sigh...

The day after my last post, my mom sent one of those emails to everyone in her address book...

Gossip is as gossip does

I, as we all have, often receive emails with some wild accusation attached:

"DO NOT VISIT SOMESUPERSECRETWEBSITE.COM, IT WILL DESTROY YOUR ENTIRE HARD DRIVE, MAKE YOUR SPOUSE LEAVE YOU AND SEND HATE MAIL TO YOUR GRANDPARENTS!"

This is part of the internet. We have to deal with the conspiracy theorists, the people out there who just like chaos, and the people too ignorant/paranoid about technology to know better.

I do, however, expect people to think before they act, and by act, I mean hit the "Forward" button on their email.

Why is it that people who would shun gossip think it's ok if it's on the internet? If I walked up to you and told you "Don't drive your car on I-15 today, cars have been exploding due to the new asphalt they put in", you'd probably laugh at me.

Ok, yes. There are attack sites out there. There are viruses, identity theives, and killer robots that can make your cyber life painful. But when I hear a rumor about the latest batch of Ford cars that have a faulty part that make the car dismantle itself when you drive over 50MPH, I tend to try to find out at all if it is real before I frantically call all my neighbors, friends, and family with "OMG, don't drive more than 50 or you'll all die!"

Google is your friend. Look some of this crap up before you hit "Forward". Try this site. They research urban myths and emails and such. Be part of the solution to this spam, not part of the problem.

(To those who received my angry replies to some of these, I apologize, but it's because I know you're smarter than that)