Help: E-mail fees

Subject: E-mail fees
From: Thomas the Rhymer
Date: 15 Aug 00 - 01:48 PM

There is legislation afoot that seeks to charge us 5 cents per e-mail. USPS is complaining mightily about loss of 100's of millions of dollars a year, and I imagine the phone company(s) is/are upset...

I think this is an outrage, and I'm not alone, Write to your particular fair skinned rep in Washington DC, if you like free e-mail, O.K.?

Subject: RE: Help: E-mail fees
From: Kim C
Date: 15 Aug 00 - 01:55 PM

Thomas, I think this is one of those urban myth hoaxes.

Subject: RE: Help: E-mail fees
From: Amergin
Date: 15 Aug 00 - 02:05 PM

No it was on the news.....

Subject: RE: Help: E-mail fees
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Aug 00 - 02:12 PM

http://www.urbanlegends.com/ulz/emailtax.html

Subject: RE: Help: E-mail fees
From: SeanM
Date: 15 Aug 00 - 03:56 PM

This one pokes it's head up frequently these days. A great place to check on this kind of thing is www.snopes.com, one of the closest to authoritative Urban Legend sources I've found online.

M

Subject: RE: Help: E-mail fees
From: SeanM
Date: 15 Aug 00 - 03:57 PM

This one pokes it's head up frequently these days. A great place to check on this kind of thing is www.snopes.com, one of the closest to authoritative Urban Legend sources I've found online.

Just remember that the news isn't infallible. Twain's "Petrified Man" hoax (and a few others) swept the nation by storm, and things ain't improved much since then.

M

Subject: RE: Help: E-mail fees
From: SeanM
Date: 15 Aug 00 - 03:58 PM

Memo to self... on this Mac, the "enter key" acts as a "submit" on the 'cat...

Grrrr...

M

Subject: RE: Help: E-mail fees
From: Skivee
Date: 15 Aug 00 - 11:37 PM

Sorry Thomas. A verified urban legand. I have seen it myself at least four times in the last two years. Each time from a different source, each time it's "just about to be voted on, so we need to flood our congress-people with urgent E-mails". It's just a way that the moron originator can cackle about the thought of congressional computers being jammed with spam. BTW Congress is not in session right now... summer recess.

Subject: RE: Help: E-mail fees
From: Escamillo
Date: 16 Aug 00 - 05:46 AM

I've said this before, but it's a good opportunity to remind it: ANY mail with ANY story, that ends up asking you to send copies to ANYbody, is surely a hoax.

The purpose is not only to jam some people's address with garbage. In general people resend the mail without cleaning up the list of addresses of previous recipients, and this list may grow to dozens, multiplied by the hundreds or thousands of threads. These authentic e-mail addresses reach some points in the net where the SPAMMERS have planted SPY programs. These spies then report those lists to their headquarters, as soon as the host user connects to the net. Some seconds of unexplained delay, and voilá! - another list of true e-mails caught. Months later you receive an offer of 100,000 e-mails "verified true" for 100 bucks or so. Surely you are included in that list.

See the very interesting anti-spy programs from Gibson Research Corp at https://grc.com , which some Mudcatter recommended (I got rid of a spy program with their OptOut anti-spy)

Un abrazo - Andrés

Subject: RE: Help: E-mail fees
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 16 Aug 00 - 06:14 AM

The latest round I have been getting have been ICQ hoaxes, the most common being "ICQ will delete your account if you don't forward this message to everyone on your list" I dread to think how many times I have received that one and have even had it 4 times from one... Telling some people that it is a hoax or asking them to think before forwarding messages just doesn't seem to work.

One of these days I will set up a killfile on email and ICQ and people who repeatedly send that sort of nonsense to me will end up on it my tolerance towards it is decreasing rapidly.

Jon

Subject: RE: Help: E-mail fees
From: CarolC
Date: 16 Aug 00 - 06:29 AM

Um, computer dummy here. What's an ICQ?

Carol

Subject: RE: Help: E-mail fees
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 16 Aug 00 - 06:48 AM

ICQ is a (largely) text communication programme and is popular with several 'catters and is even used during the Mudcat Radio (yes, you can actually use it to communicate with Max, Bert, MaryMac and others during the show).

It is available as a free download and versions exist for PC and Mac (I believe they have a Java version too that will run on Linux). It is well worth a look - go to http://www.icq.com.

Jon

Subject: RE: Help: E-mail fees
From: kendall
Date: 16 Aug 00 - 08:24 AM

I checked with my Congressman, Tom Allen, with whom I am on a first name basis, and he assures me this is not true.

Subject: RE: Help: E-mail fees
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 16 Aug 00 - 08:42 AM

Does that mean I can stop sticking a stamp on each time I post? Oh, good, 'cause the screen's almost covered...
RtS

Subject: RE: Help: E-mail fees
From: Jeri
Date: 16 Aug 00 - 01:14 PM

I wish folks would check these things out before passing them on.

The snopes site has a page debunks currently circulating hoaxes, including bills to reduce the protected areas of the Amazon rain forest and the women's breast-oggling ones. They also will say if the story's true, as with the one about The Rescuing Hug - a struggling newborn helped by her twin sisters hug.

There's a CIAC page on internet chain letters. (Also information on hoaxes and viruses among other things.) There's information on how to recognise a chain letter. Because some folks won't investigate this because they couldn't possible be among the suckers who fall for these things, (much like myself when I thought the NPR chain letter was for real and sent it on) I've summed up what's there.

Elements of a chain letter:
-A hook. This is something that makes you think the letter is important. Save a life, save the world, make money, etc.
-A threat. This is the negative stimulus. If you don't send the letter on, you're a cold-hearted creep. You or someone else will have bad luck. You'll miss an opportunity. It can also include dangers a chain letter is supposedly warning about - "the virus will eat your hard drive," "congress will pass the bill and the people will get screwed."
-A request. Usually "send this letter to as many people as you can." This sometimes involves sending money to people on a list - the old pyramid scheme. NOTE: IF IT SAYS TO FORWARD THE LETTER TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW, IT'S A CHAIN LETTER! Doesn't matter how good it sounds - it's still a chain letter.

A couple of things to look for are dates - when was the first message sent and when is the thing supposed to end. Chances are, there is no "cut-off" date and the thing will circulate until the end of time. Also, if the letter says when it's completed, someone will forward it to some Important Person or group - who's gonna do that? If there is an address, which letters are going to be completed and sent? The copy you got, or the ten you sent to different people, or the ones they sent to 100 or so different people, or the ones the 100 or so sent to...?

Sorry, this is a sore spot with me, but I hope in the process of ranting, I've managed to provide some information.

Subject: RE: Help: E-mail fees
From: DougR
Date: 16 Aug 00 - 01:26 PM

S's okay, Jeri! It's a sore spot with a lot of us. DougR

Subject: RE: Help: E-mail fees
From: Escamillo
Date: 16 Aug 00 - 02:38 PM

LOL Roger ! (Don't ever ask for a certificate of Receipt - they stick to the internal surface of the screen and are impossible to remove) LOL