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Thread: Modern protocol.

  1. #1
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    Modern protocol.

    Recently, both my mum and my dad (silver surfers they, oh yes!) have forwarded email circulars to me.

    Mum's was the quite old one about how if you misplace your car remote, use your mobile to phone whoever has got the remote, get the to operate it 'at' their phone, while you 'point' your phone at your car, the car will be unlocked! (Not sure how you start the damn thing, but still.) The email also contained the chestnut about how if you put your PIN in backwards at an ATM, the bank police will swoop in and arrest the nefarious villains who tried to force you at gunpoint to withdraw money...

    Anyway, mum was a bit miffed when I emailed back all the Snopes' URLs that showed this is all bollox. I did try to mollify her by saying I was touched that she had thought to send me what she thought would be some jolly helpful hints!

    Today I got one from my dad. This concerns the all-but-destruction of an Airbus aircraft on the test pan in Toulouse. During a ground test it smashed into the blast wall and was totalled.

    The email is a nasty racist piece of work. It alleges that the damage was caused by a test crew from the Abu Dhabi national carrier who acted like complete donkeys: didn't read the manual, didn't understand the aircraft, carried out an already unsafe test, then disabled a safety system and drove the plane into the wall; it also claims that we don't know about this because there was a news blackout to avoid offending Islam by pointing out that their pilots are idiots.

    A little bit of digging shows that it's nasty innuendo. The technician in charge of the test was French - Airbus employee. That in itself makes the whole email nasty. But wait! There's more. The test was quite humdrum; no safety features were disabled - although a couple of standard procedures were not followed (wheels not chocked - because often they got completely jammed in the tyres, meaning they were avoided by ground crew where possible) and it seems that for the test concerned the better practice was to run only two engines, rather than all four (halving - obviously - the thrust). With all four engines, and only the parking brake, the plane began to roll and it seems the technician didn't think to throttle back and tried to brake and steer out of trouble.

    Obviously since no moslems were involved in causing the accident if there was a news blackout (amazing number and quality of pictures, for a 'news blackout') it wasn't to avoid offending the moslem world.

    The email is not only alleging that Arab air crew were at fault, but also magnifiying the irresponsibility of those carrying out the test to make the alleged arabs look even more stupid than the technician actually was.

    Anyway, I've sent my dad the Snopes pages and a link to an English translation of the French 'CAA' report.

    My protocol question: are we supposed to tell people who circularise offensive or ridiculous emails that they are propogating total crap, or just delete the posts and ignore them?

  2. #2
    Commercial Operator StokeBloke's Avatar
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    Cool Re: Modern protocol.

    Quote Originally Posted by Barry Shnikov View Post
    My protocol question: are we supposed to tell people who circularise offensive or ridiculous emails that they are propogating total crap, or just delete the posts and ignore them?
    Personally, it depends on the content. If it's just harmless urban myths, I will usually just grin as I delete it. If it's something nefarious I will usually contact them and let them know. As you say, usually these messages are forwarded for the right reasons.



    IMPORTANT: If you don't forward this reply to seven of your friends in the next seven minutes you will receive seven years of sorrow, and a puppy will die, and an angel's wings will fall off, and the BBC will bring back Eldorado. If you do forward it and receive it back within seven hours it means you are loved, and your friends are as thick as you are

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    Re: Modern protocol.

    Woo! The BBC will bring back El Dorado! Excellent. It was like Crossroads with sunburn...

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    Registered User Twirly's Avatar
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    Re: Modern protocol.

    Depends on who they are. In your parent's case, as they probably aren't familiar with all the hoaxes, then yes and nicely till they get the hang of the virtual world (and the weirdo's that hang out there!). A little education and patience is needed.

    With friends who should really know better - I tend to send a note about it being a hoax, but slightly less gently worded. Repeat offenders I let know that I think they're gullible...

    If it's a chain e-mail claiming that some little girl will miraculously recover from a deadly cancer if you forward this e-mail to your entire address book within 5 minutes of recieving it, and if you don't then your house will forever be cursed by the pox... they get deleted (actually, I don't get more than the first few words before I've exercised the delete button these days). And the "friend" is blimmin lucky if they don't get deleted from my inbox too...

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    Re: Modern protocol.

    Quote Originally Posted by Barry Shnikov View Post
    Woo! The BBC will bring back El Dorado! Excellent. It was like Crossroads with sunburn...
    oooo, I hope they bring back Bunny the nonce and the token disabled bird who's acting skills were about as functional as her legs.

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    Commercial Operator StokeBloke's Avatar
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    Cool Re: Modern protocol.

    Quote Originally Posted by Double Trouble View Post
    oooo, I hope they bring back Bunny the nonce and the token disabled bird who's acting skills were about as functional as her legs.
    Oi!!!! If you weren't on my ignore list I would have seen that and spat coffee all over my screen!!!
    Last edited by StokeBloke; 6th-May-2009 at 03:01 PM. Reason: What's that on your shirt????

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    Re: Modern protocol.

    Sometimes I think this entire forum is a hoax (even my bits)

  8. #8
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    Re: Modern protocol.

    thats spooky - as i replied to one at work today about the "lawyer who insured his cigars, smoked them, claimed, won in court, insurance company got him arrested for arson, sent to chokey". Hilarious, but annoying when people take it seriously...i included a snopes link to the relevant.

    I also bounced one yesterday, again with a snopes link, this time it was the mobile phone that electrocuted and killed someone when he answered it still plugged in and recharging.

    Yes, I think we should tell people they are stupid for forwarding everything as if it is true. 99% of such emails are nonsense.

    What annoys me more if a mailing list does this - I once got a hoax virus warning from Peter of Ski and Rock - a totally innapropriate use of a mailing list.

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    Re: Modern protocol.

    Quote Originally Posted by Dreadful Scathe View Post
    Yes, I think we should tell people they are stupid for forwarding everything as if it is true. 99% of such emails are nonsense.

    What annoys me more if a mailing list does this - I once got a hoax virus warning from Peter of Ski and Rock - a totally innapropriate use of a mailing list.

    Totally agree with you on this one DS! I always reply with a snopes or hoax-slayer link if it's a load of rubbish. Most of my close friends and family now don't forward things to me because they know to check them out first!!

    It's a case of "feed a man a fish" etc!

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    Re: Modern protocol.

    Quote Originally Posted by Double Trouble View Post
    oooo, I hope they bring back Bunny the nonce and the token
    disabled bird who's acting skills were about as functional as her legs.
    Yeah, but I quite fancied her...

    ...what was her name? Julie something or other...

  11. #11
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    Re: Modern protocol.

    Quote Originally Posted by Barry Shnikov View Post
    Yeah, but I quite fancied her...

    ...what was her name? Julie something or other...
    No idea...I do remember this most handsome of fellows from the show though.
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