Step AWAY from the email
Oct. 10th, 2007 08:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
innerslytherinDear person who is emailing me chain letter bullshit thinking I am A---,
There is a lovely website. It is called Snopes.com. The woman who runs it, the intelligent and funny Barbara Mikkelson, is very good at research. She researches a very large number of urban legends, chain emails, and other things like that. The first time you forwarded me something, I sent you a nice email with a link to the Snopes.com page debunking the particular urban legend you were passing along. To no one's surprise, you did not reply, but unfortunately you also didn't take me (or A---) off your forwarding list.
I feel it's my duty to tell you that no, the serial killer does not drop dollars at the gas station in the hopes that woman will take them and he can kill them. (The serial killer, in fact, being smarter than that and also more depraved, only kills woman that fit the same profile. Furthermore, the serial killer this urban legend started about is now behind bars.) This morning I feel it is my duty to inform you that the government is also not taking "In God We Trust" off the new presidential dollars, so there is no need to "boycott" this currency. (I would also like to point out that, by furthering this incorrect report, you are making people who trust in God--i.e. Christians--look stupid. It annoys us smart Christians who are able to research something before having hysterics about it.) Also, that girl in the "Amber Alert" email probably isn't really missing, because we weren't given any details like where and when she was last seen, what she was wearing, or who she was with. It's true that her name wasn't specifically mentioned, but there were several others in the exact same context of an email...and I checked two missing children websites and didn't find her listed.
Here's another thing I feel you should know: No matter how many times you see an email that says, "Forward this to ten people and hit shift and you'll see the answer", or "Forward this to at least five people, and when they have forwarded it to five people, you'll get an email with the answer", it is not true. Let's think about this for a minute. If those claims were true, that would be indication that the originator of the email had some sort of tracking software installed on your computer. This is generally known as spyware, and most people don't think it's a good thing. If you would like to help that little girl with cancer you think wrote the poem (she didn't) then donate money to the American Cancer Society, don't forward some stupid email. You'll be sorely disappointed that you didn't get the answer to the "Paul Harvey" riddle that came with the "Paul Harvey" essay (Lee Pitts actually wrote that, by the way)--though as Barbara Mikkelson points out, the answer to that riddle is "nothing", so in a sense, you will get the answer, she says: If you forward it, nothing will happen. (To which I have to say, Yes, nothing, except that your more intelligent friends will be thoroughly annoyed at you.)
I realize not everyone is as net savvy as my LJ friendslist. However, when I have sent you a link to a powerful website, how much time does it take for you to check these things out before you forward them? Answer: not much.
Sincerely,
The annoyed temp who has to check A----'s email
There is a lovely website. It is called Snopes.com. The woman who runs it, the intelligent and funny Barbara Mikkelson, is very good at research. She researches a very large number of urban legends, chain emails, and other things like that. The first time you forwarded me something, I sent you a nice email with a link to the Snopes.com page debunking the particular urban legend you were passing along. To no one's surprise, you did not reply, but unfortunately you also didn't take me (or A---) off your forwarding list.
I feel it's my duty to tell you that no, the serial killer does not drop dollars at the gas station in the hopes that woman will take them and he can kill them. (The serial killer, in fact, being smarter than that and also more depraved, only kills woman that fit the same profile. Furthermore, the serial killer this urban legend started about is now behind bars.) This morning I feel it is my duty to inform you that the government is also not taking "In God We Trust" off the new presidential dollars, so there is no need to "boycott" this currency. (I would also like to point out that, by furthering this incorrect report, you are making people who trust in God--i.e. Christians--look stupid. It annoys us smart Christians who are able to research something before having hysterics about it.) Also, that girl in the "Amber Alert" email probably isn't really missing, because we weren't given any details like where and when she was last seen, what she was wearing, or who she was with. It's true that her name wasn't specifically mentioned, but there were several others in the exact same context of an email...and I checked two missing children websites and didn't find her listed.
Here's another thing I feel you should know: No matter how many times you see an email that says, "Forward this to ten people and hit shift and you'll see the answer", or "Forward this to at least five people, and when they have forwarded it to five people, you'll get an email with the answer", it is not true. Let's think about this for a minute. If those claims were true, that would be indication that the originator of the email had some sort of tracking software installed on your computer. This is generally known as spyware, and most people don't think it's a good thing. If you would like to help that little girl with cancer you think wrote the poem (she didn't) then donate money to the American Cancer Society, don't forward some stupid email. You'll be sorely disappointed that you didn't get the answer to the "Paul Harvey" riddle that came with the "Paul Harvey" essay (Lee Pitts actually wrote that, by the way)--though as Barbara Mikkelson points out, the answer to that riddle is "nothing", so in a sense, you will get the answer, she says: If you forward it, nothing will happen. (To which I have to say, Yes, nothing, except that your more intelligent friends will be thoroughly annoyed at you.)
I realize not everyone is as net savvy as my LJ friendslist. However, when I have sent you a link to a powerful website, how much time does it take for you to check these things out before you forward them? Answer: not much.
Sincerely,
The annoyed temp who has to check A----'s email
