TerKarch queries " Why do you think that hoaxes have been so successful?"
I'd say it's because your average sessile AOL barnacle just clicks on "Forward" every time they get a piece of e-mail telling them about a new computer virus, or a missing child, or Bill Gates' desire to have them and their friends become his personal beta-testers for Microsoft's new e-mail program; id est, if it's in writing and sounds vaguely plausible, well, it just MIGHT be true, so why NOT send it to another five people?
Your average human being is a clump of autonomic nerve responses; poke them HERE and their leg jumps THERE. An e-mail with a dire warning arrives in their inbox, and they just shoot it out to everyone they know WITHOUT bothering to spend the five seconds it would take for their webbrowser to verify its veracity.
Quite frankly, if you've been on the Internet for awhile and HAVEN'T acquired any of the vast easily accessible resources available to you for detecting hoaxes, and you continue to shoot out e-mail warning people about nonexistant dangers, well, I say you're a stupid jackass, regardless of how good your intentions might be.
There is no mysterious billionaire or Make A Wish Foundation or three unnamed corporate sponsors handing out 5 cents for every forwarded e-mail to help a sick child. A dying nine year old English boy doesn't want your business cards sent to him. AOL is not about to start charging for instant messaging, the Post Office isn't about to start charging for e-mail, and large corporations are not donating their money to the Church of Satan (at least no
checks have shown up here!).
Why does this cybertrash endlessly circle the Electronic Earth like so many million styrofoam pellets adrift on the Internet wind?
Because lots of people are gossipy, credulous cretins who are too lazy to do even the slightest, tiniest sub-atomic particle of investigation and critical thinking before repeating rumour and calumny. Mindless repetition of rumour is EASIER than firing up the ol' cerebral cortex and taking it out for a spin on the freeway of critical thinking.
And I have to admit that I am part of the problem, too.
When some well-meaning cyberfriend of mine fills my inbox with garbage, only rarely do I bother to write back to them and say, "Listen up, you stupid piece of disgusting human filth. Stop sending me this trash, or I'll come over to your house and pour gasoline down your chimney and throw a lighted match in your window. This is your last warning, Mom!" No, I usually just delete the offending e-mail with nary a word to the perpetrator.
Well, I'm sick of being "Mr. Nice Guy!!"
The floor is open for suggestions on WHAT TO DO with WELL-MEANING MORONS that send out this kind of e-mail!
Sincerely,
Marshall Stacks,
Pratt Falls, Idaho