Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Online Truth Part One: Junk Email
How many times have your heard a friend or family member say that junk mail is one of their pet peeves? They hate getting so much stuff in the mail that they did not ask for and have no interest in. And then how many of those same people have forwarded an email to you with some outrageous claims to earn cash. Maybe you got an email containing a tear jerker story about some poor child with a terminal illness or a family that was the victim of a horrible tragedy with a weird twist of events that ends up giving you chills. The truth is that a large majority of these emails containing FW: FW: FW: in the subject line are what my wife calls hog wash.
I have successfully converted my wife to a truth wielding respondent to these outrageous emails. Now don't get me wrong, neither of us mind a good story. What we don't like is getting a story from a person that we trust where they have blindly forwarded a story that is obviously suspect. At least it usually seems obvious to me when I receive an email that is suspect. All I ask is that people make it clear whether the story is true or not before they forward it again. My posting on "Billy Graham and the Limo" is a prime example. I told where I got it and what I know about the story from doing a few short minutes of research.
Now I am not going to leave you hanging here. There are some good resources on the Internet that help clarify or expose the most popular emails that you might get. I want to give you a few pointers on when to utilize these resources and then I will list some of my favorite places for gathering the latest facts on a story.
Here are a few guidelines to follow before forwarding easy cash, latest computer virus that formats you hard drive, tear jerker, chain letter, or outrageous sounding stories via email.
Now that is not a very hard list of suggestions. I do not plan on leaving you hanging here. I want to point you to a few of my favorite resources.
These are just a few that I have used recently with great success. I have also used search engines like Google, but you have to be careful with search engines. They can lead you to some unreliable sources of information. You will be able to find reference to a large percentage of your suspect emails using the sites listed above. For those you can not verify, you can put something like "could not verify this but it is funny" at the beginning of the message. Why not take a few minutes to verify something if you were planning on spending a few minutes sifting through your address book picking victims to receive your junk emails? It only takes a few minutes and you become better educated and prevent yourself a little bit of embarrassment. Yes! Your friends might be saying to each other, “I wish that person would stop sending out all of that junk.”
Those on the receiving end of the junk emails will just have to keep a health stock of replacement delete keys for your computer. I would suggest adding the offender to your spam list, but I for one get many valid emails that I do need to read from a number of the people who are habitual junk email forwarders. In the meantime, be patient with them and send them a courteous reply with your findings on the truth about the suspect email that you receive.
Next: Online Truth Part Two: Personal Information Sharing
This message is cross posted on The Tech Land of Ozz
I have successfully converted my wife to a truth wielding respondent to these outrageous emails. Now don't get me wrong, neither of us mind a good story. What we don't like is getting a story from a person that we trust where they have blindly forwarded a story that is obviously suspect. At least it usually seems obvious to me when I receive an email that is suspect. All I ask is that people make it clear whether the story is true or not before they forward it again. My posting on "Billy Graham and the Limo" is a prime example. I told where I got it and what I know about the story from doing a few short minutes of research.
Now I am not going to leave you hanging here. There are some good resources on the Internet that help clarify or expose the most popular emails that you might get. I want to give you a few pointers on when to utilize these resources and then I will list some of my favorite places for gathering the latest facts on a story.
Here are a few guidelines to follow before forwarding easy cash, latest computer virus that formats you hard drive, tear jerker, chain letter, or outrageous sounding stories via email.
- If all else fails ask me to help validate a story.
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true.
"True Story" in the subject line should raise a flag.
More than one instance of the "fw" in the subject line should raise suspicion.
Do a quick check for validity of the story. (See a few resources below)
Ask a friend who knows a little more about how to track down a story's history.
Add a comment at the beginning or end of your email with your findings about the story.
Easy Cash: Forward only information based on personal experiences or of those who are close friends or family. Those experiences told about a guy who my friend's friend knows do not usually hold water.
Now that is not a very hard list of suggestions. I do not plan on leaving you hanging here. I want to point you to a few of my favorite resources.
About.com's Current Netlore - My favorite, but have your popup blocker enabled.
HOAXBUSTERS
Symantec - Virus Hoax Page from the producers of Norton Anti Virus
McAfee - Virus Hoax Page
These are just a few that I have used recently with great success. I have also used search engines like Google, but you have to be careful with search engines. They can lead you to some unreliable sources of information. You will be able to find reference to a large percentage of your suspect emails using the sites listed above. For those you can not verify, you can put something like "could not verify this but it is funny" at the beginning of the message. Why not take a few minutes to verify something if you were planning on spending a few minutes sifting through your address book picking victims to receive your junk emails? It only takes a few minutes and you become better educated and prevent yourself a little bit of embarrassment. Yes! Your friends might be saying to each other, “I wish that person would stop sending out all of that junk.”
Those on the receiving end of the junk emails will just have to keep a health stock of replacement delete keys for your computer. I would suggest adding the offender to your spam list, but I for one get many valid emails that I do need to read from a number of the people who are habitual junk email forwarders. In the meantime, be patient with them and send them a courteous reply with your findings on the truth about the suspect email that you receive.
Next: Online Truth Part Two: Personal Information Sharing
This message is cross posted on The Tech Land of Ozz
