The Internet provides us with an incredible capacity for instant communication. With a simple click of the mouse, a story that may have taken years to spread to other countries a mere century ago now takes seconds to go from an e-mail address in the United States to mailboxes around the globe.
News versus Gossip Online
Amazing stories are circulated through cyberspace. Have you heard about Michelle Obama’s extravagant purchases? the kitten with one eye? the burning mouse that took revenge? the cow-tipping college students? How many e-mail chain letters have you received about virus alerts, dying children, and food recalls? How do you decide if they are truth or urban legend, news or rumor, fact or hoax?
The Truth Detectives
Fortunately several Web sites can help the average Joe dig through the hype. The brainchild of Barbara and David Mikkelson, Snopes.com is perhaps the most well-known and trusted when it comes to urban legends, which the site labels "true," "false," or "undetermined." Recently featured in Reader’s Digest, Snopes defines an urban legend as a tale that is widely circulated, includes differing details when it is re-told, “and is said to be true.”
Snopes uses urban legend as an umbrella term for common fallacies, old wives’ tales, rumors, and more. Snopes’s reference pages list research materials to allow readers to check out the sources for themselves. According to Reader’s Digest, the Mikkelsons “still prefer old-fashioned research—scouring vintage catalogs, thumbing through four newspapers a day—over finding quick answers online. ‘I might use Google or Wikipedia as a starting point,’ David says. ‘But that's not research.’”
Rich Buhler founded Truthorfiction.com in 1999, but he has been researching and writing about rumors and urban legends for over 30 years, according to the site. This author and broadcast journalist also publishes “The eRumor Report,” an email update on Internet rumors and virus alerts. Check out the site for explanations of its classifications, which include Truth!, Fiction!, Reported to be Truth!, Reported to be Fiction!, Unproven!, and Disputed!
Hoaxbusters.org posts its “Big List” of Internet hoaxes as well as information about safe computing practices and a list of recommended anti-virus programs, spyware scanners, and firewalls. In 2003, The Today Show cited Hoax Busters’ five telltale signs to help browsers identify a hoax:
- Urgent
- Tell all your friends
- This isn’t a hoax
- Dire consequences
- History
Avoid Internet Viruses
Web sites for anti-virus software companies such as Symantec and McAfee list virus-alert hoaxes. Vymyths’ slogan, “truth about computer security hysteria,” lets browsers know just what they will find at www.Vmyths.com.
Next time you receive a suspicious e-mail, check out one of these sites to verify the information before you believe it or pass it along. If you find an “eRumor” humorous and decide to forward it anyway, be considerate of the people in your address book. Ask if they want to receive forwarded e-mails. If so, share this article and the Web sites mentioned here with them as well.
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