to be fed up of people not checking the truth of warnings before they share them?

[gremlindolphin]

There are some brilliant sites like hoax-slayer, snopes etc but friends keep on sharing rubbish links on facebook and by email which I think are just designed to scare people. It also detracts from the real things which it can be beneficial to share.

I just commented to one friend that her link was a hoax and she said that she thought it was better to share it anyway in case it did happen!

[Kytti]

I hate it! I hate it! I hate it! How hard is it to do a quick check?

AND those "if I get 1,000,000 likes..." AND pictures of people who'll get operations if you 'like' the picture. FFS. Fucking idiots.

YOU DON'T KNOW WHO THESE PEOPLE ARE!!!!

I hear you, sister!

[Pilfette]

I just comment with a link to the relevant Snopes thread. Someone defriended me over it

[NorthernLurker]

Yes dh and I do the same with hoax slayer. You get some terrible crap circulated. I work in a hospital and there was one recently which went from group to group of very senior and bright people before somebody considerably less well paid pointed out it was nonsense.

[IsletsOfLangerhans]

I'm with you - gets me seriously riled. My personal favourite is the 'backwards pin at cash machine if you are being robbed' one. How many people think this true? They will be very disappointed when the police don't roll up.....

[WingDefence]

Yes I always respond with a link to Snopes. I tend to get them more sent to me by email than on Facebook usually from my DDad but I'd do the same on FB if I saw one.

[CrapBag]

God I hate this!!! And yes all the "1000000 likes to get x" crap. Does anyone really thing that by pressing 'like' on a picture on FB means that some poor person will get life saving treatment or whatever they want at the time!?

[Dawndonna]

I too get really pissed off with these. Again, I respond with the relevant link, but ffs, it isn't hard to go look.
Grrrrr!

[AMumInScotland]

First time - Reply + Snopes link
Subsequent times - Reply All + Snopes link

Eventually, people stop sending them. Though whether that just means they are sending just as much crap to everyone else and have only dropped me from the list, I don't know!

So many people are paranoid about crap that is a total wind-up, and have their heads so full of it that they can't spot the genuine things they ought to worry about. It doesn't take long to find out in most cases.

[gremlindolphin]

Glad you agree!

Some of them are dangerous i.e. relying on the reverse PIN one for help and how to give yourself CPR by coughing!

[ConstantVigilance]

I keep getting loads of people on my facebook posting photos and appeals for missing people who are not even missing why can't people just check?

I had loads of normally sensible people freaking out about the KFC chickens with no beaks or feet

[LadyPessaryPam]

I always comment underneath that its a hoax and add a link if necessary. Can't bear misinformation.

[ChunkyPickle]

Oh lord, if I get one more person sharing how women are more likely to get raped in carparks and if they've got a pony tail then I just might scream....

YADNBU.

[Abra1d]

I also hate chain letters and chain emails.

Last time I had one that promised me five years' bad luck unless I forwarded it, I deleted it. A week later I sold a book and my husband had a new job.

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

Yes, it really annoys me. One of my relatives does it repeatedly on facebook. When I've linked to snopes he comes out with 'well, better safe than sorry'.



You really think it's better to warn people that if they see a baby seat in the road, or a crashed car, they'd be 'better safe than sorry', so they should drive on an ignore it in case it's a totally discredited hoax trap?

Ok then, you're lovely.

[Pandemoniaa]

YADNBU.

This is one of my particular bugbears. Especially when committed by people you'd expect to have more commonsense.

Yesterday, someone I know to be intelligent and sensible posted one of these pieces of questionable shyte on FB and actually wrote "I'm not sure if this is true but thought I'd better share it."! FFS! If you can take the time to write an accompanying commentary, why not spend that time checking it out with snopes or hoax slayer instead?

I do reply politely with the relevant hoax slaying link but yes, it is amazing how huffily this can be received.

[BlingLoving]

I was going to start a thread about this the other day. So annoying. And a friend pointed out that what's really sad is the weirdos who take the time to mock up the fake police/hospital/etc notices! I saw the baby seat one recently twice - supposedly done by police in 2 different countries!!! FFS.

[BlingLoving]

Oh, and the "better safe than sorry" brigade really wind me up. How is is better to terrify people everytibe they go out the house?

[WorraLiberty]

YANBU at all...it takes seconds to Google.

[MerryMingeWhingesAgain]

I am also a kill-joy, I like posting the link to Snopes on them.

Recent favourite has to be the killer part used onions...

[ThreeBeeOneGee]

YANBU. This is a pet hate of mine. Misinformation is worse than no information at all. Alarmist, sensationalist, rumour-spreading, scaremongering twattishness.

[BrianCoxandTheTempleofDOOM]

It's rare I share stuff like this, but when I do it is normally from trusted avenues. I have a few people come on and say 'check Snopes' etc.

Then when I have, on 2 separate occasions they've been genuine - which left me a bit perplexed as to why the need for the comment.

On these kind of occasions, I find the comments slightly patronising, not de-friend-able though as I realise the person is just trying to be helpful.

[Thistledew]

I also hate those messages that do highlight an important cause, and you read through it thinking "yes, this one is worth sharing", until you get to the end where it says "ONLY decent, caring people will share this! I can predict which of my friends will be intelligent enough to share! I bet YOU don't have the compassion to post it even for one hour!".

At which point my finger moves away from the 'share' button and I think, off you fuck then!

[stormforce10]

Backwards pin would be rubbish for me. Mine is a palindromic number

[stormforce10]

Actually I've just realised its not [blush

[StellaNova]

A relative used to do this by email but doesn't so much now; the really annoying thing was she was a social worker and every time there was an email trail back with the names of senior social workers, public health staff etcwho had all passed it on. It drove me mad. I didn't want to undermine the relative at work by sending a reply all, but I always would reply to her pointing out it was rubbish and she used to say either "better safe etc" or "oh I send them so you can tell me it is rubbish" - well don't copy in loads of other people then!

Someone posted some inspirational quote on FB the other day, I think it was "I think it's very healthy to spend time alone. You need to know how to be alone and not be defined by another person" and attributed it to Oscar Wilde. This seemed extraordinarily unlikely to me and a small about of searchign found that while many have attributed it to Oscar Wilde (!!) it is actually the actress Olivia Wilde. There were loads of comments like "How true!" and no-one,no-one had said "Oscar Wilde? Really??"