| Last updated Wed, Aug 20, 2000 | This is the [an error occurred while processing this directive] access since 23-Aug-2000. |
Big companies don't do business via chain letters. Bill Gates is not giving you $1000, and Disney is not giving you a free vacation. There is no baby food company issuing class-action checks. Procter and Gamble is not part of a satanic cult, and its logo is not satanic. MTV will not give you backstage passes if you forward something to the most people. You can relax; there is no need to pass it on "just in case it's true." Furthermore, just because someone said in a message, four generations back, that "we checked it out and it's legit," does not actually make it true.
There is no kidney theft ring in New Orleans. No one is waking up in a bath tub full of ice, even if a friend of a friend swears it happened to their cousin. If you are hell-bent on believing the kidney-theft ring stories, please see: http://urbanlegends.tqn.com/library/weekly/aa062997.html And I quote: "The National Kidney Foundation has repeatedly issued requests for actual victims of organ thieves to come forward and tell their stories. None have." That's none as in zero. Not even your friend's cousin.
Neiman Marcus doesn't really sell a $200 cookie recipe. And even if they do, we all have it. And even if you don't, you can get a copy at: http://www.bl.net/forwards/cookie.html Then, if you make a batch and decide the cookies are that awesome, feel free to pass the recipe on to a limited number of people you know will be interested.
If the latest NASA rocket disaster(s) DID contain plutonium that went to particulate over the eastern seaboard, do you really think this information would reach the public via an AOL chain letter? (Hint from someone who used to be a NASA contractor: no way!)
There is no "Good Times" virus. In fact, you should never, ever, ever forward any email containing any virus warning unless you first confirm that an actual site of an actual company that actually deals with viruses. Try the Symantec AntiVirus Research Center pages at http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/ (Pay extra attention to the "Virus Hoaxes" list!). Even then, forward it to no more than 2 or 3 people. If your friends are real geeks, they'll already know about it!
There is no gang initiation plot to murder any motorist who flashes their headlights at another car driving at night without lights.
If you're using Outlook, Ineternet Explorer, or Netscape to write email, turn email, turn the "HTML encoding off. Those of us on Unix shells can't read it, and don't care enough to save the attachment and then view it with a web browser, since you're probably forwarding us a copy of the Neiman Marcus Cookie Recipe anyway.
If you're using WebTV to send email, pleeeze get rid of the 5,000 cute graphics that most WebTV users seem to include in their email! Those of us on Unix shells can't see them, and everyone else has to sit and wait... and wait... and wait for them to download.
If you still absolutely MUST forward that 10th generation message from a friend, at least have the decency to trim the eight miles of headers showing everyone else who's received it over the last 6 months. It sure wouldn't hurt to get rid of all the ">" that begin each line either. Besides, if it's gone around that many times we've probably already seen it. (I've already gotten a "new" joke forwarded to me that I created about three years earlier!)
Craig Shergold (or Sherwood, or Sherman, etc.) in England is not dying of cancer or anything else at this time and would like everyone to stop sending him their business cards. He has not been a little boy for a surprising number of years (he was featured in People magazine in the early 1990s), and the hospital where he underwent treatment all those years ago is still getting swamped with UNwanted cards and mail!
The "Make a Wish" foundation is a real organization doing fine work, but they have had to establish a special toll-free hotline in response to the large number of Internet hoaxes using their good name and reputation. It's distracting them from the important work they do — remember that they do not use mass emails to solicit donations (and neither do any of the other legitimate charities)!
If you are one of those people who forwards anything that promises something bad will happen if you don't, then something bad will happen to you if I (or anyone else who depends on the increasingly clogged-up and bogged-down Internet for our livelihood) ever meet you in a dark alley.
Women really are suffering in Afghanistan, and PBS and NEA funding are still vulnerable to attack, but forwarding an e-mail won't help either cause in the least. If you want to help, contact your local legislative representative, or get in touch with Amnesty International or the Red Cross. As a general rule, e-mail "signatures" are easily faked and mean nothing to anyone with any power to do anything about whatever the competition is complaining about.
There is no bill pending before Congress that will allow long distance companies to charge you for using the Internet.
There is no bill pending before Congress that will allow the USPS to charge for every email message you send (nor is there any such bill on the Canadian side of the border!) Hysteria over this net hoax was so strong that, prior to completely reorganizing their web site, the U.S. Postal Service had a special link on their home page to a document telling everyone that they could not, would not, and did not want to charge for email. Even better, things got so bad that in May 2000 the U.S. Congress actually passed a bill making it impossible for this to ever happen! You can read all about this hoax at this page on the Urban Legends Web Site.
There is no bill pending before Congress for a "modem tax"! Take a look at what the Electronic Freedom Foundation has to say about it here, or what the FCC has to say about it here.
Bottom Line... composing e-mail or posting something on the Net is as easy as writing on the walls of a public restroom. Don't automatically believe it until it's proven false... ASSUME it's false, unless there is proof that it's true.
Now that you know what not to do, what happens when you get an email warning you about a new virus or tax or medical emergency or plea for funds or anything else? Well, before you panic—and definitely before you forward the message to everyone on your buddy list!—check out one of the following excellent resources on the web: