How to Spot a Virus Hoax

Part 2. Chain Letters from Hell

(The e-mail equivalent of a stampede)

The root of the problem with hoaxes is that they spread faster than viruses do. They don't use a replication engine to spread, as a virus does; rather, they use human nature. They play on peoples' fear. As we look at these hoaxes, you'll notice that they warn the reader of impending doom and insist that the warning be forwarded to everyone else in the known universe. Someone shouts "fire" on a busy, crowded Net and the e-mail equivalent of a stampede begins.

However, if people engage the thought process before clicking the forwarding button, these hoaxes will not spread.

As these warnings spread, two things happen. Some well-intentioned individuals add their own warnings and suggested actions to the warning. At the same time, other not-so-well-intentioned individuals add to the horrors the supposed virus could wreak. In this way the messages undergo changes. They mutate or evolve. In fact, we should note here that the warnings shown below are ones we received, and may vary in wording from other copies.

This fact that the warnings change is important to understand. Any single hoax may exist in many forms.

For example, late in 1996 we received a warning message about a "Penal Virus." It took about half a second to realize that the warning was identical to the warning about the nonexistent "Penpal virus." Although just that one "p" in "Penpal" was dropped, the "Penal Virus" warning is now spreading on its own.

Moreover, current hoaxes are just revisions of other hoaxes. The Penpal hoax itself follows the pattern set by Good Times.

Armed with the knowledge of how hoaxes change, a person familiar with the "Good Times Virus" hoax would recognize more recent warnings as a mere regurgitation of that message. To this end, let's dissect Good Times.