Updated article.
Reasons Not to Forward a Chain Letter
By: wnxkitchenaid 11-Aug-2011
Introduction:Read this list before spreading another meme!
01
They Are False (More Than Likely)
Anyone can write and send an email or social network post, so just because someone did doesn't mean it's true. Even if it does sound legit, why don't you do a quick search on the web before you hit that share button? Chances are you'll find out in two seconds that it is completely false.
There are web sites dedicated to debunking legends, myths, rumors, and other misinformation for just this purpose. Do a quick check there and you'll find out in seconds the real truth behind the meme.
02
It Could be an info-collecting scheme, Have a Virus, trojan, malware
Opening any email that originated from someone you don't know, or clicking a link a social network re-share tells you to is risky internet behavior and could put you and everyone you forward it to at risk. Also realize the originator of the meme wants it to spread rapidly to as many people as possible - by it's very nature a meme is a chain letter is a virus!
03
No One Else Wants Them!
If someone on the streets handed you a bag of garbage, chances are you would not be happy. The same goes for junk email/posts like memes - no one is going to be happy about seeing them again and again. Save everyone some headache by not bombarding them with useless junk.
04
People Will Think Less of You
By spreading memes you are basically condoning the message. People who see your re-share will attribute you with falling for, or even believing in whatever fallacies the meme contains. Would you really tell someone face-to-face something without checking its validity first? What would you think of someone if they said something bad would happen to you if you didn't tell ten other people?
05
By re-sharing You Are Encouraging trolls, and other people to keep spreading the memes
Memes rely on people spreading them to others and exponentially growing by those people then replicating it to their contacts. Every meme you share continues the link and gives everyone who sees it the chance to spread it to even more people. People posting memes make the exponential math work, and so people continue to create more of them. So by repostinging you are encouraging misinformation, virus's, and other detrimental material to be created and propagate through the internet.
By not reposting, you break the link. If everyone else also refused to repost the meme, there would be a lot less of the same junk all over the net and the net would be a lot more interresting!
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, having read this list, everyone learns to at least check memes for their validity before hitting that forward/share button.
Back to Why Chain Letters Are So Bad
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