Forward This To All Your Friends
By David Barnett

How many times have you received a message asking you to send a copy to all of your friends? Did you send it along? Maybe it looked legitimate,or maybe it was from a trusted source such as a close friend. Did you check it out first, or did you just forward it to everyone in your address book?

There are many Internet stories and "urban legends" being circulated on the Internet, and they often sound very legitimate. Many times, they prey on a persons sense of duty, of wanting to do what's right, of wanting to help right a wrong. Oftentimes, they prey on our natural fears. Unfortunately, many of these are also false stories; sometimes they were never true in the first place; sometimes they were true at one time, but are now outdated; and sometimes they simply twist facts to suit the author's purpose. In this article, I'm going to address several of the more common rumors, chain letters, virus warnings, and stories that are circulating on the Internet. I'll let you know which ones are false (most of them), and which ones are true, and I'll also give you a few sources where you can verify the validity of these stories.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IF SOMEONE SENDS YOU ONE OF THESE STORIES?
Regardless of whether you feel you can trust the person who sent it to you, and no matter how official or realistic it may look to you, if you don't know if it's true or not, you should check it out before you send it to someone else.

If you have checked it out and verified that it is false, I recommend that you send a nice email to the person who sent it to you, explaining it to them, providing them with the information or link verifying its falsehood, and encouraging them to notify the person who sent it to them AND anyone else they may have forwarded it to.

WHAT'S THE HARM IN FORWARDING IT, EVEN IF IT'S JUST A FALSE RUMOR?
First of all, if it is false, then telling someone else about it is a lie. We don't want to be responsible for spreading lies.

Second, these emails take time to read or scan and delete. As an email newsletter publisher, I receive dozens of these emails each week from well-meaning readers. It takes time to go through these emails, and also to verify the stories.

Third, these emails take up space on your computer. The more of thesefloating around, the more space they take up. They also take up space onyour Internet service provider's servers, and any other servers used inthe transmission of messages. Imagine how much space these occupycollectively on the world's servers.

Fourth, they take time and bandwidth to download. Some people don't haveunlimited or free Internet access. More of these messages means moretime to connect to the email servers, and more costs.

Finally, many of these chain letters ask people to take action, likeemailing an organization or writing letters to a company or politician. In addition to the cost and time of someone doing this, it also takes alot of cost and time of the organization, company, or politician, whichis time taken away from their real purposes. Don't be a cause of thesedistractions.
HOW DO I KNOW IF ONE OF THESE STORIES IS TRUE?

As a rule of thumb, if it has the words "Send this to all of yourfriends" or some variation of that, it is probably a hoax. A realwarning from a credible source will not tell you to forward it toeveryone you know.

Legitimate businesses (i.e. Microsoft, AOL, Coca Cola, The Gap, etc.)never conduct business by chain letters. If you receive an email from acompany asking you to forward it or promising you something if you do,it's not legitimate.

Legitimate warnings and solicitations will always have the name andcontact information for a source of the information. Emails lacking thisinformation are probably hoaxes. However, merely havinglegitimate-sounding contact information does not necessarily mean that astory is true.

There are several places on the Internet where you can go to verify thestories you receive from well-meaning friends.

(<http://www.scambusters.org/legends.html>). This site lists dozens ofhoaxes and false rumors, as well as more sources for research. Scambusters also has a free email newsletter.

Another great site for information on how to spot a false rumor or chainletter is Hoaxbusters (<http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/>). Hoaxbusters is apublic service of the CIAC (Computer Incident Advisory Capability) Team and the U.S. Department of Energy. 

For a large variety of hoaxes, rumors, and urban legends, check outSnopes.com (http:\\www.snopes.com). They have a searchable database, soyou can enter a keyword from the message you want to research and it willtake you to related articles.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THESE STORIES, HOAXES, AND RUMORS?

First, let's cover some of the religion-based emails:
THEME: Jesus will be portrayed as a homosexual in an upcoming film. This email urges you to sign the email and forward it on, and alsoencourages you to write letters of protest to the Attorney General ofvarious states.

STATUS: FALSE. This petition first started circulating as early as 1984,when in fact, there never was such a film.

THEME: Atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair is trying to get religiousbroadcasting banned from radio and television.

STATUS: FALSE. This particular hoax tends to evolve periodically. Afew years ago, the popular TV show Touched By An Angel was added to thechain letter as a potential target for the bannings. The following isexcerpted from the Urban Legends Reference Pages:

Madalyn Murray O'Hair never petitioned the FCC to ban religiousprogramming nor was she ever granted a hearing by that regulatory body todiscuss the matter. That's not all that surprising either for there is nofederal law or regulation that gives the FCC the authority to prohibitradio and television stations from presenting religious programs. 

The real RM-2493 had nothing to do with Madalyn Murray O'Hair nor did ithave anything to do with banning religious broadcasting. That didn't stopthe above petition from being widely circulated as concerned citizenafter concerned citizen signed it, then sent it on to an ever-wideningcircle. It's still kicking around to this day despite the real RM-2493going in front of the FCC in 1974 and being turned down by that body in1975. 

It was a given that Madalyn Murray O'Hair would come to be associatedwith the "ban religious broadcasting" petition. It was largely throughher efforts that in 1963 the U.S. Supreme Court barred organized prayerfrom the public schools, bringing her national infamy. (In 1964 LIFEmagazine headlined her as "the most hated woman in America," a title sheburnished as a badge of honor.) 

For the past few years, she's been the focus of a mystery. In August1995, Madalyn (then 76), along with her son, Jon (40), and granddaughter,Robin (30), vanished from their home, reportedly with breakfast stillcooking, and were never seen again. 
A recent news story indicates that they may have recovered the remains ofMadalyn on a ranch in Texas. Interestingly, her son William, now 54, isa Christian evangelist.

THEME: US Attorney General Janet Reno defines a cultist on a 60 Minutesinterview. Her reported definition was as follows:

A cultist is one who has a strong belief in the Bible and the SecondComing of Christ; who frequently attends Bible's studies; who has a highlevel of financial giving to a Christian cause; who home schools fortheir children; who has accumulated survival foods and has a strongbelief in the Second Amendment; and who distrust big government. Any ofthese may qualify but certainly more than one would cause us to look atthis person as a threat, and his family as being in a risk situation thatqualified for government interference.

STATUS: FALSE. Janet Reno never made such a statement on 60 Minutes oranywhere else.

THEME: Immediate prayers are needed for Mike Hutchinson, a missionary inWest Africa, who is on trial for murder and will be hanged if foundguilty.

STATUS: FALSE. While this message has its roots in truth's (a boy inSenegal did step in front of Mr. Hutchinson vehicle and subsequentlydied), there was no mob as alleged in the email, he is not being triedfor murder, and he is not in danger of being hanged. In fact, Mr.Hutchinson is now back in the United States.

THEME: Prayers are needed for David Allen, a missionary in Thailand, whois dying from an unknown disease.

STATUS: FALSE. Like the previous theme, this one also has its roots intruth, but the crisis is over, and David Allen is doing well.

The preceding two themes are examples of good intentions gone bad. Whilethere is certainly nothing wrong with praying for someone even aftertheir situation has passed, it is still perpetuating an untruth. Prayerswould be better used for those in need now, rather than those whosecrises no longer exist.

If you must pass on a prayer request, I suggest the following guidelines:
1. Only pass it on if the request is from someone you know personally.
2. Put a date on it.
3. Put your contact information on the email so people can contact youabout the validity of the request.

THEME: Scientific discoveries supporting scriptures.

VARIATIONS:NASA scientists discover a lost day in time.An atheist professor challenges God to stop a piece of chalk frombreaking.Scientists drilling in Siberia drill down to the center of the Earth andreach Hell.A group known as "The Second Coming Project" is seeking to clone Jesusfrom the DNA of holy relics.

STATUS: FALSE. Most of these are simply stories that someone made up orembellished. They prey on Christians? desire to justify or prove theexistence of God.

THEME: Missing Child -- A little girl named Kelsey Brooke Jones ismissing. Sometimes a photo is attached to the email.

STATUS: FALSE. The child was in fact missing, but only for about twohours. Apparently her mother awoke from a nap and discovered the childmissing, and immediately called the police. When the police arrived andan officer began knocking on doors in the neighborhood, the child wasfound playing at a neighbor's house. No one knows for sure how this onegot started -- the mother claims she did not circulate this email. For moredetails on this, visit<http://www.snopes2.com/inboxer/children/kelsey.htm>.

NOTE: There are many missing children, and occasionally one of theseemails turns out to be true. The best place to check them out is at theNational Center for Missing and Exploited Children web site at<http://www.missingkids.com/>. There you can search for a child by name andverify if the concern is real or not.

THEME: Forward the email to your friends, and receive money or productsdepending on the number of forwards. A variation usually involves an illchild, and the email claims that some organization will donate so manycents for every email that gets forwarded.

STATUS: FALSE. It's impossible to track an email as it's forwarded. Fora complete explanation of why, visit<http://www.urbanlegends.com/ulz/emailtracking.html>.

THEME: Danger Alerts
VARIATIONS:AIDS or disease infected needles are being planted in coin return slots,movie theater seats, gas pump handles, etc.Viruses are being mailed to people in envelopes, usually on smallsponges.Rat urine on the tops of soda cans can kill you.Kidney thieves are stealing kidneys from sleeping victims.Using a certain product (shampoo, drug, aspartame, etc.) can cause canceror sickness or is toxic.Gang initiations target motorists.Many others.

STATUS: FALSE. The vast majority of these are in fact, blatantly false,meant simply to scare people. They sometimes sound real enough, but theyare not. If you have any questions on whether a danger alert is real,check out one of the sites mentioned above.

THEME: Computer Virus Warnings

STATUS: Some true, some false.
So how can you tell the true from the false ones?

Source: Where did you get the warning? If your friend forwarded it,which came from her cousin, who got it from her daughter, who got it fromher friend at college, who got it from the US Virus Lab, it's probably ahoax. If you subscribe to a virus scanning service (you should!) with your virus scanning software, you will probably receive the alertdirectly from them.

Does it ask you to forward it? Genuine virus alerts from legitimatesources won't tell you to forward it to everyone you know.

Does it link to a legitimate source? A genuine virus alert will probablygive a brief description of the virus, and will have a link to moreinformation. However, sometimes fake virus warnings will also link to alegitimate site. The genuine link will take you directly to informationon the specific virus, not to the site's home page.

How can you verify if the virus warning is true? Check out a legitimatewebsite, such as one of the following:
<http://www.vmyths.com/>
<http://www.mcafee.com/>
<http://www.symantec.com/>

ARE ANY OF THESE EMAILS TRUE?
Some are, but even the ones that are true are often exaggerated. Forexample, you may have seen the one that warns you never to dial area code809. This one happens to be TRUE. That particular area code belongs tothe Dominican Republic, not to the United States, although you would dialit just like you would dial any long-distance number. However, itfunctions like calling a 900-number, in which you get charged for everyminute you are on the line, usually at exorbitant rates. The commonversion you may have seen states that you will be charged $2,425 perminute, but the reality is much less than that, although it will stillcost a lot of money, and you will have little or no recourse with yourphone company since the charges are coming from a foreign country.

CONCLUSION
When you get these emails, the best things to do are:

1. Check it out. If you are not sure if it's real, check it out on oneof the sites listed above. My favorite is www.snopes.com <http://www.snopes.com/>, because it'seasy to remember, has good search capabilities, and is one of the mostcomprehensive sites available on hoaxes. I'd even recommend that youspend a few hours some time going through their site and reading up onthe various hoaxes. It will be both educational and entertaining.

2. If it is not real, or if you aren't sure, DON'T FORWARD IT. Simplyignore and delete it.

3. If you are sure it is not real, let the person who sent it to you knowabout it, and urge them to check these out before forwarding them. Sendthem a copy of this article, if you like. Direct them to www.snopes.com <http://www.snopes.com/>or one of the other sites above. And encourage them to send a message toanyone else they've sent it to and the person who sent it to them, askingthem to help stop the spread of these false stories and hoaxes.

4. If it is real, then feel free to forward it if you like. It's a goodidea to include a link to the site where you checked it out and whichverifies its authenticity.
I almost hate to say it, but since we, as Christians, should desire to put a stop to the spread of false rumors, stories, and lies, I'm inviting you to?

FORWARD THIS TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS!

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The source of this article is unknown and was directed to us without attribution.  We apologize to the author for not giving him proper credit however we feel the information herein is just too good and too important not to circulate.
