Hoaxes that arrive by email tick me off just about the same as email spam for male enhancements, get rich quick and other schemes. >:(
My wife just received yet another from a well meaning friend. These usually boldly declare "this has been confirmed!" "Forward to all your friends!" Whenever something like this shows up in the inbox your first thought should be to verify the veracity of the warning. It seems most folk forward them to every email address they possess. Shame! In most cases they are complete hoaxes, sometimes there is a great stretching of what little truth there is in the matter. Spreading these pieces of garbage helps spread fear and makes our everyday seem less safe than it really is.
Checking is simple!
snopes.com (http://snopes.com) is a great hoax debunker site. hoax-slayer.com (http://hoax-slayer.com) is another. There are others as well.
I had to rant on this; makes me feel better. I think.
Quote from: MountainDon on November 07, 2008, 01:51:45 PMChecking is simple!
snopes.com (http://snopes.com) is a great hoax debunker site. hoax-slayer.com (http://hoax-slayer.com) is another. There are others as well.
Some of them are already adapting to the debunkers by including statements like, "This has already been confirmed by snopes.com!!!!!"
I just know the my friend the Nigerian Princess is not lying.
Chain letters stop with me.... even if I will die and have seven years of bad luck... ::)
I hate chain letters too!!! Are we supposed to be stupid! Just because something arrives in our inbox we have to believe it is true and ....... [slap] shut up already!!
...btw, did anybody receive their check from Bill Gates yet? hmm
Quote from: glenn kangiser on November 07, 2008, 11:32:36 PM
...btw, did anybody receive their check from Bill Gates yet? hmm
I neglected to order one. Did you get yours?
No, but funny we should mention it. I received an e-mail about it again yesterday from a friend. Seems my cut has dwindled to $245 in this one I think. It gets better as it pyramids and you get a lot more money.
This is only a short portion of the spiel.
"
Dear Friends: Please do not take this for a junk letter.
Bill Gates sharing his fortune. If you ignore this, You will repent
later .
Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet companies
and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the
most widely used program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail
beta test.
When you forward this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will
track it (If you are a Microsoft Windows user) For a two weeks
time period.
For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay
you $245.00 For every person that you sent it to that forwards it on,
Microsoft will pay you $243.00 and for every third person that
receives
it, You will be paid $241.00. Within two weeks, Microsoft will contact
you for your address and then send you a check.
Regards. Charles S Bailey Genera l Manager Field Oper ations
1-800-842-2332 Ext.. 1085 or 904-1085 or RNX 292-1085"