 ICQ Rumors 101 - 110
First off, it's not a "system message" just because someone says it's a system message. Second, "ICQ administration" will never, ever ask you for your password. They don't need to ask you, if they are really an ICQ administrator then they already know your password. This is just a very lame attempt to steal passwords, don't be even lamer by falling for it. (R110)
I heard a rumor that if you never, ever forward a dumb hoax like this you'll automatically be updated to the PLATINUM VERSION! Woo hoo! Just do it! Er... I mean just don't do it. Well, you know what I mean. (R109)
Who is "they" and what is so special about forwarding a message that would make them not shutdown Napster, assuming "they" are even trying to? I think someone has been listening to too many pirated Metallica MP3s and their brain turned to mush. (R108)
I can just picture some guy at the ICQ Network Control Center, stopwatch in hand, saying "Ah, DiamondBack just received the message! Okay DB, you got 4 minutes and 50 seconds... 4 minutes and 40 seconds..." That was a joke. The message above it is a hoax. The joke is intended to make you laugh, the hoax is intended to get you laughed at. You decide which is better. (R107)
What they don't tell you is that because the menu is a secret, once you've seen it they'll have to kill you. They do that, you know? They are the same people who are trying to shut down Napster. They're everywhere... timing people who don't forward messages in five minutes and shutting down their accounts. How do they do it? From the secret menu, of course. And that's all you need to know. (R106)
Stay Free? Isn't that a feminine hygiene product? I don't want to see ICQ turn into a Maxi-Pad. Okay, so I'm being a little silly, but so is the idea of being charged by ICQ. What are they going to do, order you to insert a credit card in to the floppy drive? This is the hundredth variation on the first classic ICQ rumor... that they are going to start charging. That was back in 1997 and it hasn't happened yet... guess why? It isn't because of dumbasses forwarding messages like this, it's because if they tried to charge for ICQ everyone would switch to a different instant messaging program. There are dozens of them, all free... the way a Maxi-Pad was meant to be. (R105)
After contacting every Tommy J. on the Internet, I have determined that the vast majority of them are not gay and have no marital plans for "Hawii"... though that's an awfully gay way of spelling "Hawaii." I realize this must come as quite a shock to those who were under the impression that they were helping Tommy J. and his buddy when they forwarded this message, next time just send me the five cents and I'll see that someone named "Tommy" gets it. In fact, better make it five dollars, it's a long way to Hawaii. (R104)
As you can see by the headers, this hoax was being sent via e-mail. Look at that, it even says it came from "Mirabilis Admin" at "Admin@Mirabilis.Com"... so it must be true, right? I mean, someone couldn't fake an e-mail header and put just anything in the From field, could they? Actually, yes, they could. It's easy, you don't have to be a MaStEr HaXoR to do it. However you would have to be a SUCKER to send your UIN and password to "Mirabilis@Beer.Com." Note the "Beer.Com"... doesn't it seem just a bit odd that Mirabilis (the company that created ICQ) would use a free e-mail address from Beer.com? At least they were nice enough to give us an entire week to consider doing something incredibly stupid. (R103)
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I read this e-mail. This could even be a (sorta) true story written by a well meaning, but terribly naive person. You know, the kind that jump to conclusions based on very little evidence... like a pimple on their butt means they were abducted by aliens. Here's my take: I think first they really screwed-up their computer. It's possible they had a backdoor trojan running and really were being hacked, but that has little to do with "who you give your ICQ number out to" since a trojan can come from anywhere, even someone you know (who may have no idea the file they sent had a backdoor attached to it). What happened next is where it gets weird. Maybe a phone line got crossed, or perhaps someone called just as the modem went off hook to connect. Whatever it was, I seriously doubt the guy with the raspy voice watching TV was a "pretty smart" ICQ hacker. I also doubt the local computer service store is staffed by ICQ security experts who could determine where the "virus of some sort" came from after advising to bring in a "CPU" (the chip or the whole computer?). This whole story sounds sooooooo clueless that I'm going to have to count myself among the "people won't believe it." I do however feel sorry for the needlessly scared 10 year old. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go check my butt for alien implants. (R102)
No, I would say they are completely full... of something. As for ICQ, they aren't going to run out of numbers anytime soon and their parent company (AOL) can always afford to add a few more servers as needed. In fact, I've been using ICQ since it was released in 1997 and it has never worked better than it has lately. One thing hasn't changed, ICQ never used to threaten to delete people for not forwarding a message, and that is still true today. (R101)
If you would like to link to this site you welcome to use any of the link banners on the main ICQ Lies page. You may e-mail me at webmaster@diamond-back.com (Please don't send ICQ authorization requests.) Or tell the world what you think of ICQ Lies by Signing my Guestbook (The Last Word) Subscribe (or Unsubscribe) to the ICQ Lies Update Newsletter If you would like to receive occasional updates about the latest rumors floating around on ICQ, enter your e-mail address in the box and press Send. All info will be kept confidential. (Click here to view our privacy statement.)
Thomas Robert Pasawicz aka DiamondBack All Rights Reserved http://diamond-back.com |