When you get a dire sounding forwarded forwarded forwarded email...

[alexandria674]

It actually depends, if someone sent one or two of these forwarded forwards then I let it slide but if it gets too much I (as the fiance calls it) "snope-snitch". It also depends on the person, I have this friend who believes everything he says is right all the time, and if you tell him different you are totally wrong, he kept sending those forwards and I couldn't resist to "snope-snitch" with a little bit of evidence to back it up. He stopped sending them and my email box has never been happier.

 

[safetymom]

I do a reply all and send them the link to that story on Snopes. I can't tell you how many nasty emails I have gotten for doing that. I don't like people believing some of these crazy stories.

 

[Rora]

I rarely forward even the most dire sounding emails.

 

[ontariomonkey]

It is mostly my Mum sending me these and it was getting annoying. So for a while, everytime she would send me something, I would send her the link to Snopes saying that it wasn't true. After a while, she started checking Snopes herself and I never get them from her anymore!

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

concern that people will believe the nonsense.

That's just it...this email wasn't some cute but false story...it's telling people WRONGLY how to handle a potentially dangerous situation. I keep telling myself "No one else will believe it either", so don't send the snopes story, but it got forwarded so many times so all THOSE people are believing it, and the person that forwarded it to me is a relative, my age, and a former schoolteacher.

I rarely forward even the most dire sounding emails.

I never forward emails.

No--but forwarded e-mails without paper trails and research should be believed without any shadow of doubt.

Yeah, right?

I don't automatically believe snopes either, but it's a start!

 

[omghidanielle]

My Mom prints these out all of the time and hangs them on her fridge.
I usually print out the Snopes and stick it right next to it.

But she believes them, 100%, all of the time. There is no convincing.

It's so frustrating!

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

I sent the snopes story via "reply all". We'll see how THAT goes.

 

[bumbershoot]

I've done both. To the same people. Did the Reply thing a few times, she kept sending things...finally did Reply All and that stopped it cold.

And a huge rant with lots of logic against an email forwarded (from same person) that actually had, sort of, happened stopped her sending me her rabid religious/american stuff, too. Honestly, WHY people send that stuff to me when they KNOW I'd rather be living in another country, when they KNOW hubby is officially Buddhist and I'm of absolutely NO religion, and when they KNOW that hubby's mom is from another country just boggles my mind. Anyway, I found that vehement rants help stifle *those* emails....

I think my favorite one of these was an email about a bizarre tree growing in India. Well, read it for yourself. An older family friend sent this email to me, thought I was gonna die.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/indiatree.asp

I don't even have to open the link to know exactly what that is, where it is, and that it's not a real tree.....

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

I think my favorite one of these was an email about a bizarre tree growing in India. Well, read it for yourself. An older family friend sent this email to me, thought I was gonna die.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/indiatree.asp

OMG, that is so funny. (I didn't click on it before because I was heading out the door.)

 

[NHdisneylover]

That's just it...this email wasn't some cute but false story...it's telling people WRONGLY how to handle a potentially dangerous situation. I keep telling myself "No one else will believe it either", so don't send the snopes story, but it got forwarded so many times so all THOSE people are believing it, and the person that forwarded it to me is a relative, my age, and a former schoolteacher. I never forward emails. Yeah, right?

I don't automatically believe snopes either, but it's a start!

That is where I am at when I do the reply alls. Usually it was something that was meant to frighten people and would be at the least a hassle to follow the advice and at times dangerous. I know many people on Father in law's email list are older and not very computer savyy (he was too--but he is learning) and would not know how to research it and would trust if DFiL said it it must be true. So, I would reply all and kindly explain how these thigns are designed to be very deceptive and there is the great website to reserach any such emails, yada yada yada with the snopes link to debunk the actual email around. I hit reply all more because I am worried about someone believeing it and hurting themselves than becuase I am annoyed.

I sent the snopes story via "reply all". We'll see how THAT goes.

Good luck

 

[Feej]

A bit OT, but anyway..... I've tried in the past to create a "new" urban myth, and it's very hard, but fun.

Working in a call center a few years ago, and the going prank was to get a build up of static electricity by sliding your shoes on the nylon carpet and touch someone on the earlobe, giving them a small electric shock.

I was able to get the story out that there was evidence of the static discharge causing burst eardrums. So successful in fact that management sent out an email asking people to stop doing it.

To this day I've awaited it's appearance on Snopes, but to no avail...

 

[Dan Murphy]

Mare


I delete almost 100% of forwarded emails, without reading. I will read, rarely, depending on the sender, but can count on my 2 hands over the past many years how many I have read.

 

[luvmy3]

It depends on who sends it if I reply or not. My SIL is a sucker and falls for every sob story email out there, so I send her the link from snopes debunking it. She always seems surprised that they are fake stories

 

[PollyannaMom]

I reply to the sender if I think they are really spending time worrying about it, but I don't reply-all, and if it's minor I just ignore it. I don't want to look like I'm out to embarass them.

But I don't want them to be really upset for no reason either. If it's big enough, and I actually make them feel better by linking them to snopes, I figure they can re-contact their original list themselves.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

Mare

Dan!!!

Just got another one from the same person. I guess sending her, and everyone she forwarded to last time, the snopes link didn't get her thinking. Actually, this story was "harmless" as far as anyone doing anything "fake" to save themselves, so I didn't reply all this time, but I did send her the link to snopes debunking the latest. She may have thought it was "fact" because it was an actual article.

Oh well. At the very least, maybe she'll stop sending this stuff to me.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

One time when I replied, the dope responded "well..better safe than sorry!" No, nitwit--better to be thought a fool than to speak up (or in this case respond) and remove all doubt.

Oh yeah. I have one forwarder who does this all the time, or says "well, it's better to be on the alert and this reminds us to be careful!" when her e-mails are Snopes'd.

I've started deleting the chain e-mails she sends without reading them. She doesn't care that they're fake, so I don't care to read them.

 

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

I do the snopes to all.

I also add to the "financial" type stories:

If a perfect stranger walked up to you on the street, and told you that story, or a slightly different one, would you believe it?

the stories may seem harmless, but I had my elderly mother call me long distance in a panic, as she thought she might be killing her cat. and was worried that we might be harming our pets as well.

it seems that when she had went to a local office of a national tax filing service that rymes with "rock" the local "manager" had gotten an email from his mommie that said fabreez, and all products from a certain company, would kill your pets, so throw out all cleaning products.

after much comforting and assurances that it was all bunk, she wondered why someone would cause that much grief! (I agree, it could cause some problems for elderly people that don't understand the bull hockey aspect of these "messages")

The "managers" defense..Well It COULD be true. I referred him to snopes, and he said he couldn't access the internet in the office.

 

[Shutterbug]

yes I reply back as well and let the know. A person at work always sends these out. I would always reply back showing the snopes link. Well after awhile I stopped getting them so I though the sender had learned to check snopes before sending them...nope! This person is still sending them out I am just no longer on the list
obviously they like disemating false info and dont like to be told that it is

 

[Disney Doll]

I usually just delete it. I figure most people are smart enough to snopes something themselves if they think it's suspect.

 

[Carl]

I've got one friend that I remind about Snopes and he gets angry. He says, "but I like what they are saying and find it interesting, besides you can't trust Snopes - they are a bunch of liberals."