Fast "Forwards"

Let me thank Rashmi for triggering my thought process which resulted in this post. This has got to do with the email forwards that almost all of us get everyday. I have tried to analyze what makes people forward these messages. The analysis involved splitting the forwards into two broad categories:
1. The forwards which involve funny pictures, anecdotes, or jokes.
2. The forwards that are more emotional and sentimental in nature.

The reasons I could gather for forwarding the emails are :

1. Each time you forward the mail, the previous recipients' email addresses also is seen in the message. So, it is quite possible that the person who initially triggered the mail was looking at collecting email ids to further his intent of forwarding. And chances are that you get to see a long lost friend's email id in the forwarding list. I myself have a found a few email ids of my old friends this way.

2. The other reason could possibly be based on the basic premise that the person forwarding has nothing to lose in forwarding the mail. The emails asking you to forward to some 'n' number of people within the next 'm' units of time play and expect rewards commensurate with your forwarding rate are usually the ones that carry some sad story, or of some miracle or some such similar stuff. The person who receives the forward normally feels that "thing" inside him which makes him/her forward it.

Largely the reasons for forwarding stem from the fact that its so easy to do it, and for people who sit in the cubicle whole day clicking the mouse might just be all the activity that they do for the day.

I am personally not very convinced with the reasons. I am also not aware of the psyche of the software engineers who forward such stuff in large numbers. I can derive no conclusion out of this analysis - it remains open. Looking "forward" to some better reasons!!