Snopes.com and Internet Myths

I, like most other people, hate getting spam. More than that I hate getting junk email from FRIENDS!! The chain emails (now that's downright insulting) and all the other odds and ends, pet photos, off color jokes that while well intentioned I just don't have time for. Plus I'm always worried about opening something with a virus so often times I just delete these emails.

Many well meaning people (my dear Dad!!) will forward the "warning" type emails - like about the guy that will approach you in a parking lot telling you he found the $10 bill you dropped and then attack you. Or some that SOUND legit like "don't pump gas on May 15 and it will help lower gas prices".

I forwarded one of these (it was the one about Swiffer making babies and pets sick - I remember it because I was so embarassed that I was duped too!) to a fellow dog owner who forwarded it back to me with the http://www.snopes.com/ report on it and that it was false! I quickly realized how these rumors can be perpetuated so fast and here I was helping (incorrectly) to drag Swiffer's name through the mud. One person tells 5 friends who tell 5 friends, etc and before you know it it's whizzed all over the world via internet.

So now when I get a well meaning email like this (about cell phones, gas boycotts, or rapists lurking out there) I will check http://www.snopes.com/ to see if it's real or not. Most times it is not and I will diplomatically forward the Snopes report to the sender just so they know and will (hopefully) check Snopes first before forwarding those types of emails in the future.

Recently I did find one that actually WAS real. It was about the state of Michigan and the $10K/per day fine they threatened local beavers (yes, beavers, the furry brown creatures) with if they did not remove their dams! If you don't believe me check it out at

http://www.snopes.com/humor/letters/dammed.asp