Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 10:17:23 -0500 (EST) From: Robert Fischler To: [a large number of people - removed] Subject: You have been lied to. This message is in response to a dumb chain letter I received recently (see the next paragraph), and is motivated by all dumb chain letters in general. You received this message because, apparently, you or a friend of yours participated in routing the chain letter to me. So, you are entitled to my response. Simply delete the message now if you wish, but I urge you to read on, and learn how you (1) were lied to and (2) inadvertently encouraged the growth of e-mail clutter (junk e-mail). To refresh your memory, here's the specific chain letter I'm taking about. E-mail subject heading: "PLEASE SEND THIS ON -not a dumb chain letter" "LITTLE JESSICA MYDEK IS SEVEN YEARS OLD AND IS SUFFERING FROM AN ACUTE AND VERY RARE CASE OF CEREBRAL CARCINOMA. THIS CONDITION CAUSES SEVERE MALIGNANT BRAIN TUMORS AND IS A TERMINAL ILLNESS. THE DOCTORS HAVE GIVEN HER SIX MONTHS TO LIVE. AS PART OF HER DYING WISH, SHE WANTED TO START A CHAIN LETTER TO INFORM PEOPLE OF THIS CONDITION AND TO SEND PEOPLE THE MESSAGE TO LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST AND ENJOY EVERY MOMENT, A CHANCE THAT SHE WILL NEVER HAVE. FURTHERMORE, THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY AND SEVERAL CORPORATE SPONSORS HAVE AGREED TO DONATE THREE CENTS TOWARD CONTINUING CANCER RESEARCH FOR EVERY NEW PERSON THAT GETS FORWARDED THIS MESSAGE. PLEASE GIVE JESSICA AND ALL CANCER VICTIMS A CHANCE. IF THERE ARE ANY QUESTIONS, SEND THEM TO THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY AT ACS@AOL.COM" The message above is bullshit of the purest kind, but it still stinks. It briefly describes a girl that has 6 months to live (yet I wonder why I saw this "chain letter" over a year ago). Most chain letters operate on the same premise: continue to pass it on to avoid bad things happening to you or pass it on so that good things will happen to you. The letter above puts a slight twist on the underlying premise: continue to pass it on to give you or others the impression that you are a good person. Other chain letters are solely passed around because of entertainment value alone, but that's not as bad as the other types describe above. The other types are "lying" to you, and based on the lie continue to be sent and resent to our mailboxes wasting reading time, storage space, and decreasing the efficiency of the internet. Now, let me address the specific message that lied to you and perhaps tricked you into sending it to others, including me. Let's think about the "Jessica Mydek" letter very carefully. First, do you really want to get a chain letter from every dying person in the world? Does someone out there know the number of people dying around the world daily? (There's over 4 billion people populating the planet currently.) I'm sure it's a statistic that you wouldn't want to equate to the number of new messages you receive daily of this kind. The message below plays off your desire to do something good, real good, but with minimal effort. If you really want do something good, along these lines, donate a $1 to the American Cancer Society rather than tag your name on the list for a supposedly $0.03 donation. Think about it; why would the American Cancer Society pay money to clutter up e-mail traffic? If this was valid, they could get in trouble, or at the very least damage their reputation if they were to keep these types of letters financed. Think about the enormous job of sorting through all the names of people, trying to find out how many people the message reached and how many sent it to others, keeping track of cross listings. And who is supposed to forward it back to the American Cancer Society, and when? Did you notice the absence of a date? How convenient! The more you think about it, the more you realize how much essential information was missing (e.g., when was she diagnosed, who are the other supporting cooperations, where is this girl located now, etc.). A message like this, if it was valid, would look much cleaner. I'd bet some pathetic slob sitting in his (or her) underware in a run down apartment complex dreamt up this message in an attempt to make a difference in the world by influencing other people. It may have even been a deep down cry for help from a sick mind. Here's some more flaws to back up this theory. The message wouldn't be in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, and would be more business like. There would be a real phone number to talk to a live person. Anyone can get an AOL account and call it anything that hasn't been used before. And don't you think an organization like the American Cancer Society would have their own e-mail server and not have to use AOL like some pedestrian customer? (Nonetheless, I sent a query to the AOL account weeks ago and have heard nothing in return.) There should have also been a web address to check out more info, a picture of the girl, how to donate money yourself, etc. Part of the reasoning to start the chain letter was supposedly to inform people of her condition and to remind people to live to their fullest. Well, after passing this message on, would you consider yourself informed on the condition of "CEREBRAL CARCINOMA" and are you living life to its fullest nowadays? I'll let you be the judge of that. But as far as judging the chain letter above, I'd say it's completely bogus. I suggest that you shouldn't support this (that is, the next time it's sent to you in about a year from now). And keep an enlightened eye out for others like it. I'm sending this message out to most of the names appended on my message, because most of you played some small part for me to receive it, this time. Also, I want to try to cut down on chain letters like the Jessica Mydek one and although it is at first counter-productive to send this message out, I hope that it becomes a productive effort by reducing the amount of chain letters overall -- or at least to get rid of the old recycled and poorly designed ones. -Robert Fischler Computer Consultant Indiana University P.S. For more information on chain letters, visit Donald A. Watrous' chain letter web page at http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/~watrous/chain-letters.html