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In response to Character Assassination by E-mail, several readers wrote in to comment on Snopes and to suggest additional websites for researching online hoaxes:
From: Ed
Date: November 21, 2003 8:13:13 AM EST
To: Evan Coyne Maloney
Subject: RE: Character Assassination by E-mailEvan,
I’ve been doing “research” into the various email scams which arrive in my inbox for years. The Nigerian “We’ve got 29.9 million & don’t know what to do with it”, the urgent “My friend’s child is missing, please help!”, and the ones like you described “You’ll never believe what this guy believes, said, did, etc”.... are an industry unto themselves. Whether it is motivated by financial fraud, character assasination, or is just an updated version of the old telephone hoaxes, the email can have a huge effect when people hit the Forward button to everyone on the email list. I routinely reply to all with the facts when I spot hoaxes, scams, etc. And I document how I know the info is false.
In addition to the site you referenced, people can go to the following sites when investigating a suspicious email:
http://www.3oddballz.com/hoaxes
http://www.nonprofit.net/hoax/default.htm
http://www.datafellows.fi/news/hoax.htm
I’ve used them all. They are usually fairly up to date, but a Google search of the topic will sometimes generate newer intel about the source/facts of the email.
Wish more people would question the stuff they receive via email.
Ed
Lee wrote in to suggest another website for researching net-borne hoaxes:
From: Lee
Date: November 21, 2003 7:54:14 AM EST
To: Evan Coyne MaloneySubject: Re: >bt: Character Assassination by E-mail
Good points. The real best defense is to be widely and well-read. I innoculated myself against many lies and scams by reading anything and everything reputable and true. So many people today only read their horoscopes. They are babes in the woods when it comes to discerning truth from lies. I always tell them to go to UrbanLegends.com. They have debunked several hoaxes I was exposed to.
Barry detects a bias with Snopes and suggests an alternative:
From: Barry
Date: November 22, 2003 11:26:21 PM EST
To: Evan Coyne Maloney
Subject: Re: Character Assassination by E-mailEvan,
Snopes is good, but has a subtle hint of their own bias. You can also try www.truthorfiction.com. Although they almost always agree grossly, each has subtle flavors of bias. When both are reviewed, I think it yields a more accurate feel for the truth.
Thanks,
Barry
Fred echoes that, and provides a personal caveat about Snopes:
From: Fred
Date: November 21, 2003 7:04:13 AM EST
To: Evan Coyne Maloney
Subject: Re: >bt: Character Assassination by E-mailEvan,
Be advised that Snopes is not always right. An incident I was involved with was not accurately reported by Snopes.
I have been told by several other folks the same.
You will notice that some of their explanations are just theory/their logic, which seems to me to have a political bent.
Just be careful with Snopes.
Fred
Lastly, Kathy suggests a few resources for investigating religiously-oriented hoaxes:
From: Kathy Shaidle
Date: November 21, 2003 4:06:51 PM EST
To: Evan Coyne Maloney
Subject: Re: >bt: Character Assassination by E-mailWell said, Evan. Another good resource is About.com’s Urban Legends guide, who sends out a fresh ‘watch list’ of current rumours each week.
For various reasons, we Christians are particular suckers when it comes to this disinformation. We have our own urban legends and email hoaxes, some of which are decades old:
http://ship-of-fools.com/Myths/index.html
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_cul.htm
The couple at TruthMiners.com have devoted themselves to getting Christians to stop spreading such gossip—after all, bearing false witness is a sin :-)
Another fine overall site is TruthOrFiction.com. When people spread these lies, they damage society, even though it seems to be ‘just good fun.’ Thank you again for taking this seriously.
Kathy Shaidle
writer / author / bloggerhttp://www.relapsedcatholic.blogspot.com/
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