This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
Chain Letter on AOL fools TV station
Related Links Top of the: day, week, month.
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." -- Albert Einstein
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." -- Albert Einstein
Re:from the some-of-the-people-all-of-the-time dep (Score:1)
$quote =~ s/please/fool/g;
?
Lincoln comes to mind, but perhaps a P.T.Barnum
quote is more apropos -- "There's a sucker born every minute."
What was that user name again (Score:1)
You have to realize that your average journalist
1) Is stupid. You think not? Given that your average Journalist could make more money flipping burgers, it's a fair bet that your average journalist is stupid.
2) Is greedy. Odd, given what they make, but true.
3) Is looking for A Scoop. The only way the average journalist can hope to make a buck or get ahead these days is to scoop a story. A really hot one. Given the inherent greed of your average journalist and the average IQ of your average journalist, what you have here is a recipe for disaster. This story describes what can happen all to well.
Now that you've been briefed on the psycological engineering factors, you have everything you need to ply a gullible journalist into reporting on a completely non-sensical topic. Have fun.
That's a good idea, but... (Score:2)
That sounds like a good idea, and I'm sure we've all thought about it at one point or another. But I'm apt to believe that it would only give the general populace yet another reason to hate the evil hackers (like it or not, they use 'hackers' in a negative sense). If we learned something from Melissa 'virus', we learned that most people will never, ever fault Microsoft or an insecure computer. People don't see their computers as being insecure; they only see hackers (the malicious people) as people who have some sort of supernatural power in cyberspace and therefore must be legislated against. [rant off]
"We have the technology!" (Score:3)
a) _stored passwords_, sometimes with weak crypto
b) rather powerful macro languages
c) a highly homogeneous (sp?), insecure computing
environment among home users
d) users that forward mail...
e) users that rely on hordes of tiny, shareware
downloaded utils
f) "smart" mail programs that automatically look
at attachments
Couldn't one do some damage here? As in a trojan or worm that waits a _long_ time (say, 6 mo.) before doing anything particularly suspicious? Or, more fun:
a worm that simply
a) collects information from say, the registry on
Win9x; cookie files; history lists; default
document directories...
b) attaches it to itself
c) propagates, perhaps through mail-forwarding,
perhaps more subtly.
so that by the time it was detected, private info
would already be in many, many different places...
That could inflict a *lot* of damage, in a very,
very painful lesson to the masses.
Re:Sounds like a match made in heaven (Score:3)
Sounds like you have your own knee-jerk reactions to deal with.
Making the generalization that "stupid people use AOL" is on the same level as saying that "teens in black use bombs".
AOL presents itself as easy to use, so, sure it's going to attract folks who are not the computer genius that you are. That doesn't make them stupid.
Same for Local TV news. Sure, they're not Peter Jennnings, but I sometimes like to hear stories that relate to my hometown. Does that make me stupid?
A very wise man once said: "Pick the board out of your own eye before you point to a splinter in someone else's"
Anonymous Kevin
>Stupid people use AOL
>Stupid people watch Local TV News
Good Times! (Score:5)
Same Old Virus (Score:5)
***********************************************
WARNING, CAUTION, DANGER, AND BEWARE!
Gullibility Virus Spreading over the Internet!
***********************************************
WASHINGTON, D.C.--The Institute for the Investigation of Irregular Internet
Phenomena announced today that many Internet users are becoming infected by
a new virus that causes them to believe without question every groundless
story, legend, and dire warning that shows up in their inbox or on their
browser. The Gullibility Virus, as it is called, apparently makes people
believe and forward copies of silly hoaxes relating to cookie recipes,
email viruses, taxes on modems, and get-rich-quick schemes.
"These are not just readers of tabloids or people who buy lottery tickets
based on fortune cookie numbers," a spokesman said. "Most are otherwise
normal people, who would laugh at the same stories if told to them by a
stranger on a street corner." However, once these same people become
infected with the Gullibility Virus, they believe anything they read on
the Internet.
"My immunity to tall tales and bizarre claims is all gone," reported one
weeping victim. "I believe every warning message and sick child story my
friends forward to me, even though most of the messages are anonymous."
Another victim, now in remission, added, "When I first heard about Good
Times, I just accepted it without question. After all, there were dozens of
other recipients on the mail header, so I thought the virus must be true."
It was a long time, the victim said, before she could stand up at a Hoaxees
Anonymous meeting and state, "My name is Jane, and I've been hoaxed." Now,
however, she is spreading the word. "Challenge and check whatever you read,"
she says.
Internet users are urged to examine themselves for symptoms of the virus,
which include the following:
The willingness to believe improbable stories without thinking.
The urge to forward multiple copies of such stories to others.
A lack of desire to take three minutes to check to see if a story
is true.
T. C. is an example of someone recently infected. He told one reporter, "I
read on the Net that the major ingredient in almost all shampoos makes your
hair fall out, so I've stopped using shampoo." When told about the
Gullibility Virus, T. C. said he would stop reading email, so that he would
not become infected.
Anyone with symptoms like these is urged to seek help immediately. Experts
recommend that at the first feelings of gullibility, Internet users rush to
their favorite search engine and look up the item tempting them to
thoughtless credence. Most hoaxes, legends, and tall tales have been widely
discussed and exposed by the Internet community.
Courses in critical thinking are also widely available, and there is
online help from many sources, including
Department of Energy Computer Incident Advisory Capability at
http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html
Symantec Anti Virus Research Center at
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/index.html
McAfee Associates Virus Hoax List at
http://www.mcafee.com/support/hoax.html
Dr. Solomons Hoax Page at
http://www.drsolomons.com/vircen/hoax.html
The Urban Legends Web Site at
http://www.urbanlegends.com
Urban Legends Reference Pages at
http://www.snopes.com
Datafellows Hoax Warnings at
http://www.Europe.Datafellows.com/news/hoax.htm
Those people who are still symptom free can help inoculate themselves
against the Gullibility Virus by reading some good material on evaluating
sources, such as
Evaluating Internet Research Sources at
http://www.sccu.edu/faculty/R_Harris/evalu8it.htm
Evaluation of Information Sources at
http://www.vuw.ac.nz/~agsmith/evaln/evaln.htm
Bibliography on Evaluating Internet Resources at
http://refserver.lib.vt.edu/libinst/critTHINK.HTM
Lastly, as a public service, Internet users can help stamp out the
Gullibility Virus by sending copies of this message to anyone who forwards
them a hoax.
***********************************************
This message is so important, we're sending it anonymously! Forward it to
all your friends right away! Don't think about it! This is not a chain
letter! This story is true! Don't check it out! This story is so timely,
there is no date on it! This story is so important, we're using lots of
exclamation points! Lots!! For every message you forward to some
unsuspecting person, the Home for the Hopelessly Gullible will donate ten
cents to itself. (If you wonder how the Home will know you are forwarding
these messages all over creation, you're obviously thinking too much.)
***********************************************
ACT NOW! DON'T DELAY! LIMITED TIME ONLY! NOT SOLD IN ANY STORE!
from the some-of-the-people-all-of-the-time dept. (Score:1)
That doesn't really have anything to do with this story. The full quote (I can't recall who said it) is,
"You can please some of the people all of the time, or all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time."
It refers to the impossibility of a "perfect" solution to anything, and has absolutely nothing to do with stupid people.
Re:You got mail? (Score:1)
Re:from the some-of-the-people-all-of-the-time dep (Score:1)
You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, and that's sufficient.
I searched for some info on the one I was recalling ("You can please all of the people some of the time, or some of the people all of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time"). It's apparently an extremely old cliché, and thus it's likely that it was around during Murphy's time, and Murphy made a pun by changing some of the words around.
Geez (Score:1)
Both are stereotypes, and neither is true. There are non-nerd slashdot readers, and there are intelligent AOL users.
Make Chain Mail Fun Again!!! (Score:3)
Yes, it's my own page
Yes, that's shameless self-promotion
Yes, the ethics behind letting people generate their own chain-letters is questionable
and yes, i still think it's pretty funny
:-)
Re:from the some-of-the-people-all-of-the-time dep (Score:2)
"It is true that you may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."
Mass media too gullible. (Score:2)
Re:Mass media too gullible. (Score:1)
A days ago we start getting reports that NATO bomb the Chinese embassy in Belgrad. They go on to say that the Chinese media has been covering up our apologies to China.
So basically we are to believe our media when they tell us that the Chinese media is untrustworty.
I think we should all wise up and not blindly trust any of them.
Hell, I've been reading
Re:Sounds like a match made in heaven (Score:1)
|Ignorent people use AOL
|People who are involved in Local TV news are
|pretty ignorent...
So, am I the only one who finds Rombuu's latest comment absolutely hilarious? (I've got to assume that this is Rombuu's way of admitting that he uses AOL and is involved in local TV news...
That aside, the people I see get taken in the most by the chain letters are our department secretaries, who dutifully forward the chain letter hoaxes to the rest of us.
This, of course, doesn't excuse the TV station for its inability to do a little fact checking. It must've been a slow news day.
Re:Gullibility... (Score:1)
Apparently someone decided wooden cutting boards might harbor nasty bacteria, so he published the result without any peer review whatsoever. The plastic people picked up on the factoid and started telling everyone to buy plastic.
I got in late on this deal, but I think the end result was that someone did a study and found that wood actually kills bacteria (how many trees do you see dying of salmonella), while plastic forms lots of little cut grooves which hold moisture for bacteria to thrive in.
In any case, it doesn't matter because the factoid had already imprinted itself in the public mind. One charity home I know of spent $2000 replacing their wooden cutting boards. Oh well...
Re:Watch the newsreel. (Score:1)
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
I've got 2 words for you...... (Score:2)
Whatever happened to a media outlet checking in to a story before blurting it out to the general public? And considering that the majority of late-night news viewers are adults age 35 and older, a lot of people could have been *snicker* fooled by this. Personally, I feel that anyone using AOL deserves to get e-mails like this (Look who you signed up with), I DON'T think people deserve to be slammed by a local news station with a story this absurd.
She used the word "frantically" again later in her report, suggesting she had a telepathic grasp of happenings inside AOL's headquarters...
Considering that the AOL HQ was closed, this was an amazing assumption. And typical of news media, "if there is the Slightest degree of believablilty to a story, RUN WITH IT. Gaps? Just make something up."
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
Users.... (Score:1)
God! There's so much work to do...
Re:Sounds like a match made in heaven (Score:1)
Oh yeah, I read /. (obviously).
--Z.
Must have been.... (Score:1)
Chuck
Re:It's sweeps week. (Score:1)
Up here in DC, everyone's up in arms over "the rave scene exposed", about the raves a local club had, where cops or some otherwise 'upstanding citizens' were found to be partying as well.
Threw everyone into a fit, and the club announced the next day that they were shutting down the raves.
Poor, smalltown reporter (Score:1)
What I don't understand is how come the reporter didn't pick up on the fact that the email was obviously written by 14 year olds. In addition to the horrid grammar, there was the sentence "Everytime you sign on AOL your account will be messed around with." That just screams pre-teenager who's run out of threats. Granted, script-kiddies can do some damage, but if they'd really cracked The Password and had access to all those credit cards, would they send a threatening email or go shopping?
It is sometimes necessary to speak.
Re:Windows 2000, the real Y2K bug (Score:1)
It is sometimes necessary to speak.
Re:from the some-of-the-people-all-of-the-time dep (Score:2)
The variant that I heard had "fool" instead of "please". I've seen this in many places, so it seems to be in fairly widespread use.
Good Site for Foolish People (Or Fooled People) (Score:1)
http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html
Any time I get one of these messages I hit REPLY ALL and send that link... amazingly enough the quantity has started to go down... slowly but some people read it =)
Re:Watch the newsreel with this corrected link. (Score:4)
/me ncurses Netscape
Netscape is too dumb to understand pnm:// URLs. Grr.
Try this corrected link [dhs.org].
Cheers.
Watch the newsreel. (Score:5)
I'm just glad I'm not an AOL user getting barraged with copies of this.
Re:Good Times! (Score:2)
jkahsdf&(*&IJAEKG(798980(8098hiutgaskhiaughlags
Re:You got mail? (Score:1)
"You got mail yesterday"
"You have mail now"
---Jason
Local TV News Makes False Claim -- Film at 11 (Score:2)
This is just too funny. (Score:1)
Re:Anyone remember the Michelangelo virus? (Score:1)
Send them this (Score:4)
Southern California College
Version Date: February 27, 1998
___________________________________
Forwarded Message
Subj.: Virus Warning!
From: HOONOZE
To: All@msn.com
To: Jake5551212@aol.com
To: President@whitehouse.gov
To: Pope@vatican.va
To: 007@MI5.com
To: Flounder@fish.net
To: Etal@etc.com
************************************************** **************** * ****************
WARNING, CAUTION, DANGER, AND BEWARE!
Gullibility Virus Spreading over the Internet!
*************************************************
WASHINGTON, D.C.--The Institute for the Investigation of Irregular Internet Phenomena announced today that many Internet users are becoming infected by a new virus that causes them to believe without question every groundless story, legend, and dire warning that shows up in their inbox or on their browser. The Gullibility Virus, as it is called, apparently makes people believe and forward copies of silly hoaxes relating to cookie recipes, email viruses, taxes on modems, and get-rich-quick schemes.
"These are not just readers of tabloids or people who buy lottery tickets based on fortune cookie numbers," a spokesman said. "Most are otherwise normal people, who would laugh at the same stories if told to them by a stranger on a street corner." However, once these same people become infected with the Gullibility Virus, they believe anything they read on the Internet.
"My immunity to tall tales and bizarre claims is all gone," reported one weeping victim. "I believe every warning message and sick child story my friends forward to me, even though most of the messages are anonymous."
Another victim, now in remission, added, "When I first heard about Good Times, I just accepted it without question. After all, there were dozens of other recipients on the mail header, so I thought the virus must be true." It was a long time, the victim said, before she could stand up at a Hoaxees Anonymous meeting and state, "My name is Jane, and I've been hoaxed." Now, however, she is spreading the word. "Challenge and check whatever you read," she says.
Internet users are urged to examine themselves for symptoms of the virus, which include the following:
T. C. is an example of someone recently infected. He told one reporter, "I read on the Net that the major ingredient in almost all shampoos makes your hair fall out, so I've stopped using shampoo." When told about the Gullibility Virus, T. C. said he would stop reading email, so that he would not become infected.
Anyone with symptoms like these is urged to seek help immediately. Experts recommend that at the first feelings of gullibility, Internet users rush to their favorite search engine and look up the item tempting them to thoughtless credence. Most hoaxes, legends, and tall tales have been widely discussed and exposed by the Internet community.
Courses in critical thinking are also widely available, and there is online help from many sources, including
Those people who are still symptom free can help inoculate themselves against the Gullibility Virus by reading some good material on evaluating sources, such as
Lastly, as a public service, Internet users can help stamp out the Gullibility Virus by sending copies of this message to anyone who forwards them a hoax.
************************************************** **************** * ****************
This message is so important, we're sending it anonymously! Forward it to all your friends right away! Don't think about it! This is not a chain letter! This story is true! Don't check it out! This story is so timely, there is no date on it! This story is so important, we're using lots of exclamation points! For every message you forward to some unsuspecting person, the Home for the Hopelessly Gullible will donate ten cents to itself. (If you wonder how the Home will know you are forwarding these messages all over creation, you're obviously thinking too much.)
*************************************************
ACT NOW! DON'T DELAY! LIMITED TIME! NOT SOLD IN ANY STORE!
Home Page of Robert Harris [slashdot.org]| SCC Home Page [sccu.edu]
Robert Harris is Professor of English at Southern California College. RHarris@sccu.edu
I keep it around for just this purpose
Mark
Re:Good Times! -- A Bad Day... (Score:5)
I know this guy whose neighbor, a young man, was home recovering
from having been served a rat in his bucket of Kentucky Fried
Chicken.
So anyway, one day he went to sleep and when he awoke he was in his
bathtub and it was full of ice and he was sore all over. When he
got out of the tub he realized that HIS KIDNEYS HAD BEEN STOLEN,
and he saw a note on his mirror that said "Call 911!"
But he was afraid to use his phone because it was connected to his
computer, and there was a virus on his computer that would destroy
his hard drive if he opened an e-mail entitled "Join the crew!" He
knew it wasn't a hoax, because he himself was a computer programmer
who was working on software to save us from Armageddon when the
year 2000 rolls around. His program will prevent a global disaster
in which all the computers get together & distribute the $600
Neiman Marcus cookie recipe under the leadership of Bill Gates.
(It's true --I read it all last week in a mass e-mail from BILL
GATES HIMSELF, who was also promising me a free Disney World
vacation and $5,000 if I would forward the e-mail to everyone I
know.)
The poor man then tried to call 911 from a pay phone to report his
missing kidneys, but reaching into the coin-return slot he got
jabbed with an HIV-infected needle around which was wrapped a note
that said, "Welcome to the world of AIDS."
Luckily he was only a few blocks from the hospital-the one,
actually, where that little boy who is dying of cancer is, the one
whose last wish is for everyone in the world to send him an e-mail
and the American Cancer Society has agreed to pay him a nickel for
every e-mail he receives.
I sent him two e-mails and one of them was a bunch of x's and o's
in the shape of an angel (if you get it and forward it to twenty
people you will have good luck, but ten people you will only have
ok luck, and if you send it to less than ten people you will have
BAD LUCK FOR SEVEN YEARS).
So anyway the poor guy tried to drive himself to the hospital, but
on the way he noticed another car driving along without his lights
on. To be helpful, he flashed his lights at him and was promptly
shot as part of a gang initiation.
And it's a little-known fact that the Y1K problem caused the Dark Ages.
Mercifully, this is the end....
heres the file you asked for (Score:1)
if only there was a tv broadcast channel run by us geeks, and aimed at the non literate... we would not have amusing casts as these...nevermind, these are more enjoyable.
Also, i wonder how much the viewership of slashdot is going to go down in the next few days
Re:Sounds like a match made in heaven (Score:1)
"Why would I need America Online? I've already got a computer!"
Which is analogous to the statement: "Why would I need a road? I've already got a car!"
The two statements are not analogous. A computer can be used quite productively without AOL or even an internet connection. It may be hard to imagine but people get along just fine without one. A car doesn't really have much of a purpose without roads to drive it on.
Well, I'm not surprised... (Score:1)
Now if this isn't an arguement for having a fool proof GUI to go on top of Linux power, I don't know what is.
By the way, before we get to hard on people , give them some time to get used to the internet and computing ingeneral. Remember...people used to believe nuclear radiation came out of the microwave oven when they first came out. Now Now one still believes that do they?
Re:Well, I'm not surprised...[education] (Score:1)
My whole point is that most people use the tools with out this knowledge. If you then allow them to access complicated, dangerous aspects of the tools without the knowledge, your asking for trouble. Education yeas, if they want to learn more, but there still needs to be an easy baseline so that the tools can be used easily and effectively with out danger by anyone. Otherwise Linux (and motor cars and telephones) will never be used by the masses
Re:Gullibility... (Score:1)
GOD DAMMIT (Score:1)
[pant
[pauses to sip a "shasta" and chew a penguin mint]
All right, I'm better now.
Sounds like a match made in heaven (Score:1)
Stupid people watch Local TV News
Therefore if you want to fool a bunch of stupid people...
Re:Sounds like a match made in heaven (Score:2)
Ignorent people use AOL
People who are involved in Local TV news are pretty ignorent...
Therefore, if you want to fool a lot of ignorent people...
Re:"We have the technology!" (Score:1)
I feel sorry for some AOL users. They really get a bad rap sometimes. I know people who use it because they live in the sticks and it's the only way to get a local dialup number. Other people may be very intelligent but really have no interest in learning anything beyond how to point and click. I see no shame in that. It seems that techy type poeple seem to be very judgmental sometimes. (my self included)
Hey, I resent that! (Score:2)
Re:Good Times! -- A Bad Day... (Score:1)
Poor chap.
Finally! Local news does a service (Score:1)
Re:Sounds like a match made in heaven (Score:1)
"Why would I need America Online? I've already got a computer!"
Which is analogous to the statement:
"Why would I need a road? I've already got a car!"
AOL users are not stupid, but a stupid person was responsible for that ad.
Gullibility... (Score:1)
It's sweeps week. (Score:1)
Here in Texas, A few things:
Win $X dollars on Watch2Win (Other station followed suit in a week)
Sex on the Internet: A Special Report
What to do when your car is on fire
And I haven't even been watching the news!
It is sad that the only reliable source of news is your own two eyes.
RB
If it is a computer (Score:1)
It is sad that I can think of 6 different ways to do each and every one of your items and have them work.
Who knows... One maybe out there now.
RB
hahahahahahahaha (Score:1)
From KOLD's Backyard (Score:2)
The thing is, Tucson news is pretty lame, overall.
There is no weather here to speak of. So we are the city where Meteorologists go to die.
Traffic is slower then the weather.
And news, is just hard to find.
So it only makes sense that reporters and news anchors get excited over something like this.
But still, this is pretty bad, even for the press.
*Carlos: Exit Stage Right*
"Geeks, Where would you be without them?"
Re:Sounds like a match made in heaven (Score:1)
Suggestion for the world... (Score:1)
That way people can catch on and set their filters to intercept a majority of chain mail. If anyone finds this concept useful please tell someone or fwd it to 20 of your friends hehehe
Re:Poor, smalltown reporter (Score:1)
Guess we need to get some new talent in the local TV stations
My, this could be fun (Score:2)
Re:Suggestion for the world... (Score:1)
Send them on over (Score:1)
And what, pray tell, do YOU know about journalism? (Score:1)
1. Under incredible amounts of time pressure. If a newscast is coming up and you need news, it is a bit too easy to take a story and just run with it. Not that this should happen, but sometimes it does.
2. Constrained by being allowed "X" amount of space (in print media) or time (in a radio or TV newscast) for a story.
3. Under increasing pressure to conform to the ethics of the mega-media-corps, like Gannet and its chain of McPapers.
Not to mention, even the best journalists there are still make mistakes. The entity known as "Woodstein" screwed up and ran with a story or two that it shouldn't have, but overall it's a damn good thing those guys were there to do what they did.
Actually, there's a point:
4. This generation's newbie journalists all want to be the next "Woodstein." Hell, I know I did. But after things like the Monica Lewinsky scandal, I don't have the stomach for it.
[And if you don't know who and what I mean by "Woodstein," you are really off base in trying to criticize journalists at all!]
Incidentally, the word is gullIble.
*LOL* (Score:1)
And what makes you think that people go INTO journalism to make money in the first place? There's something called idealism, and it tends to drive us in the beginning.
Unfortunately, it's the same thing that does seem to kill off the good ones in the end
Judging by YOUR logic, though, we should all be Web designers and let the world fall apart around us as there are suddenly no teachers/reporters/lawyers/whatever. Well, if everyone was a Web designer, it'd stop being worth so much money NOW WOULDN'T IT?
Sad part is, people really ARE this ill-informed (Score:3)
I used to work for a bank, and the Budweiser Frogs Virus Alert showed up there.
I patiently explained to the rest of my department that this was a hoax, and there was no way in hell that all this scary stuff could actually happen. I also e-mailed a friend who goes to my alma mater, whose fiance is a sysadmin there, for further backup on this.
The response of one of my co-workers? "Well, I'll take the word of the president of Company XYZ [I forget what it was exactly] over a bunch of snotty college kids any day!"
Pity she didn't realize that said "snotty college kids" actually KNOW SOMETHING about the 'net.
*chuckles* Was her face ever red a few days later when the "This is a hoax!" e-mail was sent from Information Security. *smirk*
Re:Watch the newsreel. (Score:1)
Re:Diary of an AOL Luser (Score:1)
Re:Geez (Score:1)
but you should have. That is what we all are aren't we?
Re:My, this could be fun (Score:1)
Diary of an AOL Luser (Score:2)
:p
xp0rnstar (Score:1)
www.AntiOffline.com -- Elite Hax0r Stories