Why do supposedly intelligent people forward urban legends to their

[raccoon]

friends and relatives?

[Symarip]

1. Because everyone needs to know

Bad people put razor blades in apples for Halloween. Only take wrapped candy, kids!

[SOteric]

2. It's a test to see how gullible they are.

If their friend or relative falls for it, then the forwarder knows exactly whom to hit up for money the next time they're skint.

[Deja Q]

3. The same reason people don't pick up newspapers or watch the tv in airports or other public venues,

to get the latest information.

[Bucky]

4. I heard that a friend of a friend failed to forward an email & then got eaten by poodles

passing along urban legends could save your life -- OMG!

[RandomThoughts]

6. The topic of forced forwarding

Was covered throughly in the movie the Ring.

It explains the mechanism for that.

However that is a fear based film, I don't follow fear based rules, so don't forward things unless I find them interesting.

This mechanism explains 1000's of songs, movies, books, and TV shows and is one of the replication methods of a catagory of streams.

[redqueen]

5. Cause they're kinda gullible?

I know I'm gullible... but I don't forward e-mails.

[Resuscitated Ethics]

7. New to the web. Even if they've been on it for years

it all seems new to anyone over 35 or so. Cynicism sends me to Snopes right away anymore. But for a time, ten or eleven years ago, I would forward warnings that seemed legit to my untrained unpracticed unjaded eye. It was all new to me. I spent my formative years going to the library to look things up if the home encyclopedia didn't have it. Internet? I had no idea. Youngsters will never get that people really never had access to such trivial constant info. To some it all seems like a big college class, and all those smart folks wouldn't lie would they?

I had to learn some of the more obvious red flags: voice of authority ("seen recently on CNN!"), misspellings or syntax problems (all your base are belong to us"), and especially the most obvious "forward to all you care about!"

I kind of miss the innocence of getting a shiver reading about 'blush spiders' in airport bathrooms; or not flashing your headlights at a driver who hasn't turned theirs on because you may be taking part in a soon-to-be-fatal gang initiation;

I usually just ignore except when close family is involved--then I send them the Snopes link or some other debunker. Sometimes I copy the whole address book but that feels better at the instant of sending than about 5 minutes later when you feel sorry for the poor person who was really just demonstrating that YOU are someone they CARE about. If the person wants to straighten it out they can send the correction link around themselves.

The 'voice of authority' is a chilling phenomenon, and early on in my Netscape days I fell for it more than once.

[jobycom]

8. Because people know that an unnamed source who is related to a friend of a friend

is far more reliable than an expert who has researched a topic and checked all their facts.

Want proof? Go to GD and say Oswald shot Kennedy. I dare you.

[mockmonkey]

9. I know why...

because Microsoft and AOL are paying big bucks to track your e-mails. I made thousands last month and you can too!