Debunking the Internet

1.  Big companies do not do business via chain letters.  
Bill Gates is not giving you $1000, and Disney is not giving you a free vacation. There is no baby food company issuing class-action checks.  MTV will not give you backstage passes if you forward something to the most people.  Honda will not give you a new car either! You can relax; there is no need to pass it on “just in case it’s true”.  Furthermore, just because someone said in a message, four generations back, that “we checked it out and it’s legit”, does not actually make it true.

2.  There is no kidney theft ring in New Orleans. 
No one is waking up in a bathtub full of ice, even if a friend of a friend swears it happened to his or her cousin.  If you are hell-bent on believing the kidney-theft ring stories, please see: http://urbanlegends.tqn.com/library/weekly/aa062997.html
“The National Kidney Foundation has repeatedly issued requests for actual victims of organ thieves to come forward and tell their stories.  None have.”  That’s “none” as in “zero”. Not even your friend’s cousin.

3.  Neiman Marcus does not really sell a $250 cookie recipe.
And even if they do, we all have it. And even if you don’t, you can get a copy at: http://www.bl.net/forwards/cookie.html Then, if you make the recipe, decide the cookies are that awesome, feel free to pass the recipe on.

4.  If the latest NASA rocket disasters DID contain plutonium that went to particulate over the eastern seaboard, do you REALLY think this information would reach the public via an AOL chain letter?  (Only if the right person got hold of it.  And the government is definitely not above doing it or hiding it.)

5.  There is no “Good Times” virus.
In fact, you should never, ever, ever forward any email containing any virus warning unless you first confirm that an actual site of an actual company that actually deals with viruses.  Try: http://www.symantec.com OR If you are on AOL, simply forward the email sent to you to: TOS Email1@AOL.com and ask!

Even then, do not forward it to others.  We do not care.  Moreover, you cannot get a virus from a flashing IM or email, you have to download.... ya know, like, a FILE!

6.  There is no gang initiation plot to murder any motorist who flashes headlights at another car driving at night without lights.

7.  If you are using Outlook, IE, or Netscape to write email, turn off the “HTML encoding.” Those of us on Unix shells cannot read it, and do not care enough to save the attachment and then view it with a web browser, since you are probably forwarding us a copy of the Neiman Marcus Cookie Recipe anyway.

8.  If you still absolutely MUST forward that 10th generation message from a friend, at least have the decency to trim the eight miles of headers showing everyone else who has received it over the last 6 months. It sure would not hurt to get rid of all the >>>>>>>>>’s that begin each line either. Besides, if it has gone around that many times we have probably already seen it.

9.  Craig Shergold (or Sherwood, or Sherman, etc.) in England is not dying of cancer or anything else at this time and would like everyone to stop sending him his or her business cards. He apparently is no longer a “little boy” either.

10. The “Make a Wish” foundation is a real organization doing fine work, but they have had to establish a special toll free hot line in response to the large number of Internet hoaxes using their good name and reputation. It is distracting them from the important work they do.

11. Don't be one of those insufferable idiots who forwards anything that “promises” something bad will happen if you don’t.

12. Women really are suffering in Afghanistan, and PBS and NEA funding are still vulnerable to attack (although not at the present time) but forwarding an e-mail will not help either cause in the least. If you want to help, contact your local legislative    representative, or get in touch with Amnesty International or the Red Cross.  Generally, e-mail “signatures” are easily faked and mean nothing to anyone with any power to do anything about whatever the petition is complaining about.

13. IBM is not giving away free computers because Netscape bought AOL.

14. A little dog (or any picture) is not going to pop up on the screen if you forward an email to any number of people.

15. Neither the GAP nor Abercrombie & Fitch are giving away free clothes or gift certificates.

16. The US Postal Service is not going to stop printing Black Heritage Stamps because Black people are not buying them.

17. I know this is a touchy one for some of you, and you and you alone know your relationship with Almighty God, but you will not go to hell or suffer some catastrophic event if you break the prayer circle.

(PS - There is no bill pending before Congress that will allow long-distance companies to charge you for using the Internet.)

Bottom Line ... composing e-mail or posting something on the Net is as easy as writing on the walls of a public restroom. Do not automatically believe it until it has proven false... ASSUME it is false, unless there is proof that it is true.

Now, forward this message to ten friends, and you could win a chance to spend
a day with Elvis Presley and Tupac Shakur :) Ha, ha, ha 


(Found on the Internet)

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