quote:Dear Dr. Bombay: I just read your column about people who pass on every piece of information they get in their e-mail. This is one of my pet peeves. When I receive one of these, I go immediately to Snopes.com to check it out, and then I forward the information to the sender with a polite note telling them what I’ve done and asking them to read the results of my search. It usually takes me about one minute and 99 percent of the time I find that the e-mail is the proverbial crock.
Dear Nancy: I’ve tried and tried and tried doing the same thing. Unfortunately, I find that most people are idiots when it comes to Internet hoaxes. I’m not sure there’s a cure for that.
guruwan2b
Ding Dong! Merrily on High Definition TV
posted
Sorry, I just got the image of Samatha Stevens calling Dr. Bombay.... Didn't know he had a column.... As for his answer, it is pretty right on....Most people do seem to be idiots when it comes to the Internet hoaxes....
-------------------- Too much of this navel gazing and we'll disappear up our own arses. Danvers Carew Posts: 7465 | From: Oklahoma | Registered: Oct 2001
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I've recently sent 2 Snopes links to the head of HR here, being polite enough not to hit "reply all" when she's sent something company wide.
She doesn't respond to me, or post the link to everyone showing her mistake. She'll keep doing it, I'm sure.
Posts: 1359 | From: Akron, Ohio | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Tzarina: I've recently sent 2 Snopes links to the head of HR here, being polite enough not to hit "reply all" when she's sent something company wide.
She doesn't respond to me, or post the link to everyone showing her mistake. She'll keep doing it, I'm sure.
Perhaps a proactive (rather than reactive) strike is in order here. Maybe compose a company-wide email that goes something like this:
Are you sick and tired of the seemingly endless string of silly emails that you receive?
You know, the ones that tell you that perfume bandits are out to get you in the mall parking lot? Or that if you forward this email to everyone you know that Bill Gates himself will buy a year's supply of groceries for a hungry family? How about the one that tells us that Target stores are anti-American?
While we may not be able to stop everyone from forwarding these ridiculous emails to anyone who has the misfortune of being in the sender's address book, we can at least take a simple step to ensure that we are not personally responsible for forwarding erroneous information.
This is a link to the Urban Legends Reference Pages, a site devoted to debunking many of the popular urban legends currently making their way through the World Wide Web.
The folks at snopes.com have taken the time to thoroughly research nearly every single urban legend, email hoax, and criminal activity warning that you might find in your inbox.
The site is easy to navigate, easy to search, and very informative.
The next time you feel that irresistible urge to click "Send All", maybe you can take a minute to go to snopes.com and do a little research about what you are sending.
The folks in your address book will thank you. Regards, xxxxx
-------------------- Support you local community newspaper! CNN.com probably won't be covering your child's spelling bee. Posts: 609 | From: Rhode Island | Registered: May 2005
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Scoob, if I did that at my workplace, it would be grounds for them to fire me.
For that matter, if my supervisor regularly forwarded e-mail hoaxes throughout the company, he would be fired, too.
IOW, that approach only works with small companies that don't have well defined (or well enforced) e-mail policies.
Seaboe
-------------------- Education is not the filling of a hard drive, but the lighting of a bulb. -- Yeats via Esprise Me Posts: 5562 | From: Seattle, WA | Registered: Jun 2005
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guruwan2b
Ding Dong! Merrily on High Definition TV
posted
I have often sent snopes links to coworkers who forward crap to everyone. I do have a couple of people who email me first to see if the email is crap, before they send to all.
One small step....
-------------------- Too much of this navel gazing and we'll disappear up our own arses. Danvers Carew Posts: 7465 | From: Oklahoma | Registered: Oct 2001
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I'm not so sure about that Seaboe - in my own experience, it depends on how strict the company is, as well as how good they are at policing it.
I used to work for the Government of the NWT as a summer student. One of the written rules there was that the email was for work use only. However everyone in the office, my superiors included, used the email to forward jokes (and occassionally urban legends) around the office now and again. It was an unwritten policy there that so long as it didn't interfere with your work and wasn't questionable material (eg racist/sexist/pornographic) you were allowed to do it every now and again.
YMMV, but I think a lot more has to do with the strictness of the company, rather then the size.
-------------------- When p.c. actions become so inane they're absurd, my opinions won't be far behind. Posts: 102 | From: Regina, SK, Canada | Registered: Nov 2005
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I don't really think you're contradicting me, Rixel. It is my experience that small companies are less likely to enforce the policies.
However, what we may really be debating is the definition of "small." My company has more than 165k employees. You really will get fired for forwarding an e-mail to the entire company. You may get fired (and will get disciplined) even for doing so within a small circle of friends, if you get caught or are careless.
Seaboe
-------------------- Education is not the filling of a hard drive, but the lighting of a bulb. -- Yeats via Esprise Me Posts: 5562 | From: Seattle, WA | Registered: Jun 2005
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It is because of someone in my office (a small one - only 50 people) that I even know about Snopes. Everytime someone sent a system wide email of the questionable variety, he would post if it was or wasn't an urban legend and the link to the specific page. While I find this guy an obnoxious ass 99.9% of the time, the Snopes info was very useful as I spend quite a bit of time here now. Also, I send the links to my mom when she sends me the scary emails.
Seaboe, on my monitor is a quote by King George V - "Always go to the bathroom when you have a chance" - words to live by.
edited for clarification
-------------------- "Maybe getting in the last word doesn't really mean you win." - The Clarks Posts: 486 | From: Pittsburgh, PA | Registered: Sep 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Seaboe Muffinchucker: Scoob, if I did that at my workplace, it would be grounds for them to fire me.
For that matter, if my supervisor regularly forwarded e-mail hoaxes throughout the company, he would be fired, too.
IOW, that approach only works with small companies that don't have well defined (or well enforced) e-mail policies.
Seaboe
Well, certainly not worth getting fired over, is it?
-------------------- Support you local community newspaper! CNN.com probably won't be covering your child's spelling bee. Posts: 609 | From: Rhode Island | Registered: May 2005
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Being a faithful snopestress, of course I direct everyone to the main ULRP's.
I haven't gotten any forwards in awhile... Something tells me my co-workers are just sending them to one another and "leaving me out".
Oh, well.
-------------------- Licorice of the Lord! This is classy stuff...Should I be wearing a tie? Or, at least, pants? ~I'mNotDedalus Posts: 975 | From: New Jersey | Registered: Jun 2005
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Seaboe - Ah, 165k yeah... given that that's a good 4x the population of the Territory, nevermind the 40 - 80x the population of the gnwt, yeah, forwarding it to everyone in that size of a company could cause some employment related problems
-------------------- When p.c. actions become so inane they're absurd, my opinions won't be far behind. Posts: 102 | From: Regina, SK, Canada | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Rixel: Seaboe - Ah, 165k yeah... given that that's a good 4x the population of the Territory, nevermind the 40 - 80x the population of the gnwt, yeah, forwarding it to everyone in that size of a company could cause some employment related problems
Seaboe
-------------------- Education is not the filling of a hard drive, but the lighting of a bulb. -- Yeats via Esprise Me Posts: 5562 | From: Seattle, WA | Registered: Jun 2005
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