I often get e-mails from friends, family, and even strangers, that tell me some piece of information (like a curious fact, a chance to get good/bad luck, a virus-warning, etc.) and then tell me I need to "forward this to all of your friends or else..."  In short, they are "chain letters," and I've yet to see one that wasn't a load of fertilizer. Chain letters are a bane to my existence.  I won't go into a complete rant here, at least not now <grin>, suffice it to say I just don't like 'em.  I especially don't like when someone thoughtlessly sends me an e-mail yet claims to really care about me.  Oh... you'd better be careful or you'll get an evil virus or this or that will happen to you. I know many of you are trying to be helpful, but you end up looking the fool by getting suckered into the "pass this on to everyone you know" chain letter bunk.  Forgive my gruffness, but it seems to me if you really cared what happened to your loved ones you'd look into something before giving out false information and wasting everyone's time. In the future, if an e-mail gives you a source (like IBM, AOL, or MicroSoft) - take a look at the source's home page to check the validity of the claim.  If there's no relevant data at the letter's source(s) and/or the letter doesn't provide any source, may I direct you to these fine sites: McAfee is probably the premier anti-virus company, if you want to check on a virus, here's the place to start.  Specifically, they have a list of virus hoaxes. Symantec is a leading edge internet security company, another great source of real viruses, and those that are just a hoax.  Check out Symantec's Virus Encyclopedia and Calendar. Snopes is a great reference site for all sorts of Urban Legends.  I HIGHLY recommend you take a look here before sending any sort of "pass this along" chain letter.  They have material on 9/11, Coca-Cola, Disney, Computers, Pregnancy, Sex, the Titanic, Christmas, Fake Computer Viruses... All sorts of stuff.  It's good fun entertaining reading too. HoaxKill and The AFU & Urban Legends Archive are also good sites on urban legend debunking. Anyway, I hope you all will appreciate that I'm not trying to be mean, I am REALLY trying to be HELPFUL!  I apologize if I offend anyone, but wish you to understand my goal.  If you have any questions or would like to further discuss this, please feel free to shoot me an e-mail. © 2004 Bob Clemins, last updated 06/12/04.