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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

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

118 replies

gremlindolphin · 06/03/2013 10:08

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!

OP posts:

Wallison · 07/03/2013 09:28

I post links to hoax-slayer and snopes too. Politely, but I do it. I figure if someone wants to put something up for public comment, then it is fair enough to comment on it. The ones I really hate are the pictures of sick and injured children - of course it's nonsense about Facebook donating money but more importantly it's also a gross invasion of a person's privacy for such a photo to be circulated on the internet so that a load of rubber-neckers can click themselves into a frenzy over them.

DoJo · 07/03/2013 09:35

The most sensible sonding advice I ever heard about preventing rape was to try and wet yourself - not sure how 'tried and tested' it is, but it certainly sounds like it would put someone off.

wannaBe · 07/03/2013 09:43

let's not forget the child disappearing in a supermarket only to be found in the toilets with its head being shaved and dressed in boy's clothes.... it happened to a friend's sister's second cousin's nanny's sister so it must be true....?

tbh I don't feel the need to be polite about these things - if people are idiot enough to post and believe them then I think they need to be told as such.

Fortunately I don't get a lot of them - although I used to get a lot more of the "forward this to your 500 closest friends to receive seven years of good luck, failure to do so will result in you receiving seven years of bad luck," ones. And I used to get ones about God and how wonderful God is and how all these people who denounced god such as John Lennon ended up dead so if you don't want to end up dead you must take god into your heart and ... you get the idea.

I don't even bother to look up whether they're true or not I think 99 out of 100 times they're not so I just assume they're all bollocks.

wannaBe · 07/03/2013 09:49

DoJo I was having a conversation with a friend about this recently - he used to do marshall arts and he said that once after his session there was due to be a talk on self defense for women and for whatever reason he was there. Anyway he expected that as it was run at a marshall arts club this person doing the talk would give all this advice about moves etc, and the first thing they said was, "if you think you're being followed, pick your nose, but do it obviously." Apparentlyunsavery habits like that are a deterrent - not sure why.

Wallison · 07/03/2013 09:53

Surely the best way to prevent women from being raped is for men to stop raping them?

Picturesinthefirelight · 07/03/2013 09:59

The passport one is doing my head in at the moment. It's pseudo-racist (references to a dr born in Pakistan) and its JUST NOT TRUE. I applied for passport renewals on Monday in the UK you don't need those documents so it can't be a genuine letter.

And whilst I'm at it if I want to burn the Union Jack flag for whatever reason (I don't but IF I wanted to) I jolly well can.

Trills · 07/03/2013 09:59

I like the idea of "I do have the guts but not the narrow-mindedness or gullibility"

Picturesinthefirelight · 07/03/2013 10:01

The self defence talk at dd's martial arts club was basically don't try and defend yourself, RUN but if you have no choice go gorcthings like pony tails, nether regions etc.

TotallyBursar · 07/03/2013 10:10

One that made me really cross was a picture of a little girl that had been in the paper after she had been attacked by a dog in the park. Her poor face was bartered and bruised. The picture was used among a collage of others with an emotive passage about stopping child abuse - not linking to a charity or anything proactive, just 'do you hate abuse?' Type crap.
As I recognised her I googled the others too - all harvested from the net and not one an abuse victim and yet there they were, their parents and families accused of terrible things.
I got quite irate and people did agree and told the page owner to get rid but not one commenter previously bothered to check, only spewing out 'castrate peedos' or 'prison's to good for them' - not what I'd want to read under a picture of my child.
Luckily I don't know many fuckwits and a quick deletion got rid of that one for me too.

lynniep · 07/03/2013 10:11

people I have as friends on fb do this anymore. I just ignore them. The ones that do my head in are the ones passed on by my DM (she doesnt any more as she is educated now!)
They are usually passed on to her by my Uncle Barry, who is not in fact my Uncle, but a life long friend of my DF. He used to bombard my dad with this sh*t before he died, but then moved on to DM. Most of it is the 'delete this file it will corrupt your pc and fry your hard drive' etc etc. The amount of times I've replied to him asking him NOT to pass this crap on to people (most of them on his email list are of an older generation and perhaps a bit more panicky about this stuff) and he has completely ignored me and done it anyway. He is supposed to be an intelligent bloke (he was a GP) but he is also a pompous git and therefore knows better than me and basically passes on 'advice' to all his friends and relatives to remove important files from their machines just because he got a random spam email telling him to do so. Gah!

Trills · 07/03/2013 10:12

If you see things that are clearly "like spam", you can report them.

WishIdbeenatigermum · 07/03/2013 10:34

YANBU! It's a good idiot screen though!

DeepPurple · 09/03/2013 01:35

Tortoise - I wasn't on TV as I clarified when I retread my post it was a documentary about what puts off attackers. Having a ponytail does not make you a target nor does any other hairstyle! Having a ponytail makes it easier to control a persons head. Being distracted on a phone, being alone in a remote place, not having any visible weapon etc makes a person more vulnerable. Being shouty, looking a potential attacker in the eye, having an umbrella or other such makeshift weapon etc makes a potential attacker think twice.

The rumour about a ponytail making you more likely to be attacked is untrue but putting yourself in a vulnerable position does. Common sense is really the answer. If your car is hidden from view, you are alone, in a remote place etc gives more factors for an easy attack. If you feel vulnerable then don't go somewhere there is an elevated risk of attack. Take a trusted person with you, make suitable arrangements for getting home after a night out, carry a brolly if you are going to be alone and if you see someone when you are alone and you are worried then make a lot of noise and swing that brolly around. Potential attackers look for an easy target. Make it hard and they will decide it's too hard and move on.

As I said, common sense.

DeepPurple · 09/03/2013 01:42

Oh and the link you put is also an untruth. Although some of the advice is actually quite good. Sadly, most rapes are actually committed by people known to the victim, as are most murders. The fact is that burglars are less likely to burgle homes that have alarms, CCTV and good locks. The same can be said for random attacks, although, again, most are not stranger attacks!

You are far more likely to have your phone stolen from your hand than your zipped bag, your house burgled if you leave the doors unlocked etc. Crime prevention is something everyone should be conscious about.

theodorakisses · 09/03/2013 10:16

Just got this posted on my fb: what a pile of absolute shite, with great pleasure I am going to eat a couple of scratchcards and drink some cold water.

Dr. Brian Berry of the United States has found new cancer in human beings, caused by Silver Nitro Oxide. Whenever you buy recharge cards, don?t scratch with your nails, as it contains Silver Nitro Oxide coating and can cause skin cancer. Share this message with your loved ones.
Important Health Tips:

Answer phone calls with the left ear.
Don't take your medicine with cold water....
Don't eat heavy meals after 5pm.
Drink more water in the morning, less at night.
Best sleeping time is from 10pm to 4 am.
Don?t lie down immediately after taking medicine or after meals.
When phone's battery is low to last bar, don't answer the phone, bcos the radiation is 1000 times stronger.

Can you Share this to people you care about? I just did, Kindness costs nothing But Knowledge is power.

Trills · 09/03/2013 10:23

My phone battery doesn't have visible bars - what do I do?

Lilithmoon · 09/03/2013 11:12

Quite Wallison.

ShowOfHands · 09/03/2013 11:27

I like the "a bloke knocked on my door the other day and asked me to flash him my tits. It was a hoax. I didn't get anything out of it. HE JUST WANTED TO SEE MY TITS. Please share this so that none of your friends suffer a similar fate" one.

I have v few friends who do this but oddly had one yesterday shared by an educated friend who is v lovely apart from a hysterical tendency to see danger aimed at her dc everywhere. Apparently, "don't let your children use this [completely safe and educational] app as IT'S RUN BY PEEEEEEEDOS WHO ARE PHOTOGRAPHING YOUR CHILDREN".

Flisspaps · 09/03/2013 13:38

Show the app hysteria probably stems from Sparklebox - a website of Early Years resources that was run by a known paedophile which had a section to send in pics of kids using the site's resources.

How people think an app will secretly photograph their kids and harvest their details through chatting to them I don't know - anyone who's been near the bloody Talking Tom/Angela/Pierre apps knows they just repeat what you say, they don't ask questions!

JCDenton · 09/03/2013 14:07

My favourite ones are those which say that illegal immigrants are shot on sight in every country except the UK, where they get £30,000 a year, and a tax free business for seven years!

One way to boost the economy I suppose.

The best thing is that an American friend shared the same thing with the same perks listed, but with the UK listed as one of the countries that gives illegal immigrants nothing!

Bossybritches22 · 09/03/2013 14:22

Oh god I'm so glad it's not just me.

I use Snopes all the time too having been caught out a few times by genuine looking warnings.

Ihave a chum who is lovely but a bit of a Dm reader and quite naive. Latest one was about " gypsies jumping out of hedgerows when you slow down your car on bendy country roads"

IneedAsockamnesty · 09/03/2013 14:31

The one claiming if you dial the European emergency services number from a mobile in the uk without any signal you get priority over 999 calls.

Pisses me off given so many fools actually believe it.

ShowOfHands · 09/03/2013 14:51

Aah the app in question was one of those Talking ones you mention. I linked to snopes. Thankfully, she's a good friend and took it in good humour.

I do like how so many of these police and council endorsed warnings are terribly written. DON'T CLICK ON THE YES LINK THERE OUT TO STEEL YOUR KID'S PICTURES. DIRTY PEEEEEEEEDOS.

HappyHippyChick · 09/03/2013 14:53

Pictures that passport one made me ranty! It's just so full of bollocks.

I've had a few recently with pictures of people looking a bit out of the ordinary (lots of tattoos/piercings or overweight in too tight/short clothes) with 'describe in one word' and lots of foul, hurtful comments posted. Some people forget that these are real people who will be hurt by this.

SkiBunnnnny · 09/03/2013 15:58

I know, Show. My first clue in the onion link was the "quaint essential picnic"

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