Oy. I posted this blog (below) once before and have forwarded it to several people who continue to send me STUPID and LAME CRAP email. It’s driving me crazy. I’m pretty sure I’ve developed a nervous tick. To top it off, I’m being invited to join a million a lot of groups on Facebook, promising me that if I join their group and invite all my friends, then I will gain treasures untold. Truth is… wait let me repeat that: TRUTH IS you don’t HAVE to join the group to see what link they are promoting, and you don’t HAVE to be a genius to know that it’s just a bunch of crap spam anyway!!!!!!! SO STOP IT!!!
*hem*
Here it is…
My email box is frequently cluttered with various emails from well meaning friends and relatives who desire to pass on “vitally important knowledge” or “incredible information” to me as well as the rest of the world. These friends and relatives practically insist that we must all forward this one email for “a child sick with cancer who wants a world record for the most emails sent telling his story.” We must forward another email because “Bill Gates wants to give everyone money each time they forward information about a new program’s beta testing.”
Today I was urged to join the ranks of terrified aunties and uncles who will now – at all cost – avoid using restaurant bathrooms because of the venomous ‘South American Blush Spider’ which lurks stealthily beneath the toilet seat, gleefully anticipating his next victim so he can munch on their exposed…selves.
Unfortunately, most of these emails are untrue, outdated and outlandishly exaggerated. Take, for example, the creepy Camel Spider who lives in Iraq and wants to eat our American Soldiers. People, people, people! Puhlease! Did’ja LOOK at the picture?! It’s a close-up of the spider, and the hand which holds it. Notice the spider is as big as the cufflink. Geez. *Note: If I ever saw a spider even HALF the size of my cufflink, I’d run away as fast as I could!*
It is a shame the time and effort wasted by these folks who have sent me (and everyone else in their over-used email address book) their panicked emails. To this day, they await a check from Bill Gates which should by now bear an amount well into the thousands. Some of these email writers are incredibly and immediately convinced of the ‘truth’ in the email they received, most without question. How many of us have received the “You are the last heir to King So-and-So who left you millions of dollars. Just send us your bank account and routing number and we will immediately transfer the funds to you in America”!? Even with all of the news reports, commentaries and exposes, there are still people falling for these rouses.
And now people are falling for texts on their phones, asking to call a number right away because of some alert on their bank account. Jeez! Do you remember signing up for something like this? Do you NOT KNOW that your bank DOES NOT ask you for your password or social security when THEY call YOU!?!?!?!?
Much grief, hurt, anxiety and inconvenience could be avoided by a simple internet search on the subject at hand. There are many websites which list the thousands of internet hoaxes, scams and urban legends that circulate round and round the internet. If you receive an email which promises a fantastic return in exchange for some work, or an email with an outlandish and almost unbelievable story: take a second to research it. In as much time as it would take you to hit “forward” and select everyone in your email address book, you could also check into the email and perhaps save yourself future embarrassment!
It is safe, ladies and gentlemen, to use the toilet at your local favorite feeding hole.
PS – before you send me an email telling me I will have bad luck for 10 years if I don’t forward it on to 10 friends…well let’s just say Friends Don’t Send Friends Stupid Emails.
When in doubt, check out www.snopes.com – this great site dispels many-a-myth!!!