Did a quick search and didn't find any recent threads on this topic. The few I did find seemed to actually deal more with specific examples of fake/fraudulent emails instead of the phenomenon itself.

I'm on the right side of the political spectrum so most of the emails of this type I receive are related to Obama or Soros. I really don't remember receiving that many prior to '08, but I could be wrong. I used to simply delete them and move on, but for the past few months I've actively attempted to educate those sending these about why they should stop and why the emails are frauds (recent examples include - Obama selling Alaskan Islands to Putin; the Obamas being secretly disbarred; Michelle Obama and the children wearing the South African flag during the London Olympics). Thus far I seem to be failing abysmally.

I'd like to know if those of you on the opposite side politically receive these fake/fraudulent emails from your parents/grandparents/crazy Occupy friends about Bush or the Koch Brothers, etc. Or is this simply a right wing phenom only?

And why is it that otherwise educated adults so easily believe what's in a random forwarded message that's usually written in more than one color or font and almost never contains a link to any actual sources? Is it actually worth my time to try and stop these messages from being further promulgated, or should I give up now? Is it just a generational technology gap and our parents and grandparents just don't understand you can't trust anything on the internet?

[Edited on September 11, 2012 at 1:08 PM. Reason : ....]

9/11/2012 12:59:25 PM

Quote :

"Is it just a generational technology gap and our parents and grandparents just don't understand you can't trust anything on the internet?"

i think it really boils down to this. our generation knows not to believe any of that stuff unless it's proven to be true. the older generations, it seems, forward those kinds of things first and ask questions later.

9/11/2012 1:08:30 PM

1) When I get these I immediately go to Snopes, find the corresponding link that proves the email wrong, and reply all with that link and don't spend any more time on it than that. Since I started doing that I haven't received forwards in quite some time. Whether the senders either got tired of Snopes proving them wrong or learned to use it for themselves

2) I can't remember getting any emails like these about Bush, etc. I'm not going to make the claim that only the loonies on the right create them, but for whatever reason I never saw any from the other side

9/12/2012 9:14:26 AM

Snopes or factcheck.org or just a quick yahoo/google search using a few keywords, any of which takes three minutes tops to be able to either verify as a fraud or determine that more research is necessary before forwarding on an email filled with inaccuracies to a large number of people.

My most recent experience with the "Obama selling Alaskan Islands to Putin" chain email resulted in me being told that factcheck.org is run by the Annenberg Foundation and they're left wing and biased so how about you rely on this story from World Net Daily instead... Maybe I should just go the reply all route instead of trying to reason with one individual at a time. I'm sure that will get me removed from their list in a timely fashion.

9/12/2012 10:13:53 AM

^^,^^,^ Agreed on all accounts. It kind of pains me to pwn my elders so hard, but that's what you get for sending me stupid bullshit.

I've only seen right leaning propaganda. It's quite simple. Old people are conservative. Old people don't know how to use the internet properly.

Quote :

"Is it just a generational technology gap and our parents and grandparents just don't understand you can't trust anything on the internet?"

The most charitable answer is that chain letters have been around for a while and people have been falling for them for a while:
http://www.snopes.com/luck/chain.asp

You could also say older people grew up in a world where written text (books, textbooks, newspapers) tended to be more reputable than hearsay. At the very least, hand written letters had less anonymity and required more effort than email, so there was less incentive to make up bullshit.

But the less charitable answer is that older people tend to be A) religious, B) conservative, and C) lacking in critical thinking and skepticism. It seems plainly obvious to me that these days A and B are anathema to C and C reinforces A and B.

It's not just political stuff. My grandparents have sent me emails about free laptops for sending email. How much of your brain do you have to shut off to believe that companies would exchange several hundred dollars of product for man-seconds of labor? Then they will send me, over and over, emails about nonexistent viruses. These emails will even reference or link snopes and when you go read snopes it will still say they are bullshit.

[Edited on September 12, 2012 at 11:01 AM. Reason : sdfgdsfg]

9/12/2012 10:58:45 AM

People who send those are usually too far gone for reason, or as I like to put it, moderation (as opposed to 'left' or 'right'). They are like users Eaton Bush or GeniuSxBoY. I won't go as far as calling them completely wrong (though I want to), but they are completely shut out to having an actual discussion and thinking for themselves.

In addition to fact-check sites, you could try the opposite approach and send them something from the far left. Or things making fun of Fox News. Maybe they will take a hint and figure out that there are crazies on each side and realize they are listening to the crazies.

9/12/2012 11:02:06 AM