Summary: Every few days we get forwarded email warning us about everything from lost children to free money. They're mostly bogus and known as "Urban Legends".
I received an email with a disturbing story that seems like more people should know about. At the bottom it even suggests that I forward it on to everyone I know. It seems such an important issue ... and yet I've been told that I shouldn't forward this kind of thing. Why not?
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I get that kind of email from time to time also. Over the years I've developed a pretty good skeptical "nose" for sniffing this king of thing out.
What is it I'm smelling?
Lies, frauds and misinformation, usually.
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Folks, you simply must approach the internet with skepticism. It's chock full of misinformation, and a lot of it shows up in your email inbox.
Every few days, it seems, I receive a forwarded plea warning us about the latest political abuse, conspiracy, health threat or computer virus, or telling me I can get money by forwarding the email to all my friends. That last part is key: "forward this to everyone you know!" is almost always present. They've come to be known as "Urban Legends".
And they're almost always wrong.
At the risk of sounding like a great email I saw a few years ago: Bill Gates is not tracking your email, and he will not pay you to forward his. The Gap is not handing out coupons based on how many people you forward your email to. Tampon manufacturers are not adding asbestos to promote bleeding (and more tampon use). Envelopes are not being sent out with viruses that release when you open them [Check here for info on recent anthrax scares which sound similar.] Lately political targets seem to be particularly popular.
You get the idea. It goes on and on.
And they all insist that for your health or for your wealth or for the education or protection of others, you should forward the email to everyone you know.
Don't. PLEASE don't. Just resist the urge.
At least, don't do it until you're sure it's legitimate. And if it asks you to "forward this to everyone you know", or "tell all your friends and loved ones", chances are it's not.
How do you tell if it's legit?
You'll note that each of the examples above are, in fact, links to pages which describe in sometimes excruciating detail the hoax, its origins, variations and most important of all...whether or not it is true. There are many great sites that you can use to find out. I'm particularly fond of Snopes - it's rare that I can't find what I'm looking for there, and each item has a clearly written, and well researched, explanation of it's truth or fallacy. Sites like Snopes will quickly and easily allow you to search and determine whether that important plea is just another hoax.
Why care?
There are many reasons to care about the issue. Certainly forwarding email that is in fact wrong, is kind of like putting garbage in the inboxes of all your friends and family; at best, you're wasting their time, and at worst you're causing unnecessary anxiety. (Check out the end of the discussion of the so-called "Klingerman Virus" for one extreme case of hoax-induced anxiety.) Realize also that many people still pay by the minute to connect and download email; these hoaxes, very much like SPAM, are eating up time and bandwidth and costing them money.
Isn't it safer to just forward - just in case it's true?
No. It's really more likely that you'd be passing on misinformation. It's really very simple ... check it out before you forward. If you don't check it out, don't forward, and no harm done. If there's actually an important, legitimate issue, then chances are you'll see it in the legitimate press ... we've seen that recently with very real computer viruses and terrorist anthrax threats making front-page news. Email is not how news organizations, corporations and government spread legitimate news and important information.
So... tell all your friends!
Forward the URL of this article to everyone you know!
OK, so I'm only being partly facetious. You're obviously welcome to point people at this article, or not, as you see fit. But as you see urban legends being passed around the internet, take it as an opportunity ... the more people that "get it", the fewer bogus stories, warnings and other garbage we'll all have to wade through. You'll educate a few people and reduce, by a small amount, the misinformation on the internet.
[This is a revision of an essay I originally wrote in 2001.]
Related:
Snopes.com, my favorite all-around urban legend site.
Symantec's Security Response Center for tracking down virus warnings
The US Center for Disease Control Health Related Hoaxes and Rumors
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Ask Leo! - How do I get a notification when anyone I send an email to forwards that email?
Article C2319 - March 31, 2005
Hi, I don't think you've answered this:
Posted by: Ingrid at November 23, 2005 2:52 AMWhy do people actually make forwards? I'm guessing that it's not just for fun so they must be making money from it? Maybe you don't want to tell how it works incase more people get on the bandwagon, but please I am genuinly interested and it would help me convince others how wrong it is.
Thanks SO much, Leo, for this excellent summary of the things to be wary of in your Inbox. I've started providing the link to this article to everybody who sends me one of the offending emails, for their edification. Well done!
Posted by: Tracey at January 15, 2006 2:08 PMI have lately been getting e-mails stating to invest in stock. These are coming from people I don't even know! They also ask me to send them to friends and family. Funny part is I looked into the stocks and their losing money not making it. They pass through the spam filter by using titles like...Re: dental negotiation
Besides adding them to my spam filter how can I block these people out?
Posted by: Georg at August 16, 2006 6:22 AMSigh...not just urban legends (the Neiman-Marcus cookie one was making the rounds 15+ years ago when connections were still limited to dial-up BBSs) but the Internet equivalent of chain letters (send to 10 people and suddenly your life will change, of course for the better, until all your friends send you snippy comments about useless emails in their inbox), petitions (check the source first), "really cute" (and huge) pictures of animals that all your friends just HAVE to see, jokes, etc...PLEASE folks think about the recipient and whether a) they will really appreciate the message and b) they have the bandwidth to download it. I live in a rural community and pay a lot for satellite broadband (for my work) but most of my neighbours still use dialup and even they are guilty of passing on this stuff!
Think I'll bookmark this link for future replies to folks that I thoroughly like but who haven't fully learned "netiquette" yet....
Posted by: dunstergirl at March 18, 2007 10:45 PMYears ago, a worker at the US Postal Service got an email with a dire warning about a virus. They hit a "forward to all" button that sent it to everyone in the USPS. And so did the next guy, and the next . . . Before it was done, they'd sent so many emails to so many people so fast, they crashed their email system. In this case, the EMAIL MESSAGE WAS THE VIRUS!
Posted by: Chuck at February 17, 2009 11:43 AM