h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A534890 - This is about those annoying little bits and bytes of spam we all get, claiming some latest remarkable true life story or event.

Yes, I'm back writing again. It took quite a bit of Spring cleaning to blow all the cobwebs out of my brain after our "short" break. So, without further ado or falderol (sp?) here's my latest contribution. Comments, criticisms, witticisms, opinions, thoughts, musings, anyone, anyone?
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/U133044

[From time to time, every man is tempted to hoist the skull and crossbones and slit a few throats.]

Nice article! I like it
How about adding some stuff about virus hoaxes? You know, the ones that say stuff like:
'Very Urgent!!!!!!!

PASS THIS ON TO ANYONE YOU HAVE AN E-MAIL ADDRESS FOR.
If you receive an email titled: "It Takes Guts to Say Jesus"
DO NOT OPEN IT. It will erase everything on your hard drive.
This information was announced yesterday morning from
IBM; AOL states that this is a very dangerous virus, much worse than
"Melissa," and that there is NO Remedy for it at this time. Some very
sick
individual has succeeded in using the reformat function from Norton
Utilities
causing it to completely erase all documents on the hard drive. It has
been
designed to work with Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet
Explorer. It

destroys Macintosh and IBM compatible computers.

This is a new, very malicious virus and not many people know about it.
Pass
this warning along to EVERYONE in your address book and please share it
with

all your online friends ASAP so that this threat maybe stopped. Please
practice cautionary measures and tell anyone that may have access to
your
computer. Forward this warning to everyone that you know that might
access
the Internet.

Joyce L. Bober
IBM Information Systems
Pittsburgh Mailing Systems
412 - 922-8744'

People always tend to forward them, even though they are completely false. I've found that usually just a quick search of the supposed virus's name on a search engine usually turns up loads of pages showing that it's definately a hoax. The websites of companies that provide virus protection software (like [url removed by moderator]) usually have updates about the latest virus hoaxes too.

It's just an idea, you don't have to add it, but I think that a large amount of 'E-Hoaxes' are virus hoaxes. Up to you though.

Touconos

I'd agree, the vast majority of what I receive are virus hoaxes. I'm getting stroppier and stroppier with people as I point out exactly why it's a hoax. They just don't think and forward these things on to people when surely it'd be more sensible to send them to their work IT dept (invariably these are people that either don't have a pc at home or are new to home computing).

One thing you might want to take notice of, the link you provided in your message proposing this points to your personal space, not the article in question. You might want to post a revised link. I can't be bothered myself

--
Talith

grrrrrrrr......the moderator removed my link...and it wasn't even a link!!!! All I said was 'eSafe'! What's wrong with that??? Does this mean if I market a product called 'The' then the moderators will remove the word 'the' from every post???

(an extremely befuddled) Touconos (Scout)

Yes, but 'e***e' IS a website, and I believe that under the guidelines, saying the name of the website is considered equivalent to linking to it.

Mikey

ps -- I also think the virus hoaxes should be added in. I would also add that including the whole, long e-hoax email was a bit distracting for me.

I'm not going to get into an argument about the bloomin' moderators, because this isn't the place to do it.

I agree that perhaps the big long e-hoax e-mail was too....long
Perhaps just relevant bits of it could be used? At present it kind of turns the article into an article about Jane Fonda. (a bit)

Touconos (Scout)

For those of you who understand exactly what I was refering to when I wrote the article, the Jane Fonda example is a bit long and boring. However, I can't just give a description of what a dog does and how one acts without attempting a detailed description of one, now can I? Otherwise you'd have people going, "Hey, that guy picked up a stick, he may be a dog according to that article. Hmmm...that person turned around three times, I wonder if they're a dog?" See what I mean?

Ludicrous examples of course, but they make the point. I'll try and see what I can fit in regarding the virus hoaxes. Thank you for the comments and criticisms, they're greatly appreciated one and all!
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/U133044

PS, the link I provided is my standard sign off to anything I write, see above.

Okeey doke, the bit about virus warning E-Hoaxes has been added. Give it another goosey and lemme know whatcha think.
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[From time to time, every man is tempted to hoist the skull and crossbones and slit a few throats.]

Kill this off. This article is an accidental duplicate, the original already exists under another entry in Peer Review. The original link disappeared off my page, so I resubmitted it, this is the current ACTIVE version. http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/F48874?thread=109579 ~S

Editorial Note: This conversation has been moved from 'Peer Review Sin Bin' to 'E-Hoaxes and webrumors'.

Back to Entry - became Edited Entry A593129 E-hoaxes