oct 21 2005

chain emails

we all get them and most of the time it's a bunch of funny pictures / funny stories / stories of people being stupid, but alot of the time they're mails containing some warning for women to be careful because something bad is going to happen if you; go to your car, go clubbing, take the stairs... etc.

i don't usually pay much attention, but it's the other 99 people you've sent it to that might and they'll forward it to 99 people they know and it just snowballs...

today i got a very informative powerpoint presentation on what the ladies should do protect themselves, some things mentioned were:
- use your elbow it's awfully handy and can do alot of damage
- if your handbag is what they want, throw it away from you and run in the other direction.
- use the lift rather than quiet stairwells
- run! even if they have a gun. 4 percent of the time they will hit you and even then it won't be life threatening. run! etc.

then it went on to explain that a serial killer is playing a recording of a baby crying to get unsuspecting do-gooders (ie. woman) to come out of their houses late at night to, er hmm, kill them.

most of the mails i receive are from woman, if not all, and i have been making it my business to make sure that they're not sending 'scary' false information to alot of other people by checking the story out on snopes.com to see whether or not it's a urban legend / hoax or simply the truth.

if it's a hoax i "reply to all" and send a link with abit of information from the page. i try and be polite about it, but i also try and make it very clear that people shouldn't be sending these false messages around the web. the serial killer story has been circulating the web for roughly 2 years...

the picture is from this hoax that has been sent around the web since 2001.

ps. if you have ever sent me a chain email, this post is not meant to offend, just help you make the right choice before forwarding it to everyone on your contact list! check it out before you send it on.

Posted by sarah | ranting, information