Common Sense

I’m all about the segues this morning.

This came from a bulletin from a close friend on my Myspace list:

RAPIST ON MYSPACE
Body: Body: * re-post this this is very important

RAPIST ON MYSPACE!! NOT A JOKE
WARNING EVERYONE READ!! RAPIST ON MYSPACE LOOK OUT

please read, , , NOT A JOKE….
State police warning for online: Please read this “very carefully”..then send it out to all the people online that you know. Something like this is nothing to be taken casually; this is something you DO want to pay attention to.

If a person with the screen-name of jokerkid613/Ja$on MoNeY contacts you, do not reply. DO not talk to this person; do not answer any of his/her instant messages or e-mail. Whoever this person may be, he/she is a suspect for murder in the death of 56 women (so far) contacted through the Internet. Please send this to all the women on your buddy list and ask them to pass this on, as well. This screen-name was seen on Yahoo, AOL, AIM, and Excite so far. This is not a joke! Please send this to men too…just in case! Send to everyone you know! Ladies, this is serious. please repost this, it’s important!!!

Jennifer S. Faulkner
Education/Information Specialist Roanoke Fire-EMS
541 Luck Avenue
Suite 120 Roanoke, VA 24016
540) 853-2257 (phone)
540) 853-1172 (fax)

IF WE CAN PASS ON JOKES, SURELY WE CAN PASS ON A WARNING THAT MAY SAVE A FRIENDS LIFE 

You’re first clue that this is BS should be the very beginning. Whenever someone writes something serious, they shouldn’t say “this is no joke.” That usually means it is.

The premise seems plausible enough with the news about sexual predators and underage girls on Myspace. But how does not adding him to your friends list protect you from being raped? Common sense (no pun intended) precautions about Internet safety should protect you. For instance, if you don’t really know someone who adds you to their friends list, then maybe you shouldn’t meet them alone somewhere. Go as a group and meet in a public place, if you really want to  get to know someone.

Other things don’t add up. Why post this through Myspace? Isn’t that what Amber Alerts are for? The sheer number of girls, 56, is ludicrous. One blond white girl goes missing on vacation in Aruba and CNN drops everything for a month. Trust me, Nancy Grace would be all over this.

And law enforcement would be over it, too. If the rapist crossed state lines, the FBI would have jurisdiction and they are not too wrapped up in terrorism and Congressman Jefferson to put a few profilers on this kind of case. What types of girls does he go after (underage, over 18, blonde, brunette)? Serial rapists are more fixated on their type than I am about asian hotties. If girls are missing, we know that statistically, the perpetrator is more apt to be a male.
ISPs would also be able to track him and aid law enforcement. We talked just yesterday about just how not anonymous you are on the Internet. Your computer has a specific IP address and AOL and others have to be able to bill you and would know your address and name.

This all adds up to netlore, the modern equivalent of Xeroxlore. The Xeroxed copies that used to be put up at the bulletin board at work are now posted online. Gang, this is classic urban legends material, right down to the all caps pleas and junior high-style writing.

A search on Snopes.com didn’t turn up anything, but doing some Google searches for keywords in the message did turn up the Myspace profile of jokerkid613 mentioned in the message. I’ll have to send him a link to this post.

Searching for the name of the woman mentioned, it turns out she is real, and has been dealing with this legend, or variations, for quite some time.

The important thing is, being careful and alert on the Internet is important, but these chain bulletins and emails cause nothing but problems. I’m willing to bet my almost paid-off car and my life savings that no one, absolutely no one, has ever been saved thanks to these hoax bulletins. I’ll go further and point out the hassle that a real person has to deal with, and she’s a public servant at a fire station/EMS response station. The time she spends on this means less time saving lives.

I don’t even want to think about the problems out friend jokerkid613 will have if he tries to add a cute girl to his friends list and she calls the cops after reading this. Just, don’t send these things out.

I’m all about the segues this morning.

This came from a bulletin from a close friend on my Myspace list:

RAPIST ON MYSPACE
Body: Body: * re-post this this is very important

RAPIST ON MYSPACE!! NOT A JOKE
WARNING EVERYONE READ!! RAPIST ON MYSPACE LOOK OUT

please read, , , NOT A JOKE….
State police warning for online: Please read this “very carefully”..then send it out to all the people online that you know. Something like this is nothing to be taken casually; this is something you DO want to pay attention to.

If a person with the screen-name of jokerkid613/Ja$on MoNeY contacts you, do not reply. DO not talk to this person; do not answer any of his/her instant messages or e-mail. Whoever this person may be, he/she is a suspect for murder in the death of 56 women (so far) contacted through the Internet. Please send this to all the women on your buddy list and ask them to pass this on, as well. This screen-name was seen on Yahoo, AOL, AIM, and Excite so far. This is not a joke! Please send this to men too…just in case! Send to everyone you know! Ladies, this is serious. please repost this, it’s important!!!

Jennifer S. Faulkner
Education/Information Specialist Roanoke Fire-EMS
541 Luck Avenue
Suite 120 Roanoke, VA 24016
540) 853-2257 (phone)
540) 853-1172 (fax)

IF WE CAN PASS ON JOKES, SURELY WE CAN PASS ON A WARNING THAT MAY SAVE A FRIENDS LIFE 

You’re first clue that this is BS should be the very beginning. Whenever someone writes something serious, they shouldn’t say “this is no joke.” That usually means it is.

The premise seems plausible enough with the news about sexual predators and underage girls on Myspace. But how does not adding him to your friends list protect you from being raped? Common sense (no pun intended) precautions about Internet safety should protect you. For instance, if you don’t really know someone who adds you to their friends list, then maybe you shouldn’t meet them alone somewhere. Go as a group and meet in a public place, if you really want to  get to know someone.

Other things don’t add up. Why post this through Myspace? Isn’t that what Amber Alerts are for? The sheer number of girls, 56, is ludicrous. One blond white girl goes missing on vacation in Aruba and CNN drops everything for a month. Trust me, Nancy Grace would be all over this.

And law enforcement would be over it, too. If the rapist crossed state lines, the FBI would have jurisdiction and they are not too wrapped up in terrorism and Congressman Jefferson to put a few profilers on this kind of case. What types of girls does he go after (underage, over 18, blonde, brunette)? Serial rapists are more fixated on their type than I am about asian hotties. If girls are missing, we know that statistically, the perpetrator is more apt to be a male.
ISPs would also be able to track him and aid law enforcement. We talked just yesterday about just how not anonymous you are on the Internet. Your computer has a specific IP address and AOL and others have to be able to bill you and would know your address and name.

This all adds up to netlore, the modern equivalent of Xeroxlore. The Xeroxed copies that used to be put up at the bulletin board at work are now posted online. Gang, this is classic urban legends material, right down to the all caps pleas and junior high-style writing.

A search on Snopes.com didn’t turn up anything, but doing some Google searches for keywords in the message did turn up the Myspace profile of jokerkid613 mentioned in the message. I’ll have to send him a link to this post.

Searching for the name of the woman mentioned, it turns out she is real, and has been dealing with this legend, or variations, for quite some time.

The important thing is, being careful and alert on the Internet is important, but these chain bulletins and emails cause nothing but problems. I’m willing to bet my almost paid-off car and my life savings that no one, absolutely no one, has ever been saved thanks to these hoax bulletins. I’ll go further and point out the hassle that a real person has to deal with, and she’s a public servant at a fire station/EMS response station. The time she spends on this means less time saving lives.

I don’t even want to think about the problems out friend jokerkid613 will have if he tries to add a cute girl to his friends list and she calls the cops after reading this. Just, don’t send these things out.