Chain letter forwards that play on the desire for friendship are among the most common and most annoying. They usually involve cute pictures, sappy poetry and quotes, lectures on what love, happiness, friendship, hugs, kisses and angels are, and contemplations of the death of the sender or the recipient.

Many of them include sad stories, and statements designed to hurt and make people feel guilty for not being a good enough friend, and instructions to be a good friend - by passing on that forward far and wide. A favorite ploy of this type of chain letter is the "If I was going to die tomorrow, what would you say to me today? Don't put it off, pass this on and show the friendship!" or "You may die tomorrow, have you said everything you should've said? Say it now by passing this on! Of course, if you don't, it just means you're too busy, don't care about, or have forgotten your friends."

Another common ploy of friendship forwards is "Send this to all your friends, and be sure to send it back to me as well! If you don't, I'll take the hint that you are not my friend!"

In addition, friendship forwards often tell you that however many copies you get back, that's how many true friends you have. There are the "National Friendship Week!" and other completely bogus ideas being used to get people passing them on. You could get a "National Friendship Week!" chain from someone in April, and then get it again from someone else in July of the same year. There is no such thing as National Friendship Week, or Online Buddies Day or other similar phony ideas invented by forward originators.