STOP! Don't forward that eMail!

Today I received another one of those special mails! Chain mails, I mean. This was about how instant noodles cause cancer in you. It told me in no uncertain terms, to stop eating instant noodles. It told me that Instant noodles contain wax that is not easily expelled from your body. It is also carcinogenic and so on. It claimed that many people had died after eating instant noodles, (not instantly, I think).

I did some preliminary search and found that this particular email has been doing rounds since 2002. Imagine, a simple mail going around and around for 5 years now.

These kinds of letters come in all flavours; religious, business, medical, political, philanthropical and what not!

Irritating though they are, one still wonders how gullible and naive our readers can be that believe them. Probably, the concern that they have for others is taken advantage of. And, in any case, I do not lose anything when I forward just this one mail. Or does it affect somewhere?

One should ask oneself. How many people are using email everyday all over the world? And, if one mail is forwarded by everyone every week, just how much of bandwidth is consumed? How much of your friend's time is wasted in reading that particular mail, which he/she could use spending with the family. We could probably use that bandwidth better. And certainly not be a part of spreading misinformation and spam.

So, beware. Before you forward that next mail, try to do a little research yourself. Or, if you aren't so sure, just ignore it. You are not here to save the world. God (or if you are agnostic, Nature) will take care of it.

For some insight into the various ways that people get baited, I suggest you follow the below :
http://www.breakthechain.org

Happy surfing!