Somewhere in cyberspace…
Someone unboxes their spiffy new machine with the go-fast stripes and fumbles their way onto the Internet. They get their e-mail set up, and join a list. A few days later something shows up in the inbox, and it looks like it might be something “Everyone Should Know”. Why does this newbie think that? Because it says so right there in the text “Everyone Must Know This”. Why would someone send something titled “Everyone Must Know This” if it wasn’t something everyone should know? The newbie promptly forwards the message, because it’s “better safe than sorry”.
This same newb is then outraged when the next oldtimer who gets his helpful message dares to call him on the carpet for cluttering up his inbox. After all, he had the best of intentions at heart. What’s one message, after all?
All I have to say to that is, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”; and there are a million more newbies on the web everytime you turn around, every one of them forwarding messages “just in case”. It all adds up to more than “just one message”, it turns sorting e-mail into the hell I just mentioned.
The first clue to the quality of the content in the message can be found in the all important “Everyone Must Know This”. Any post that contains this sentence can be safely roundfiled, As can any post that claims to be looking for lost children, any post that promises a reward if you forward it, and any post from a barrister representing a wealthy potential relative who is recently deceased. It is guaranteed to be garbage.
I’ve quoted from Break the Chain before. They are far from the only source for this type of information. Might I suggest that if you would rather be safe than sorry, Use my Rollyo Debunk search before hitting forward the next time. It is definitely safer to check sources than to forward blindly. If you have only the best intentions at heart, then perhaps you don’t want to forward advice that could actually kill someone if followed.
Trust me when I say, I post this response with “the best of intentions”. If my post makes someone think before hitting ‘forward’ the next time some chain letter hits their inbox, then I have actually done some good, rather than just intended it.
