It did no harm, except to waste some time, but the ““Jesus’’ message, one of a growing number of e-mail hoaxes clogging people’s computers, raises the question of why the supposedly astute people who use the Net are so seemingly gullible. One answer is the rapid growth of the Internet and the popularity of e-mail, which creates a constant stream of new victims. Judith Donath of the MIT Media Lab thinks chain e-mail, which can be sent off with a mouse-click, may be a painless way for people to connect with friends when they have nothing really to say. She also finds an explanation in sociobiology. E-mail like the Jesus hoax, which is ““worded to alarm the naive,’’ reminds her of ““the rapid spread of alarm calls in a flock of birds.’’ By forwarding such a message, people are simply trying to be helpful.
Helpful or greedy? Sometimes it’s both. Consider the Disney-Microsoft hoax, which claims recipients will receive $5,000 or a free vacation at Disney World if they help test a new Microsoft e-mail tracking system by forwarding the message. Millions of people have received it. ““The lure of something for nothing is pretty powerful,’’ says David Mikkelson, who manages the Urban Legends References Pages on the Web. With e-mail, ““you don’t even have to fill out a card. There doesn’t seem to be a downside.''
But that wasn’t true for Anna Mary Smalley, who forwarded the Disney e-mail from her desk at Penn State. Her e-mail server automatically added her name and phone number to the e-mail, so as the message circled the globe, hundreds of calls came in. Callers were angry; many hoped to learn the e-mail was true. As one anonymous Internet user wrote about the Disney vacation, ““Hoax or not, a girl can dream.''
title: “Go On Break The Chain” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-05” author: “Susie Burke”
It did no harm, except to waste some time, but the “Jesus” message, one of a growing number of e-mail hoaxes clogging people’s computers, raises the question of why the supposedly astute people who use the Net are so seemingly gullible. One answer is the rapid growth of the Internet and the popularity of e-mail, which creates a constant stream of new victims. Judith Donath of the MIT Media Lab thinks chain e-mail, which can be sent off with a mouse-click, may be a painless way for people to connect with friends when they have nothing really to say. She also finds an explanation in sociobiology. E-mail like the Jesus hoax, which is “worded to alarm the naive,” reminds her of “the rapid spread of alarm calls in a flock of birds.” By forwarding such a message, people are simply trying to be helpful.
Helpful or greedy? Sometimes it’s both. Consider the Disney-Microsoft hoax, which claims recipients will receive $5,000 or a free vacation at Disney World if they help test a new Microsoft e-mail tracking system by forwarding the message. Millions of people have received it. “The lure of something for nothing is pretty powerful,” says David Mikkelson, who manages the Urban Legends References Pages on the Web. With e-mail, “you don’t even have to fill out a card. There doesn’t seem to be a downside.”
But that wasn’t true for Anna Mary Smalley, who forwarded the Disney e-mail from her desk at Penn State. Her e-mail server automatically added her name and phone number to the e-mail, so as the message circled the globe, hundreds of calls came in. Callers were angry; many hoped to learn the e-mail was true. As one anonymous Internet user wrote about the Disney vacation, “Hoax or not, a girl can dream.”
