[omoikane]

> A official-looking legal letter [...] Surprise someone

Having received actual legal letters before, my personal experience is that I would much rather receive normal looking holiday cards to encourage me in continuing whatever I was doing, rather than being surprised by official-looking letters.

It might be different if this service offered help in other ways, but currently it seems like a practical joke of dubious taste.

[growt]

I agree. I would rephrase it „send someone you appreciate and that you wish had a mild heart attack this official looking letter“

[egorfine]

Depends. I would be spooked and frightened but then I would be delighted.

[cubefox]

It reminds me of jokes where the inoffensive ones tend to be less funny than the borderline too offensive ones. Where you think: I shouldn't be laughing about that.

[Tempest1981]

Yeah, rather dark lawyer humor, I guess. No thanks.

[krisoft]

Yeah. It is one of those kind of things where one might think that the recipient will first carefully read the letter and then form an opinion on it.

But in reality people will form an emotional response just based on the appearance of it. And even after they read it they might be left perplexed and some might spend further resources to figure out if this is a legal threat in some way.

I would find such a letter in incredibly bad taste, and think of whoever sent it to me or caused it to be sent worse than before.

[technothrasher]

It really depends upon you knowing the recipient. I've got a friend with whom, over the years, I've exchanged many a "legal" demand letter back and forth. It's a running joke that we have, and it's pretty fun and funny. But, yeah, there are plenty of other friends who I would terrify if I sent them something official looking.

[albumen]

No, it doesn't rely on you knowing the recipient. If I got this letter from someone I didn't know, I would enjoy it.

Is it worth the risk that someone would find it "incredibly bad taste" (parent post, not yours)? Obviously humour is subjective, but perhaps such people need to have their Sense of Humour shifted, Overton-window style.

[krisoft]

> No, it doesn't rely on you knowing the recipient.

The point is not that you need to know the recipient, but that if you don’t know them you can’t say if they will enjoy this kind of humour or not.

I know people for whom such a letter would be the highlight of their day. I know people who would be worried about it for days if not weeks. Without knowing your audience you can’t know who will react how.

> Is it worth the risk that someone would find it "incredibly bad taste" (parent post, not yours)?

Is it? Depends on how much you care how much you care about being an asshole accidentally.

I have friends who we play pranks on each other where we sneak up on the other and do a jumpscare. Would never do the same with a random person though.

This is the equivalent action, but instead of threatening people with bodily harm it is threatening them in a legal/bureaucratic way.

> Obviously humour is subjective

Yes.

> perhaps such people need to have their Sense of Humour shifted, Overton-window style

Or maybe your sense of empathy needs adjusting. The problem is not with their sense of humour but with their sense of “how likely it is that an official looking letter is bringing ruin on me”. I’m glad that you feel secure enough that you can’t even understand that feeling.