We've all received them. These email that seem to have spontaneously appeared, and somehow managed to forward themselves to half the planet. Often they contain stupid jokes, dumb stories, and words "to the tune of" a song. But sometimes you get the dreaded...

Internet HOAX!!

Actually, I don't think most people dread them. They're more of a pain. But, they have caused some trouble in the past.

While I am having a hard time producing examples right now, I do recall several occurrences of completely fabricated stories making it into the news. Take a look at Snopes. You'll definitely find some there.

So where exactly do these hoaxes start? I have no idea. But, this could be a perfect chance for a social experiment.

We could, as a group, craft and develop an award-winning email destined for internet infamy. We could fabricate a benign rumor, specifically with our intents aimed at seeing how far it will go.

Ideally it would make it to the media, and they would run with it. It would stand to prove a larger point: that the media releases poorly researched, undersourced stories as though they are fact.

While the likelihood of a fabricated rumor hitting the presses is certainly slim, it may be fun trying.

I bet we have a few people here who are interested in stirring up some trouble...

Mike

This is old news. People are generally stupid when it comes to the Internet. Old joke from way back when. You only trust those you have come to know.

That might be an old joke from, oh, I dunno, pre-Cambrian era?

Bless the WWW for reminding us: We are fools. Haha.

Better idea: driver's license for browsing. You have to prove why Microsoft is evil.

(All of this is in jest) Best to U&YERS, AM

This is a great idea... Any ideas for the sort of hoax you want to go with? Something on the national level I'd guess, that could potentially rock the boat a little without tipping it. How about this... Staffers for a big name Republican Senator have indicated that he/she is currently planning to leave the party, and become a Libertarian...? What do you think?

I have no idea what it should be about...

Maybe we can all make our suggestions, and we can put the lot of them up for a vote.

The top two could be developed a bit in their own threads, and then we could have a final vote.

Whichever wins, we prepare a "heavily forwarded email" and everyone gets a copy.

We forward it around, and see what happens...

Mike

I say it needs to be technical. The more numbers and jargon the better.

Look at this whole cloned-baby situation. The story has yet to be proven either true or a hoax. Good one.

It shouldn't be cliched like an internet tax or some sort of terrible virus. We are far more clever than that

Excellent idea, Mike! And a pretty good development, Jaime. I'll start giving it some thought.

Not that I'd ever be remotely interested in stirring up trouble, of course, but as an objective experiment investigating the spread of electronic rumor it would have a certain amount of academic appeal.

I have found from past experience that the more outlandish the rumor, the more likely it will be believed. (April fools day is one of my favorite days)

Several suggestions though:
1) probably shouldn't coook up something frightening. Don't want to cause a scare or panic anyone. (e.g. smallpox outbreak or some such)

2) probably should steer clear of making stuff up about government agencies. (I've amended several of my previous ideas after further thought.)

It's not the forseeable things that could hurt people. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. A harmless rumor to some people might be life or death to another. That's why I removed my earlier suggestions about the witness protection plan. Who can say? Maybe it would cause a fiasco. I wouldn't intend for that to happen, but if it did, I would still be responsible.

I think if someone starts a rumor just to see where it goes, it should be unmistakably harmless. The whole point of starting the rumor is only to see where it ends up, not to cause problems. The Chinese cat in a jar was classic. Who knows who cooked that one up? I'm pretty sure it didn't harm anyone either.