7 Sep 08
I am so very glad and you are very welcome....If anyone does come to haunt you just tell them that you know me and I will come duke em out for you...LOL
1 person likes this
@Feona1962 (7526)
• United States
10 Sep 08
Awwww. Thank you for best response....
@liquorice (3887)
4 Sep 08
Lol! I think you're right, I haven't had many replies or queries about it at all. I was just panicking just after I'd done it as I didn't know how big a reaction it would cause. Nobody awful has come back from my past yet... !! Thanks for your answer and reassurance!
@lingli_78 (12822)
• Australia
2 Sep 08
i will just ignore it and hope that nobody will notice it... even if they did, i wil gladly invite them to join my list... otherwise, i will just leave it and see what happened... take care and have a nice day...
1 person likes this
@liquorice (3887)
4 Sep 08
Thanks for your answer, I think you're right. I'm just going to leave it. I'm not worried about it any more, and I haven't had much response anyway!
@shana123 (2095)
• India
2 Sep 08
I dont think Hi5 is that place to be in.. and i was there for somewhile just to see how the site was then now finally im not using it anymore but i havent found anything that vulgar atleast to me.. you need not explain everyone , you can just change the email adress by just giving a fake one ( try if it really works) and just decline all the friend's whom you have sent request if you.. if nothing is working out then just tell your friends sending a mail that was a virus lol.. no one will know what really happened.. hahahaha..
1 person likes this
@liquorice (3887)
4 Sep 08
Thanks, I like your suggestions! Yes, I didn't like the site. It is confusing, and slow and it doesn't look good. Plus it let me accidentally send friend invites to my whole address book, lol! I'm going to leave the site soon, and I'm not expecting lots of replies there anyway, as so far I have none! :.)
@kerriannc (4279)
• Jamaica
2 Sep 08
Yes my dear this is the operation of HI5. My sister invite me to join and I went a head only to see her writing me and telling me that I don't know her friends but I have them on my friend list. I told her that I am sorry and totally ignore that site. It is a foolish site. I would encourage you to just ignore it or what you can do is put a block on your contact list files.
1 person likes this
@liquorice (3887)
4 Sep 08
Ah, that's interesting. I received friends requests from the friends of my friend who is on there, and I've never met them before. I think they must make it very easy for people to invite people without realising it, and then perhaps also for us to accept friend requests without realising it! I'll ignore any other friends requests from the site. Thanks for telling me about what happened with you!
• Philippines
1 Sep 08
just ignore it. some people just even delete the invitation without reading it anyways. i do it all the time. don't bother yourself and just continue getting in touch with your old friend. ;-)
1 person likes this
@kaguvkov (1305)
• Davao, Philippines
2 Sep 08
Yes, I agree with you. I have also done this before. I will delete everything coming in my inbox especially those stupid invites.
1 person likes this
@liquorice (3887)
4 Sep 08
Yes, thanks you two. That's what I decided to do. Three days later, and I've only got a handful of reactions from what must be over 100 contacts. I'm not doing anything!
@vanities (11395)
• Davao, Philippines
2 Sep 08
ive been a member of that site long ago but not active anymore..in your case..i guess you have to leave it alone i mean theres no need to panic..just ignore if there are some friend's request that you really did not like to be friends again coz of the past ..then decline ..i think no need to email everyone..jsut a waste of time i guess
@liquorice (3887)
4 Sep 08
Yes, you're right. I was just panicking because I assumed the worst - that everyone from my past would be wondering why I was contacting them, and especially on this really annoying site, (in my opinion anyway!) I can see that I was worrying about nothing. Only a few people have emailed me about it! That's good advice. Thanks!
@poohgal (6845)
• Singapore
2 Sep 08
I often receive such invites too. I do not think there's a need to email your contacts to explain to them. I'm sure some of them deleted the invitation without even opening the email. I usually delete such invitations as I am involved in more than enough social networking sites. Don't worry too much about it. If you do not wish to be in this site, you should delete your account.
1 person likes this
@liquorice (3887)
4 Sep 08
Thanks, that's good advice. I agree with what you say about people probably just deleting them. I have done that before as well. I'm probably going to delete that account. It just annoys me whenever I go on there! Thanks for your reply. :o)
2 Sep 08
I think I would send a message saying something very formal like 'you may have received an invite from this site that was supposed to have been sent by me but, feel free to ignore it as it was sent in error to everybody on my contact list' Then you don't really need to feel bad!! Hope you get it sorted! : )
@liquorice (3887)
4 Sep 08
Thanks for your reply. I was considering doing this at first. But three days after the event I've only had a couple of emails about it, so I'm assuming most people have different email addresses or are just ignoring it. That's fine with me, so I'm not going to send an email out. I'm going to leave things as they are.
• United States
2 Sep 08
I would send a e-mail to all my contacts on my Hotmail account. Tell them you Apologise, that when you were checking out the hi5 account it sent out the request without your apporoval. Let them know that the sight will do the same thing to them and their friends.. And tell them you do believe that the sight has wronged you.. therefore it may very well be Rubbish!
@liquorice (3887)
4 Sep 08
Thanks for your reply. I was considering doing this, but as after three days I haven't had many replies at all, I'm going to just leave it. I'm explaining what happened to anyone who emails, and so far they've just been friends who I'm in touch with anyway. So far no-one has actually joined Hi5, and I think they probably won't. I was over-reacting when I first started this discussion as I'd just realised what had happened!
@shamzy18 (2316)
2 Sep 08
LOL i make sure i never do this!! the site is not that crap loads of people i know are on it. though im not on it. i would just leave it, get in touch with your friend then try to contact her in a different way and leave the site if thats the only reason you joined, this way you wont have to email the others of why u requested them.
1 person likes this
@liquorice (3887)
4 Sep 08
I've never done anything like this before, and don't even know how it happened! That's one reason why I don't rate this site very much. It must be very easy to do things like this if I can do it without even realising how or when I did it, lol!! I'm also getting a few friends requests from friends of my friend who's on there. I've never met them before, so I think a strange thing may be happening for them too. It's all a bit weird and confusing! Yes, I was thinking of leaving the site, as soon as I've got an alternative way of contacting my friend! Thanks for your answer. :)
• United States
2 Sep 08
Ignore it, you made a simple mistake. It didn't hurt anyone though, and it is only a minor minor inconvenience. No need to send out an e-mail, most people won't care at all and will just delete it assuming it is junk mail.
1 person likes this
@liquorice (3887)
4 Sep 08
Yes, you're right. I was just panicking as I'd just done it and it seemed like it might be a major inconvenience at the time. Now I can see that I was over-reacting! Thanks for your answer. :0)