Fighting Chain Letters With Common Sense
January 29th, 2008
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Someone I know has two sayings I’m a big fan of.
1. “How do you know that’s true?”
2. “Don’t check your brain at the door.”
In Don’t get fooled again, Seth Godin explains that before you forward a chain email to your entire contact list, you should do a simple lookup on Snopes to see if it’s a hoax.
This is the “How do you know that’s true?” principle. Just because someone says something is true, that doesn’t mean it is, no matter how many capital letters they use. You probably don’t even know the person who started the email, so how do you know it’s true?
About a month ago, I received a chain email that was actually true. (The first one ever!) The email warned about a deadly computer virus, and proudly claimed “CONFIRMED BY SNOPES TO BE TRUE!” Indeed, Snopes confirmed that it was a real virus…four years ago.
This is where “Don’t check your brain at the door” comes in. Most people who forward chain emails are smart people who have somehow forgotten that the unknown author of a hyped-up email doesn’t control them. Just because someone tells you to forward an email to everyone you know, that doesn’t make it a good idea.
Ask yourself if you would forward the email without being asked. Are you sure your contacts haven’t already received it? Is the threat current or from four years ago? Will the email help people, or do they already know not to open viruses?
Just some simple tips to use email for good instead of evil.
Food for thought: what if someone ever hacked Snopes?
January 29th, 2008 at 2:41 am
Hi Hunter,
Funny you should post this now. Just yesterday I received the “butter’margarine” one…margarine is only one molecule away from being plastic…
I had read that one on Snopes, and although there is some truth to the email, it is not completely true.
Normally I delete those emails. I get a lot of forwards, and if they contain a funny joke, I may forward them on, but not to everyone in my mailbox.
I like the ones that say, send this to ten people within 8 seconds, or you will die..or something stupid like that. Yeah!. Delete!!!!
Thank you for reminding all of us that a lot of these emails are hoaxes. Snopes is a great site to check……unless they have been hacked.
Barbara’s last blog post..Signed Up For Google’s Saving Account
January 29th, 2008 at 3:10 am
That’s a great application of two great pieces of wisdom. I work in IT support and as you can imagine, we get alot of clients and people we know giving us the “heads up” on the latest virus threat (or rather hoax).
“how do you know that’s true?” is a great piece of life advice. I encourage my daughter to question things.
And I’m now far more guarded generally about outrageous claims.
It seems that many people feel the need to shout louder and with more exaggeration than ever before to make themselves heard above all the noise and information being thrown at them.
A friend of mine, an amazing platform speaker, once told me about the power of silence or a whisper.
In a room of 1000 people, he can make the most amazing points with a pause or a whisper.
So if you have something true to say, you can help people answer the “how do you know it’s true?” question without capital letters, noise or exclamation marks.
And make your point far more forcibly.
Ian Denny’s last blog post..For Blog Addicts Only: Putting Pictures In A Blog Post
January 30th, 2008 at 12:44 am
Barbara, I hadn’t heard that one about margarine. It’s unbelievable that so many people don’t even question the validity of something like that. I don’t forward funny emails, but I sometimes email people to let them know of a funny website I found, if I know they’ll appreciate it.
Ian, I’ve heard that Americans are subjected to 5,000 advertising messages every day (I think it’s a bit less on your side of the pond). We’ve gotten used to tuning out most of them, so people feel like they have to be louder or more obnoxious than everyone else to get through. The Super Bowl pre-game is going to feature a 60-second Pepsi commercial in complete silence. It’s definitely different, but we’ll have to see whether it’s a hit or not.
January 31st, 2008 at 6:20 am
Hi Hunter. I hadn’t heard of Snopes. But I can’t stand chain letters. If I see something has been forwarded, I barely ever open it and I wouldn’t forward it to anyone else either.
I just don’t understand how people have so much time on their hands.
And I have a couple of friends who forward me jokes all the time, but send them a proper email with questions in and they don’t have time to type a reply. They text back instead, because it’s easier!
Catherine L’s last blog post..What Are People Saying About Your Business Online?
February 1st, 2008 at 12:04 am
Catherine, Snopes is great for confirming whether a chain letter is a hoax, as well as verifying many other rumors. They really do a good job of researching everything.
Maybe when you email your friends who don’t reply, you should say “Answer all my questions in ten seconds or you’ll die!” Maybe they’ve been conditioned to only respond to emails like that.
February 1st, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Hi Hunter,
I just received the email on HIV needles place on movie theater seats.
And for years, I’ve not only dealt with these “negative” email chain letters, but so-called “positive” ones, like email this to 10 people and bring them good luck.
Dealing with these simply requires common sense, which is really a misnomer.
Nez’s last blog post..Who Are the Gamblers?
February 1st, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Nez, I didn’t know there were emails about HIV needles on movie theater seats, but I’ve gotten ones about HIV needles on gas pumps. People have told me about how they’ve checked gas pumps very carefully ever since then, and I had to explain that there was never a real threat.
And here’s where crying wolf can hurt people. In 2002 when the D.C. Sniper was shooting people at gas stations, I wonder how many people ignored email warnings because they thought it was another hoax?