The end of the world! Or not.

Ah, urban legends. The Internet and email has certainly made it easier to communicate with each other, but it’s also made it a lit easier to spread those juicy stories of greed, fear or doom that we seem to be unable to resist.

You know the kind, because we’ve all got them in the past. Bill Gates/Coke/Sun is going to pay you $10 for every person you forward this mail to! Gang members are going to shoot you if you flash your headlights at them! Jackie X has been missing for two weeks! Sandra Y wrote this beautiful poem while dying of cancer! Unfortunately (or fortunately), these stories are hardly ever true. Even more fortunately, you don’t have to check them out personally because these are some people who have already done so.

My personal favourite site for checking out the validity of these stories is Snopes. The site is run by the husband and wife team of Barbara and David Mikkelson and they take the time to investigate these rumours thoroughly. Most of them have tell tale signs (no specific names but “I know a guy who knew a guy”) but some require deeper deconstruction and this they manage to do very effectively, also pointing out the stories that are actually true. I like their thoroughness, logic and the approach to the investigations and their site is well organized enough to be able to find various urban legends easily.

Go on, the next time you get one of these rumours in your inbox, visit the site and check it out before passing it on. I swear, if I get one more mail promising me payment for passing it on…

— Posted From My iPod