March 20, 2006
Please, Check Snopes, People!
I got one of the ubiquitous “PLEASE READ” emails today. You know, the ones advertising the boogeymen that will assault you in a parking lot, or will warn you about viruses, or claim that if you forward this to all your friends, Bill Gates will send you a check! It’s so much BS, but yet they keep arriving in my inbox.
Getting fed up (as I usually do), I fired off a curt email. I probably shouldn’t have, since it went straight to everyone in my immediate family, but such is life. I thought it might be a good primer for any readers I have who reflexively forward any tripe that arrives in their inboxes.
However, it is always good practice not to open any files or attachments in an email unless you’re certain of the source. If you are ever in question, e-mail the sender for confirmation that they actually intended to send it to you. If it came from someone you’ve never heard of, don’t open it.
For all emails you get like this, whether they’re funny “news” stories, or simply hoaxes like this that demand you forward them to other people to warn them, always do a search on http://www.snopes.com/ before you send it.
There are loads of emails out there that make you want to forward them to everyone you know as a warning, but all you’re doing is wasting network bandwidth and peoples’ time. As an example, here’s one about crime in Wheaton, IL, that had been going around for a while. Completely BS, but that doesn’t stop people from sending it.
The one that annoys me the most is the idea that Microsoft (or Google, or AOL, insert whatever major computing corporation) is “beta testing” a way to track your e-mail, and if you forward the email to large numbers of people, they’ll send you a check. Frankly, if Microsoft had the power to track all of my email, I think I’d be a little worried about that, wouldn’t you? Doubly so if they could identify (just from my email address) my home address to send a check to me!
Ugh… That’s the end of my rant for today…
(FYI, I grew up in Wheaton, which is why I chose that one for my family members. Wheaton is a low-crime town, where the biggest happenings are kids filling the fountain in the center of town with dish soap).
But if you can’t tell, these emails are one of my biggest pet peeves. I do my best not to waste people’s time with hoaxes, and sometimes I wish that others would spend a few seconds to save me the same hassle.
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Brad,
You and me both.
I seem to get something like this from one family member or another at least once a week. Usually, I just politely point them to the site on Snopes.com showing that the latest threat is yet another hoax. Since I’ve been on the internet, in one form or another for almost 10 years now, though, it is getting annoying to see the same phony emails over and over and over again.
I recently recieved a warning about a virus called “Invitation”. I don’t recall all the details but want to know if it is legitimate or not.
Thank you.
http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/invitation.asp