Chain of fools
Chain of fools
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Tip Common sense tells you that you shouldn't forward an e-mail message that begins "This amazing story is true! Pass it on!" But common sense doesn't always prevail on the Internet, where chain letters flourish like guppies in a pet store. If you feel compelled to forward one of these public nuisances -- or any mass-mailed e-mail for that matter -- first delete from the message's header that long list of e-mail addresses that names the other zillion people who have already read (and deleted) the letter. That's Internet good manners. Also, if you're going to post it in a mailing list, ask the list's owner first. Here are a few of the most insidious e-mail chain letters. If they end up in your box, press the <Delete> key, please. The African native good luck letter. The message is decorated with big ASCII caricatures. If you forward it to 20 people, you will supposedly get good luck. The message does not say whether you will get good luck if you receive it 20 times a week. Nor does it explain how the letter, which supposedly originated from Zaire and has been passed around the Net for at least five years, escaped before Internet access was common in the Congo. The $250 cookie recipe. The mystery writers of this letter purport that they called Mrs Field's Cookies and asked for a copy of Mrs Field's cookie recipe. They were told by a company representative that it would cost them "two-fifty". They said "What a deal!" but their next credit card statement showed that they had been charged $250. In retaliation they are revealing the cookie recipe. Mrs Field's Cookies denies the story, which has been floating around the Net and BBSes for at least a decade. A different version points the blame at Neiman-Marcus and is similarly false. The recipe in one of the chain letters is identical to the Old Fashioned Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie recipe on the back of Nestle's Toll House chocolate chips bag (which I tested and found to be not that great). The kid in Georgia. Some sick Georgia kid is supposedly collecting get-well cards in the hope of getting in the Guinness Book of World Records. But the address to mail the cards to is bogus. Never forward any charity plea unless you are affiliated with the charity or have checked it out. The Good Times virus. This virus allegedly hides in e-mail messages. It's questionable whether anyone has actually seen the Good Times virus, but everyone has seen the message about it. In general, you should not forward virus warnings unless you get them from a reputable source. Some mailing lists are routinely swamped with bogus virus warnings, much to their administrators' chagrin. - Judy Heim | Category: Internet Issue: Jun 1997 Pages: 179 |
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