Link of the Month

Each month we highlight an Internet, USENET Special Interest Group (SIG), or similar mailing list(s) or Website(s).

Urban Legends and Hoaxes

The "signal to noise ratio" in my mailbox seems to have more noise than signal lately and part of it is due to people sending me wonderful stories that are supposed to lift my spirits. Trouble is, most of the stories are untrue and by forwarding them across the world, these well meaning people are just passing along bogus information AND clogging up countless mailboxes the world over. If you have a similar problem you might try combating it by checking out the stories and reporting back to the sender if you find them to be untrue. At worst, the sender will stop sending such things to you and at best they will start checking out such things themselves before forwarding them along.

Below are some sites that can help you debunk hoaxes and legends with the best of them:

• Snopes.com: http://www.snopes.com

• The AFU & Urban Legends Archive: http://www.urbanlegends.com

• HOAXBUSTERS: http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org

• The Straight Dope: http://www.straightdope.com

• Urban Legends and Folklore: http://urbanlegends.miningco.com

• Vmyths.com: http://www.vmyths.com

If the behavior persists, however, you may have a person with a serious problem on your hands. Perhaps "The 'Forwarder's' 12 Step Program" can help them. :)

For a brief look at the most popular hoaxes from last year, see Urban Legends Guide David Emery's picks for the top ten hoaxes of 2001: http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/weekly/aa010902a.htm

Happy debunking! -- Ed.

From "Today's Cartoon by Randy Glasbergen", posted with special permission. For many more cartoons, please visit www.glasbergen.com.