Hoaxes

Hoaxes or urban legends can seem initially plausible, but fail to hold up to even cursory scrutiny. Hoaxes are often distributed by well-meaning but naïve individuals as bulk emails to their friends and contacts, as covered by the chain letters section. Hoaxes are usually propagated out of a sense of social responsibility, which differentiates them from pure chain letters, that are forwarded for personal gratification. Hoaxes of any kind are against the Boulder Pledge.

• Spotting Hoaxes
• Lists of Hoaxes
• Chain Letters
• Virus Hoaxes
• Discuss Hoaxes

Spotting Hoaxes

How to Spot a Virus Hoax - www.research.ibm.com/antivirus/SciPapers/Wells/HOWTOSPOT/howtospot1.html
Urban Legend Combat Kit - netsquirrel.com/combatkit/
PurPortal - purportal.com/

Lists of Hoaxes

Current Netlore - urbanlegends.about.com/library/blxatoz.htm
Don't Spread That Hoax! - www.nonprofit.net/hoax/default.htm
Urban Legends Reference Pages - www.snopes.com/
CIAC Hoax Pages - hoaxbusters.ciac.org/
Vmyths - www.vmyths.com/
TruthOrFiction.com - www.truthorfiction.com/
Rumor Mill - www.rumormill.info/ - see: www.dcmsoft.com/rumor/
Skeptic's Dictionary - www.skepdic.com/
The Museum of Hoaxes - www.museumofhoaxes.com/
NerdHerd.com's Hoaxes - www.nerdherd.com/index.php?topic=antivirus
Alertes hoax - www.secuser.com/hoax/ - French
Common E-mail Hoaxes - www.3oddballz.com/hoaxes/

Chain Letters

Chain letters are a particular subset of hoaxes that describe the success of some part of the tale that the letter is spinning as dependent on forwarding the letter, so compelling the naïve to obey. This is in contrast to a simple wish to inform contacts of the astounding information of which you have just learnt. This section covers chain letters with no finanical gain involved directly from other participants - otherwise they are pyramid schemes.

USPIS Chain Letters - www.usps.com/postalinspectors/fraud/chainlet.htm
BreakTheChain - www.breakthechain.org/
How to Defeat a Chain Letter - www.kith.org/logos/things/chain.html
SOLIDARIDAD CON BRIAN - www.solidaridad.de/
If you receive a chain letter... - www.wish.org/about/chain_letters
Chain Letters Anonymous - www.csicop.org/chain/
Spam Artist - www.spamartist.com/
Thanks. No. - www.thanksno.com/

Virus Hoaxes

Virus Hoaxes - vil.mcafee.com/hoax.asp
F-Secure Hoax Warnings - www.f-secure.com/virus-info/hoax/
Sophos describes Hoaxes - www.sophos.com/security/hoaxes/
Symantec Security Response – Hoax Page - www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html
Panda Hoaxes and Jokes - www.pandasoftware.com/virus_info/hoaxes/
Hoaxes & Hypes - researchweb.watson.ibm.com/antivirus/SciPapers/Gordon/HH.html

Discuss Hoaxes

Skeptic Search - groups.yahoo.com/group/skepticsearch/

Related

• Spam Discussion