I Give Up On The Lazy And Ignorant!

[JDoors]

You all know how many items sent via the Internet, either by e-mail or through forums or whatever, are, well, not exactly true. One example is, on another board, someone posted why you should not frequent a certain popular coffee chain. They had their facts wrong but few seemed to care, even after being informed of the false nature of the post, evem after a link was posted where they could find accurate information, a snippet from that link was posted that contained irrefutable evidence, and they continued to post as if the message were true.

I got an e-mail forward from a long-distance friend with a link to a site that appeared genuine. In the forward it stated that a particular band would donate a specified amount for each "view" their video recieved. I have visited sites that donate on a pay-per-view basis and it's easy so, I went there.

Close, SO close. Viewing the video (and others) can result in a donation, up to an amount that has long since been obtained (further views would NOT result in any more donations). Every other fact was wrong (the amount donated per view is actually GREATER than stated in the forward) or misleading (a "goal" for views was listed that had been exceeded thirty times over, hence nothing more was getting donated no matter how many additional views were obtained).

The thing is, the site IS good, it can do some good with little effort on our part, it's legit, so why-oh-why make stuff up or get facts wrong? Did someone just make a mistake and now that forward, inaccuracies and all, is immortal? Did someone decide the truth wasn't ... good enough?

I used to write back, say when she forwards me something like the first example above that's wrong. But, why bother with this one? She doesn't seem to care. It's not going to change her behavior. It's not going to stop the forwards (unless I tick her off 'til she stops writing completely). The site's fine, her intent is fine, she apparently doesn't care about truth or accuracy, so:

I give up.

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Edited January 16, 2008 by JDoors

[isteve]

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

[Bubba Bob]

I got a foward the other day that started out with:

"I checked this on snopes and it's all true"

So, of course, I checked it on Snopes, and it was mostly bull. LOL!

[TheTerrorist_75]

I got a foward the other day that started out with:

"I checked this on snopes and it's all true"

So, of course, I checked it on Snopes, and it was mostly bull. LOL!

Sounds like the Obama and his Muslim faith email.

I got so sick of unfounded or just down right stupid forwarded email a few years ago that I wrote a reply that was automatically sent if the email had Fwd: in it. The reply wasn't pleasant and a few of my family members and friends got quite upset about it.

[Bubba Bob]

I got a foward the other day that started out with:

"I checked this on snopes and it's all true"

So, of course, I checked it on Snopes, and it was mostly bull. LOL!

Sounds like the Obama and his Muslim faith email.

I got so sick of unfounded or just down right stupid forwarded email a few years ago that I wrote a reply that was automatically sent if the email had Fwd: in it. The reply wasn't pleasant and a few of my family members and friends got quite upset about it.

You're good TT. THat's exactly what it was.

Im not exatly a fan of Obama, but most of that email is just crap.

I heard someone say today that they didn't like Obama because "he refused to put his hand on the Bible". Where'd ya hear that? "Uh, an Email I got".

Edited January 16, 2008 by Bubba Bob

[TheTerrorist_75]

I just knew it had to be the Obama one. Some idiot has been spamming the Craigslist Rant & Rave sections with it.

[blim]

I have a sister who forwards junk--just today I got the Obama one from her. If I see "FW" in the message, it just gets deleted.......I've tried and realize the best thing to do is just make sure it doesn't go any further from my end.

Liz

[echobay]

It's cuz gossip and hear say travel at twice the speed of fact and truth!

Come on .. Don't you remember? THEY did a survey and...

[sethook]

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

I thought it was, Never let a news story get in the way of a National News Reporter.

[bearskin]

well, I for one, would never spread a story about chicken little and the sky is falling.

or the little pig and his house of straw.

is the word "pig" politically correct?

[JSKY]

O MY GOD!!! THE SKY IS FALLING???

[martymas]

is this obama the black man standing for president

are you anti black or anti democrat

i thought this board filtered that sort of post

if you want a politic tirade

ime all for it

marty

[JSKY]

Your right Marty...

Let's swing this back to the our favorite subject. Getting e-mails that have been forwarded by 10.000 people, having to open 40 or so links just to see the "Hurry now and you can get in on this once and a life time offer" (PS. I use Pay Pal if you do want to send me $10.00)

[martymas]

hi JS

normally i filter my spam

but the worst offenders are friends who send emails

with the proviso

if you send this on the 88888888888

amount of people you will be lucky

or you will recive a bonus

i have a lady freind who sends this sort of mail

and ime not sure how tell her no spam

she believes in this sort of

art she calls it

ive tried to block her emails but she thinks

ime mean if i do that

what do you do in these circumstances

buggered if i know

Edited January 17, 2008 by martymas

[TheTerrorist_75]

is this obama the black man standing for president

are you anti black or anti democrat

i thought this board filtered that sort of post

if you want a politic tirade

ime all for it

marty

No one was discussing political tirades. There was no mention of anti anything political in this thread, just anti Fwd: messages.

[JDoors]

It's cuz gossip and hear say travel at twice the speed of fact and truth!

Come on .. Don't you remember? THEY did a survey and...

I checked that out on Snopes and it's TRUE!

I got a foward the other day that started out with:

"I checked this on snopes and it's all true"

So, of course, I checked it on Snopes, and it was mostly bull. LOL!

That's the latest trick and it works as far as the lazy and ignorant go since they don't check ANYTHING anyway, that line just "proves" they can forward the message in good conscience.

O MY GOD!!! THE SKY IS FALLING???

It's true! A friend of a friend's sister's mother-in-law SAW IT! Look it up on Snopes!

... Getting e-mails that have been forwarded by 10.000 people, having to open 40 or so links just to see the "Hurry now and you can get in on this once and a life time offer" (PS. I use Pay Pal if you do want to send me $10.00)

Grr. Click, nothin'. Click, nothin'. Click, click, click ... Nothin'! Then it's something they've sent at least once a year for the last five years. And I thought MY memory was bad.

hi JS

normally i filter my spam but the worst offenders are friends who send emails with the proviso if you send this on the 88888888888 amount of people you will be lucky or you will recive a bonus. i have a lady freind who sends this sort of mail and ime not sure how tell her no spam. she believes in this sort of

art she calls it. ive tried to block her emails but she thinks ime mean if i do that.

what do you do in these circumstances

buggered if i know

I've tried e-mailing them and saying "don't forward this stuff" but it doesn't work. I'm not going to get mean, and occasionally there IS something, wait, rarely, there is something I want to see, so I just grin-and-bear it. I open 'em all up and delete the ones I've seen or that have those irritating (and entirely unnecessary) "tricks" in them.

I try to picture it and it just doesn't "compute." Who sits around and creates these things? Who sits around and feels the need to add those tricks to what MIGHT have been slightly interesting reads? "Oooo, here's a cute picture of a kitty, I'm gonna add that if you don't forward this you're going to have terrible luck, after all, that's what friends are for, to threaten the well-being of their friends and family." Say WHAT?

I have a sister who forwards junk--just today I got the Obama one from her. If I see "FW" in the message, it just gets deleted.......I've tried and realize the best thing to do is just make sure it doesn't go any further from my end.

Liz

The thing is, since I DON'T forward everything that comes my way, MY friends and family actually open my e-mails! (What a concept!) They've told me they know if I forwarded something, it MUST be new, important, or especially funny or interesting.

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How about those "Things about you" surveys? Anyone forward those to all their friends & family? I admit I sometimes return it to the orignal sender (rather than actually write a chatty and informative e-mail, yeah, pretty ironic since the word "lazy" is in the subject title).