Research before forwarding

“If you forward this blog, Bill Gates would send you a check for $5000.  It’s all true.  It was in the NY Times”.  Have you ever opened up an email like that? Maybe not the exact words but same idea.  You are not alone.  Many of us have not only received but also forwarded emails like this without a moment’s hesitation, hoping to cash in on whatever the email promises.

Being a  suspicious person, (a curse and a blessing sometimes),  I do not take too many things at face value.  If you need to keep a chain email going, I am the wrong person to send it to.  If it promises money or free gifts, I check it out for legitimacy.   I have VIP access to snopes.

If a forward has phone numbers,  you can bet I’ll try calling them.  Once I received one about a missing child and I called the number that was supposed to connect me the someone who was in charge of the case.  Of course it was all a hoax.

Most of these emails can be seen for what they are if we take a minute or two to check out their validity.  Google, snopes and other websites are out there, use them.  If it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is.

Note:  If you click ‘like’, you will be automatically selected to be Freshly Pressed.  Honestly!  Don’t have a WP account? No problem, you will receive a cheque in the mail.  It’s true! My neighbor’s friend’s sister’s dog got his cheque yesterday!

Update:  I guess some people did not read my blog.  This morning, I went on Facebook and noticed everyone was sharing a photo of a guy with a powerball ticket bearing the winning numbers of the last draw.  It said that if everyone shared the photo, he would give one million dollars to a random person.  I was surprised to see some of my friends who had fallen for this obvious fake and decided to do some research.  It didn’t take me long, to find out that I was right.  Read it here.

Related articles

• Tired Of Fact-Checking Those Bogus Right Wing Chain Emails? There’s An App For That! (addictinginfo.org)
• LazyTruth Fact Check Chain Emails, Responds With The Truth (lifehacker.com.au)
• FW: FW: Fw: FW: Fwd: fwd: fw: LazyTruth tackles false claims in email chain letters (niemanlab.org)
• Two Limitations of the Human Mind (pochp.wordpress.com)
• Break the chain (joyandwoe.wordpress.com)
• Fake Powerball Winner

Google This, Wiki That!

Hi, my name is Carlos and I am a Googler.  No, not an ogler, a Googler! It has nothing to do with looking at someone with googly eyes either. Never mind, just let me explain. I like to use the search engine Google maybe a tad too much. Have I Googled myself? Old news buddy, been there done that. If I knew your name, I probably would have Googled you too by now.  The thing is, I have an insatiable appetite for information. I have to, need to, know stuff. I want the DL, (for the not so hip, that’s Down Low). Google provides me unlimited access to ‘stuff’.  I am an information junkie trying to score a hit or two.

You don’t have to remind me that I should not trust every result I get from Googling. Duh, I know that and that’s why I have my trusted backup, Wiki! So now I am really not a Googler, more like a Gooki. (Got it? Goo from Google and Ki from Wiki).  Almost sounds like Geeky eh? Some days that’s exactly how I feel when I spend all my time mentally commuting between Google and Wikipedia.

Seriously though, I do love to Google and Wiki things maybe more than most people. When I see something on TV that I know nothing about, I run to my computer and ask my trusted friends.  They usually come through for me. Last week I was about to fall asleep while watching ‘An Idiot Abroad’, they were showing the Great Wall Of China and I realized my knowledge of The Great Wall was very limited. When was it built? Why and by whom? I couldn’t sleep with all this on my mind so I reached for my Ipad and asked Google to wake up his buddy Wiki and find out what he knows about The Great Wall of China.  Hmmm…so it could be seen from outer space huh? NOT! (Thanks Wiki).  After I was done with that topic, I figured I might as well brush up on The Pharaohs, The Sphinx, Stonehenge, The Pyramids and The Sargasso Sea.  I finally felt asleep much smarter than I was when I first went to bed.

Move over Facebook and Twitter. What have you done for me lately? Google has helped me to make some very important decisions in my life. Like should I take that vaccine my doctor is prescribing? Google said enough tests weren’t done on it so No! Remedies, Recipes, you name it, my buddies provide it.  Sometimes I feel like an information pusher. I can get you whatever info you seek. Shhh…just step into this alley and we can do business.  Oh wait a minute, I just had a thought, maybe I could write a book with all the info I gather from Wiki and sell it…  I could call it WIKILEAKS.