important.found out sterile bit a hoax but the

[alasdairm]

QUOTE (Sparky @ Mar 1 2004, 13:45)

...someone who thought that by sensationalising the issue they would be making a positive contribution by raising awareness.

i have a lot of respect for your faith in human nature sparky but i can't help feeling there's another explanation

 

while this is by no means the worst example, stuff like this just clogs up the internet. think. if one person falls for this and mails it to 5 friends and they each mail it to their friends, before you know it, there's 25,000,000 copies flying around the internet...

 

i guess it's an interesting viral phenomenon...

 

alasdair

[Louise]

isnt it better to raise awareness than worry about glogging up the internet

 

im pretty sure the internet can cope

[Lisa]

QUOTE (Louise @ Mar 2 2004, 09:39)

isnt it better to raise awareness than worry about glogging up the internet im pretty sure the internet can cope

yes, agreed!!!

[alasdairm]

well, if the facts are simply wrong, it could potentially cause harm. i'm not saying this is necessarily the case here - i suppose, worst case, this is a valuable reminder to watch for spiked drinks.

 

i take the issue of harm reduction pretty seriously - i do work for a harm-reduction website. i see two problems with this kind of thing:

 

- it creates an atmosphere in which it's easy for a malicious party to spread misinformation. if people become conditioned to believe nonsense like 'a duck's quack doesn't echo and scientists don't know why' just because it arrives in their inbox, people can abuse this.

 

- it massively degrades the noise to signal ratio on the internet in general which means that valid issues (which are genuinely important) get lost in the noise.

 

it's hard to quantify a problem like this but when you consider that unsolicited email alone cost US businesses $10B last year, it's clear it's a huge problem.

 

if people stopped for just a second and checked a site like this or snopes.com before just ciicking 'forward', it would help enormously.

 

alasdair

Edited March 2, 2004 by alasdairm

[Lisa]

well peeps obviously do check, hence the replys saying it is a hoax, but on the flip side Alasdairm, it brings a bit of awarenes back also, so good & points!!

[alasdairm]

QUOTE (Louise @ Mar 2 2004, 01:39)

im pretty sure the internet can cope

thinking about this a little more, i'm intrigued why you say this.

 

even a cursory glance at the evidence suggests this is a huge global problem for the internet which is being addressed from both a technical and governmental perspective.

 

alasdair

[Lisa]

QUOTE (alasdairm @ Mar 2 2004, 10:10)

QUOTE (Louise @ Mar 2 2004, 01:39) im pretty sure the internet can cope  thinking about this a little more, i'm intrigued why you say this.   even a cursory glance at the evidence suggests this is a huge global problem for the internet which is being addressed from both a technical and governmental perspective.   alasdair there is problems with the net full stop, if you wanna delve into it!!!

[alasdairm]

i'm sure there are other problems with the internet but i'm not sure why that's relevant here.

 

alasdair

[Louise]

QUOTE (alasdairm @ Mar 2 2004, 10:10)

QUOTE (Louise @ Mar 2 2004, 01:39) im pretty sure the internet can cope  thinking about this a little more, i'm intrigued why you say this.   even a cursory glance at the evidence suggests this is a huge global problem for the internet which is being addressed from both a technical and governmental perspective.   alasdair so start a new topic then   my point was as long as awareness is raised who gives a flying fuck wherter something is in your inbox for a day or 2? lets face it, thats all its likely to stick around for........just like any other junk mail, get onto any loan cmpany if you wanna go off on someone about junk   QUOTE well, if the facts are simply wrong, it could potentially cause harm   how?

[Maria]

QUOTE (miss_diddy @ Mar 2 2004, 08:51)

Hoax or not, peeps do got out to purposely spike drinks, male or female, so do be careful & never leave your drink unattended!!

^ Sums this topic up me thinks

[Lisa]

QUOTE (alasdairm @ Mar 2 2004, 10:31)

i'm sure there are other problems with the internet but i'm not sure why that's relevant here. alasdair

it isnt the same, as you going on about emails bogging the net up, is not relevant really!!!

[alasdairm]

luu

 

your tone is really defensive - i'm not attacking you. i'm just interested in understanding what leads you to believe some of the things you are saying. that's all.

 

you say you are sure the internet can cope. to me, it seems as if the internet is actually having a lot of trouble coping with this kind of thing. i'm wondering why the difference is all.

 

QUOTE

my point was as long as awareness is raised who gives a flying fuck wherter something is in your inbox for a day or 2? lets face it, thats all its likely to stick around for

 

well, the problem is not what happens once this stuff arrives in your inbox so much as what happens before it gets there.

 

who gives a flying fuck? well, the US government gives a huge flying fuck. the EC gives a huge flying fuck. if they give a flying fuck, i'm thinking i should give a flying fuck too

 

QUOTE

how?

 

how is wrong information potentially harmful? isn't that obvious?

 

alasdair

[Lisa]

this has gone slightly off topic now!!!! Shall we take it up with www.microsoft.com ????

[Louise]

QUOTE (alasdairm @ Mar 2 2004, 10:43)

QUOTE

luu your tone is really defensive - i'm not attacking you. i'm just interested in understanding what leads you to believe some of the things you are saying. that's all.

 

im not defensive, i just swear the only thing i beleive is that it wont do any person harm

 

 

QUOTE

you say you are sure the internet can cope. to me, it seems as if the internet is actually having a lot of trouble coping with this kind of thing. i'm wondering why the difference is all.

 

to be honest thats really not my problem, i pay my £25 a month and the people that work for these companies get paid shit loads to sort these "problems" out.

 

QUOTE

well, the problem is not what happens once this stuff arrives in your inbox so much as what happens before it gets there.

 

again, not my problem, take it up with Ntl

 

QUOTE

who gives a flying fuck? well, the US government gives a huge flying fuck. the EC gives a huge flying fuck. if they give a flying fuck, i'm thinking i should give a flying fuck too

 

do you do everything the US goverment tells you you should do and think? me, personally have my own oppinions and thoughts, be them right or wrong, they are my OWN try it you might like it

 

 

QUOTE

how is wrong information potentially harmful? isn't that obvious?

 

no, thats why i asked i am still on about the first post here, what harm has it done.....you tell me seen as you seem to know

Edited March 2, 2004 by Louise

[Louise]

QUOTE (miss_diddy @ Mar 2 2004, 10:48)

this has gone slightly off topic now!!!! Shall we take it up with www.microsoft.com ????

good idea.

 

back to the subject topic now please