Thursday, April 21, 2005
As a media student, I feel somewhat responsible to point out that the internet is full of rubbish.
I know, some of you are gonna call me a pompous self-important bitch because media students aren't the only ones discerning about information they find online. But the fact remains that after blog-surfing (and general surfing, and other non-studying related activities) I find a disturbing amount of people who get exposed to information, then swallow it hook, line and sinker. And yes, this includes all those stupid cutesy chain messages that go "iF U tReAt mE aS A fReN, pLs foRwARd tiS tO mE n eVeRyboDy eLSe oN uR fRenLiSt!!!11!!" or "if you don't send this to x number of people, you're gonna have bad luck / your wishes won't come true" etc. (This also includes spreading that email about the female ghost with yellowed teeth and acidic drool... if you're reading this you know who you are!)
Some of you may find little touching messages cute and inspirational. You may come across stories that are amazing, funny, sweet, whatever. Fair enough, I do too, and I have come across some nice stuff from forwarded emails. I mean if you absolutely HAVE to forward because its so heart-wrenching, fine. What I'm urging everyone to do is to not compulsively forward everything that comes along, not just through emails but through bulletin boards, forums, etc.
It does nothing more than clutter up the information superhighway - yes, it's a superhighway and theoretically the potential capacity approaches infinity but unfortunately in reality it does not, yet.
This also goes for hoax virus warnings, health warnings, news, etc. Frankly, people who originate these prankster emails should be shot. Like I finally received the article from "The Onion" about Michael Jackson's death, and since it was an edited screen capture (without The Onion's masthead), it was pretty misleading for the uninitiated. Then there are those credit-card scams (help the poor starving children of wherever), or the classic Teddy-Bear-virus hoax that actually tricks people into deleting a valid windows file (jdbgmgr.exe). Some are just innocent pranks but imagine if they convinced everyone to delete an important windows file? It'd be as good as a DIY virus.
So please, everyone who reads this blog - be more sceptical about information you find online. Always double check with reliable sources such as anti-virus software official websites, and some pretty good websites dedicated to stamping out hoax emails (I personally recommend Hoax-Slayer).
Ok I think I've ranted enough... next time when I'm feeling all indignant I'll rant about something else. Maybe biased news reports. Haha...
|
:: Photo by National Geographic Society Copyright © 2002 ::