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

I delete them immediately. Somewhere there is a website which lists them all as hoaxes.

While I am not convinced they are hoaxes, but often written by well-meaning people who want to do something, but aren't quite sure what. However, I fail to see that an e-mail with a list of (possibly fictitious) names can do any good or have any effect.

The e-mail addresses of the people on the list will not, however, be included in the final e-mail that lands with the recipient - just the last sender's - surely?

And, as has been pointed out - the snowball system, which overlaps so much, means that most names will occur on several lists.

The one about the way the Afghanistan government treats women I got several times both in English and in a German translation. It was very convincing and I forwarded it to a few people. But that's the first and last time I shall bother. Who knows if it's true, what they say in it? What does a government like that - assuming it is true - care about a few people sitting at their PC's passing e-mails round the world. Will they bother to read it?

Actually. since I wrote that last response I've heard that is is indeed true.


As you say though, the petition will be about as effective as a chocolate teapot I would say.

Three american aircraft carrriers may be more so

Women get a terrible deal under the Taleban, but many of the 'complaints' circulated about them are false. Which is a shame because it discredits the genuine grevances some people are trying to address.

For example: The stuff about destroying the ancient buddist shrines is true, the stuff about them making religious minorities wear badges etc is false.

MODERATOR: please note that these urls are links to places within BBC.CO.UK!

A quick search on news.bbc.co.uk for "taleban hindus" brought back this story dated 25 May 2001:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1351000/1351801.stm
"Afghanistan's ruling Taleban have given their first public explanation of a new order forcing Hindus to identify themselves by wearing yellow badges."

At the time the article was written, the badges were not enforced by law, only proposed as a new law. I don't know whether it has actually gone into effect now.

Today's lesson: don't believe everything you read in emails, or everything you read on h2g2 message boards.

I never send petitions onward. They are worthless. I normally send every recipient a nice little email, often refering them to a site like this one:

[URL Removed by Moderator]

I do the same with those silly virus warnings as well, and normally send those folks to Symantec. Everyone has to learn.