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?

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?

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.

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!

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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.

“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

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.

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