 ICQ Rumors 31 - 40
Most false rumors are just annoyances, but ones like this are different because someone actually gets hurt. In this case I don't know the victim well, but based on what I do know he seems like a pretty cool guy, not a pornographic virus distributor. The real lowlife is the person who started this libelous rumor. They say they are going to put up a "tattling site" for anything vulgar? Well please, add my number to it... and my attorney's number because you would be hearing from both of us before long. Here's the truth: I've yet to hear from or about anyone who actually was guilty of the crime that one of these messages accuses them of. It is really unfair to forward a message about someone you don't know when they never even have a chance to defend themselves. Meanwhile the people who start rumors like this never include their UIN, they want you to do their dirty work while they hide in the shadows. ICQ was intended for meeting new friends and staying in contact with old ones, not destroying innocent people's reputations. Please don't forward any message that you are not 100% sure of... your UIN could be on the next one. (R40)
This message, which was obviously written by a Nobel prize winning Harvard English professor, is a classic example of post-modern ICQ literature. Notice the subtle use of grammar and spelling to lend a sense of urgency and teen angst. Truly a masterful missive worthy of the Bard himself. The viewer is compelled to read it time and again, uncovering additional nuances with each perusal until suddenly, inextricably, the beholder of this epic tale of intrigue and mystery arrives at the certain conclusion that it is, alas, a work of fiction. In other words, if you look at the "mirabills pag yeah" you will find that they are not planning to ask "u to pay $5 freakign buck." Therefore, I am not "gonne uregistermyself" despite this writer's protestations that it is "RTUE." (R39)
ATTENTION!!! It's confirmed, Mirabilis is going to charge the authors of fake rumors $0.10 for every person they are forwarded to. Since it appears all ten million (not 2.5 million) ICQ users have received this message, the originator now owes us one million dollars. We will take it out of his allowance for the next 100 years. Well folks, if it were up to me that is what I would do, but I'm not affiliated with Mirabilis so all I can do is tell you once again that they are not charging. But you have to admit, it is a novel idea to charge the rumor writers... too bad it is not possible. Here's another idea. Want to vote to stop these pathetic lies? Then forward the http://surf.to/the.truth URL to everyone on your list and if the number is equal to 10 million, maybe all (most anyway) ICQ users will develop the good sense to recognize and ignore these messages. (R38)
No, no, no. That is the wrong code. The one you want to send is: "icq=beta.dll$$=I.am.a.sucker.who.will.believe.anything" Got it? That is the one you want to send to all your friends. (R37)
Most of the time I find these idiotic rumors somewhat amusing, but ones like this piss me off. First off, it is a complete and total lie, Mirabilis doesn't even have a clue whether or not you forward it, and they never agreed to donate a cent. But that isn't what pisses me off. The problem is people think they are doing something helpful, but in reality nothing is being done to help cancer research. If you want to donate to the American Cancer Society, then please do so. Visit their Web site and send them a check. But please don't forward this worthless chain message to your friends, okay? (R36)
Or this variation...
Hi-dee-ho good neighbor. Awww... Tim, you don't really think I would send you a virus, do you? Why do people keep spreading these false rumors about me? I'm just a nice guy who had a little joke played on him, and now half the people on ICQ think I'm some kind of mad virus spreading hacker. Don't they know that all the people who appear in these warning messages are the victims of someone's dirty little trick? (R35)
Mirabilis was a privately held corporation, they couldn't be bought out unless they wanted to be. A hostile takeover was never possible (unless AOL's Steve Case was planning to invade Israel... bad idea, Steve). More to the point, AOL already bought Mirabilis. See the Mirabilis' Acquisition By AOL page for more info. (R34)
What is the first thing most people do when they get a message like this? They go to the URL and see what's there for themselves, that is the first thing I did. And guess what? Nothing out of the ordinary happened to Netscape, the page loaded like any other. Which leads me to believe one of two things are possible: 1. "Fruit Ruler" wants you to visit that page (hence why I removed the URL) or 2. "Fruit Ruler" is an idiot. How many of you still load the Netscape homepage every time you run your browser? You don't have to, you know? Just go to Edit - Preferences - Navigator and you can make it open to any URL you want it to. Or to save time, you can do what most people do and have it open to a blank page. Anyway, if you get a message like this you are probably just being conned into visiting someone's page. If you have time then go for it, but don't waste everyone else's time with these little games. (R33)
Well, the rumors are just a fake as they ever were but at least the spelling and grammar on this one is improving. They even added the registered trademark symbol. Though they forgot to capitalize "mirabilis" and misspelled receive. What do you think... a B+? But I can only give them a C- for originality. The whole "brownie points" thing has been done to death. Personally I like the term "MiraPoints" better. For more comments on this and nine other of the most common rumors, be sure to check out the Top Ten list. (R32)
Awwww... isn't that sweet? They don't want to see anyone lose their account... not like those mean people at ICQ management who must be telling everyone to start these chain messages. After all, that message doesn't even claim to be from Mirabilis, but apparently just written by someone who "checked it out." I wonder what the instructions from ICQ management were? I've never seen anything on the Mirabilis homepage giving orders to write your own message and tell everyone to forward it, but if there were I imagine it might go something like this: Hello, this is ICQ management. We want all our members to write threatening notes to their friends telling them that they MUST forward the message they receive. If any of your friends don't forward your message we will terminate their accounts. We do this because we want to irritate all our members and drive them off the system. You see, we spent millions of dollars and 18 months of development time just to be able to piss everyone off. Bahaha... and here you thought Microsoft was evil. Thank you and have a nice day. PS - Be sure to misspell a few words and use poor grammar. You know, I've been adding new rumors to this site for eight months, and in all that time I don't think I've seen a less believable rumor than this. I really wish Mirabilis could track who forwards this one (by the way, they can't). It would give us all some idea of the overall gullibility of the ICQ community. I would hope it is about one in a hundred people who fall for it, but I have a feeling it is probably more like one in ten. So if someone sends this to you, write back and ask them why they would think Mirabilis would want all their members to start rumors just so they could kick everyone off their system. When they can't think of a reason then ask them why they would forward something that is so obviously a hoax. And if they still don't "get it" then send me their UIN. I want to offer to sell them a bridge in New York or some choice swampland in the Everglades. Hey, I'll even send you a referral check when the deal closes. *wink* (R31)
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