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CyberMyths Debunked • To read this page OFFLINE: (In your browser, in its formatted style...) Save As or export as "source" format. Then "open file" within your browser software offline. • To PRINT this page from your browser: We recommend an 80% reduction to easily fit standard 8.5 x 11" page width. Finally, someone listed a bunch of these hokey things in one file. Please feel free to pass this heads-up list on to any less-than-experienced (newbie) emailer you know... Even more are debunked at the following: http://urbanlegends.about.com/culture/beliefs/urbanlegends/mbody.htm Subscribe to their free newsletter to stay ahead of these urbanlegends/cybermyths. If it sounds too good to be true... it probably is. Email Facts Of Life author unknown 1. Big companies don't do business via chain letter. Bill Gates is not giving you $1000, and Disney is not giving you a free vacation. There is no baby food company issuing class-action checks. You can relax; there is no need to pass it on "just in case it's true." Furthermore, just because someone said in the message, four generations back, that "we checked it out and it's legit," does not actually make it true. 2. There is no kidney theft ring in New Orleans. No one is waking up in a bathtub full of ice, even if a friend of a friend swears it happened to their cousin. If you are hellbent on believing the kidney-theft ring stories, please see: http://urbanlegends.tqn.com/library/weekly/aa062997.htm And I quote: "The National Kidney Foundation has repeatedly issued requests for actual victims of organ thieves to come forward and tell their stories. None have." That's "none" as in "zero." Not even your friend's cousin. 3. Neiman Marcus doesn't really sell a $200 cookie recipe. And even if they do, we all have it. And even if you don't, you can get a copy at: http://www.bl.net/forwards/cookie.html Then, if you make the recipe, decide the cookies are that awesome, feel free to pass the recipe on. 4. We all know all 500 ways to drive your roommates crazy, irritate co-workers and creep out people on an elevator. We also know exactly how many engineers, college students, Usenet posters and people from each and every world ethnicity it takes to change a lightbulb. 5. Even if the latest NASA rocket disaster(s) DID contain plutonium that went to particulate over the eastern seaboard, do you REALLY think this information would reach the public via an AOL chain-letter? 6. There is no "Good Times" virus. In fact, you should never, ever, ever forward any email containing any virus warning unless you first confirm it at an actual site of an actual company that actually deals with virii. Try: http://www.norton.com 7. If your CC: list is regularly longer than the actual content of your message, you're probably going to Hell. 8. If you're using Outlook, Internet Explorer, or Netscape to write email, turn off the "HTML encoding." Those of us on Unix shells can't read it, and don't care enough to save the attachment and then view it with a web browser, since you're probably forwarding us a copy of the Neiman Marcus Cookie Recipe anyway. 9. If you still absolutely MUST forward that 10th-generation message from a friend, at least have the decency to trim the eight miles of headers showing everyone else who's received it over the last 6 months. It sure wouldn't hurt to get rid of all the ">" that begin each line. Besides, if it has gone around that many times -- I've probably already seen it. 10. Craig Shergold in England is not dying of cancer or anything else at this time and would like everyone to stop sending him their business cards (or greeting cards or faxes). He apparently is also no longer a "little boy" either. Please do not EVER forward unverified chain letters, no matter how compelling they might seem. Propagating chain letters is specifically prohibited by the terms of service of most Internet service providers; you could lose your account. People have been known to "get even" with someone by giving out their email address as some sort of contact for chainmail email. This results in a bombarded email account that can only be closed. There is NO WAY to stop the madness once the rumormongers release that email address. Do NOT be part of ruining someone's email account by forcing them to close it and open a new one -- and they they have to notify everyone THEY know of their new account... all because someone wanted to "play a prank" on them. Please also visit: http://urbanlegends.about.com/culture/beliefs/urbanlegends/mbody.htm http://urbanlegends.com/ http://athos.rutgers.edu/~watrous/pbs-funding-chain-letter-petition.html http://www.wish.org/craig.htm http://www.nbi.dk/~dickow/stop-chain-letter.txt http://www.cancer.org/chain.html http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa021198.htm http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACChainLetters.html Oh yeah, and Clinton is not responsible for all those "mysterious" deaths either. Read more about that one at http://urbanlegends.tqn.com/.    More Email Netiquette and Novice Information: [ Email Netiquette ] [ CyberMyths Debunked ] [ Don't use AOL's "Forward" Command ] [ Emoticons (Smilies) & Shorthand (Abbreviations) ] [ Stop The Junk Email! ] [ Programmer's Paradise Glossary ] © Copyright 1996-2001 by Kass Johns, all rights reserved world wide. The opinions and recommendations stated here are solely those of the author and are not the responsibility of anyone else. This is an independent publication not affiliated or otherwise associated with, sponsored by, or sanctioned by any vendor. We state here that we have used trademark names in this publication for editorial purposes only, with no intent to infringe on those trademarks. Permission is granted to copy this document for personal use only for *non-commercial* purposes, in electronic or printed form, provided that this copyright notice is not removed. This work may not be used on another Web site or online service, sold for profit, included within commercial works, or altered or changed in any way without the express written permission of the author.