Slashdot Mirror
A Look At The PSX2 More on The Recall
cicatrix1 writes "According to this story at Daily Radar, the online stories about the Playstation 2 Memory Recall are false. Sony admitted to not being able to manufacture enough cards, but said that they all, in fact, work properly. " So, that means our recent story was true, as updated. As well, the folks at Core Magazine have got a look inside the machine.
Well, when the slashdotters pirated it, they re-released the link as GPL. Now they can give away false stories & sell service & support contracts.
Last time I checked the PS2 specs still called for a VGA out port.
What's the 'L' word?
Sure, a PS2 title for the PC, uh-huh.... Maybe with 60 million polygons sheared away....
If I don't play PC games, I don't need to upgrade my computer, thusly saving me thousands of dollars. Besides, the PS2 is far beyond anything that the PC scene has to offer in gaming. Even in 5 years, I'll wager that PC technology has not caught up to the PS2.
HELLO!!!! There is no memory card/DVD driver problem, it was all false rumours....by a Slashdot troll most likely... WAKE UP!!!! READ!!!
Supposedly the region encoding is stored in a special memory card that must be inserted in order to watch DVD's. Theoretically you would just buy a Japanese and American DVD memory card and watch movies from both sides of the Pacific.
This is _not_ a PS2 bug, it is a bug in the 8MB memory card. Doesn't really matter though, just wait until Sony gets the fixed version out, and you'll have no problems watching DVD's (you probably won't have any problem with it now even). For saving games, the PS2 is backward compatible with the old 1MB PSX memory card, so just use one of those.
(please, no ball jokes either.)
Oh, I can't resist! Especially as the "Spin" tactic involvs talking complete testes the whole time. ;-)
Uhhh... First posters, Natalie Portman petrifiers, hot gritters, Trolls, JonKatz, Big Brother, Commies, Area51, dog-waggers, conspiracies...
You know, the "L" word... as in...
If PSX2 was running "L" word, this sort of thing would never happen.
If they had designed those memory cards using an open-sourced IC design program running on "L" word, there would be no failures.
The "L" Word is what makes the world go round, can solve conflicts between the Irish and British, can single-handedly take man to Mars and back without being zapped by the Martians (who are probably running Windows).
Who cares? The X-Box is a joke when compared to the likes of the PS2. All the X-Box is, is a P3 w/GeForce256...It will not stand a chance against other PC's, and especially not against the PS2.
That article is BS. Note how they conveniently don't say who their "numerous sources" are? I also know this because of the fact that my good friend works for Konami, and there is definately hardware anti-aliasing. As for memory, the PS2 offers 32MB of main system memory, 4MB VRAM and 2MB for sound (38MB total). Seeing as the main memory is just as fast as the VRAM, there should be no problems in swapping textures from main memory into VRAM in the fly (provided the game is coded well). PC's do this all of the time, especially with the miniscule amount of memory on PC 3D cards (4MB console VRAM == 32MB PC VRAM).
Thats because the early PSX's didn't really have problems. I bought my PSX the day it came out in the US (On that day 5 years ago) and it still performs superbly, no problems to report whatsoever.
Yes but the "latest and greatest bleeding-edge games" for the PC are orders of magnitude below what the PS2 has.
Leave it up to the journalists to once again run a story without checking sources, and running it in a manner as to suggest it is a verified fact
>The product is not available to us yet
This is Slashdot. This is the internet. This is not the USA. It is available to some of US.
All im reading from the link is that Sony has denied the recall of the memory devices. The problems with the memory cards still exist. Its not what they say, its what they DONT say.
I made a post to the original article on this topic, stating that this rumor was nothing more than FUD. The same shit was said with the release of the original Playstation. Sure, there were some problems, but it was way overblown. I just love how I never get moderated up. However, the hot and heavy peeps on this board that immediately started dissing Sony got moderated up. Whatever!
Yes, the PSX2 does require the memory card to be installed for DVD use.
Instead of recalling all the defective Sonic Adventure disks, or promised to give free VF3 disks to everyone who pre-ordered a DC through sega.com but didn't recieve a DC until after the 9th, maybe Sega should have just ignored the problem and claimed that there was no recall. Maybe the reason why everyone slams on Sega is because they admit it when they make mistakes. They should have pretended that the 32x never came out (like nintendo pretend that there was no virtual boy or Sony pretend there was no problem with early psx's.)
I submitted this as a hoax months ago!
WASHINGTON, D.C.-The Institute for the Investigation of irregular Internet Phenomena announced today that
many Slashdot posters are becoming infected by a new virus that causes them to believe without question every
groundless story, legend, and dire warning that shows up on the site. The Gullibility Virus, as it is called,
apparently makes people believe and forward copies of silly hoaxes relating to E-Mail Sony Playstation releases,
Slashdot, viruses, get-rich-quick schemes, and conspiracy theories. These are not just readers of tabloids or
people who buy lottery tickets based on fortune cookie numbers, & quotes; a spokesman said. Most are
otherwise normal people, who would laugh at the same stories if told to them by a stranger on a street corner;
However, once these same people become infected with the Gullibility Virus, they believe anything they read on
the Internet.My immunity to tall tales and bizarre claims is all gone, reported one weeping victim,.I believe every
warning message and sick child story my friends forward to me, even though most of the messages are
anonymous. Internet users are urged to examine themselves for symptoms of the virus, which include the
following
* the willingness to believe improbable stories without thinking
* the willingness to post meaningless comments on the hoax at Slashdot
* the urge to forward multiple copies of such stories to others
* a lack of desire to take three minutes to check to see if a story is true.
A. C. is an example of someone recently infected. He told one reporter,I read on the Net that the major
ingredient in almost all shampoos makes your hair fall out, so I've stopped using shampoo.; When told about
the Gullibility Virus,A . C. said he would stop reading e-mail, so that he would not become infected. President
Clinton has been advised by the National Health Council. He has had an emergency session with former
presidents Bush, Reagan, Carter, Ford, and Lincoln. All agreed he should not quarantine the country. This is not
being reported in the major news media to avoid panic. Anyone with symptoms is urged to seek help
immediately. Experts recommend that at the first feelings of gullibility, Internet users rush to their favorite
search engine and look up the item tempting them to thoughtless credence. Most hoaxes, legends, and tall tales
have been widely discussed and exposed by the Internet community. Many companies have internal support
groups to help employees minimize the impact of this terrible virus
Forward this message to all your friends right away! Don't think about it! This is not a chain letter post! This
story is true! Don't check it out! This story is so timely, there is no date on it! This story is so important, we're
using lots of exclamation points!!! For every message you forward to some unsuspecting person, the Home for
the Hopelessly Gullible will donate ten cents to itself.
Ever since my fall, I've been watching a lot more TV. It's lucky, too, because I've discovered the most delightful new show. It's called The Golden Girls. It's on
every day at 5:30 p.m. on channel 14 and is about four women, Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, and Sophia, who are getting on in years, just like me. And, like me, they
have no husbands, and their children rarely visit or call.
In the past, I never looked at the "boob tube" much. Other than watching the Weather Channel to check for storm advisories for Cincinnati, where my daughter
Emily lives, I barely even turned the thing on. But with Harold gone two years this month and me not really trusting myself to take the bus to church anymore--not to
mention the broken hip--let's just say I've had a lot of time on my hands. I can't even crochet or sew anymore because of the arthritis, so rather than just sitting in my
blue chair staring at the wall for hours, I've started to look at the TV.
Lately, the highlight of each day is when I tune in to see what's going on in the lives of these Golden Girls. It's such a nice escape to be able to step into this
wonderful world where older women wear stylish clothing, say lots of clever things, and, judging from the way they are always on the go, have no problems with
bursitis, high blood pressure, or hemorrhoids.
The Golden Girls have a lovely Florida home with a full patio and breakfast nook, and they go on vacations and take dance classes together. Sometimes, I try to
imagine what it would be like if their house had one more bedroom, and I lived there. Though I don't think it would be appropriate to date at my age, I would very
much enjoy the companionship of some good friends. I would readily agree to do all the housework if it meant I had someone to talk to once in a while. And if I
fractured my hip, I would have the assurance that I wouldn't have to lay on the floor in pain for three days, waiting each day for the mailman's footsteps so I could cry
out in the hopes of getting his attention.
Of course, living in a house full of women is bound to cause some tension, especially when everyone has such different personalities. Sophia is grumpy and
always has some smart-alecky thing to say. (At first, I didn't like her much, but I soon saw that even she has a soft side. Besides, you have to be tough growing up in
Brooklyn.) Dorothy, Sophia's daughter, inherited her mother's mouth and is the unofficial leader of the gang. Blanche, a wild Southern belle, is quite the narcissist.
Rose, on the other hand, is sweet and dim-witted. She reminds me of my dear sister Lydia, who passed on last year. Sometimes, one of Rose's silly remarks about
small-town life brings me to tears, making me think about how much I miss my one and only sibling, who is gone forever.
The Golden Girls often get mad at each other. At times, they even resort to calling each other nasty names, using words I don't think one should be able to say on
television. But at the end of the day, they always find a way to patch things up and become the best of friends again.
I sure wish I had some friends living close by. Ruth, my best friend of 51 years, is in a home down in Emmetsville. I haven't seen her since Christmas of 1997,
and at that point, she didn't recognize me or her own children anymore.
My, it looks so sunny and beautiful down there in Florida. It's terribly cold up here. I'm so frightened of catching pneumonia like Harold did, I hardly leave the
house during the winter anymore. I signed up for Meals On Wheels last month, and most days, they drop by with something to eat, so I don't have to turn the stove
on anymore. (I accidentally left the gas on last December but, luckily, the neighbors smelled it and pounded on my door.)
I do get jealous of the Golden Girls, how they have each other. But I need to remember that it's not all cake and ice cream for them. They've had to face some
very difficult situations recently, like when Dorothy found a lump in her breast, and the time Blanche found out that her late husband had fathered an illegitimate child,
and when Rose was cut off from her husband's pension. But by sticking together, they're able to face even the worst. As for me, I am left to face the world alone.
--Powdermilk Biscuits... My they're tasty, and expeditious....
That is so lame, but at the same time very funny. you+life=needed
That will just have to wait. ;)
I'm off to the pub
Should some other scandinaves around this time of day.
It's not like Sony hasn't refused to acknowledge a serious problem before. Has everybody forgotten the "skip" problem? Meet skip problem, ver. 2.
not familiar with the time testes corporate tactic called "Spin".
Should've finished that Business 101 course, Hemos.
So what this is really saying is that Slashdot originally got the story wrong. A lot of people probably did not see the update and Hemo's little sentence implies that the original story was right. This something you would expect to see out of pr people. Sure its technically correct, but to people who aren't reading the description carefully it appears to say that the original story was correct when it wasn't. It would have been a lot clearer to say something like "So are orignal story was wrong but the update was right".
"When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it seems like two minutes. When you sit on a hot stove for two minutes, it
You mean /. jumped the gun and posted untrue crap again? "But we just give the links" is the standard reply. I don't buy it. Why not hire some real journalists with all of that money you guys have instead of having the current cast. Yeah, the original editors broke new ground with this site. Yeah, I'm sure they do their best. But it's getting to the point where professional jouornalists can and should be hired to takeover.
I'm sure this will get moderated down as flamebait, but that's just the way I feel.
Someone knows Micro$oft is up to launch its X-Box game console ?
Someone knows Micro$oft can make magazines (both physical or web based) "speak" as it likes ?
Someone knows who is Micro$oft ?
became
"So, that means our recent story was true, as updated"
after about 20 minutes or so?
Guys, if you're going to change your header like that, at least tell us that you changed it, else those who posted in those first 20 minutes are going to look a bit daft, especially as the whole tone changes with the removal of the word 'not'.
Emphasis added:
Uh, get a clue, Slashdot. It was not _your_ story. Posting a link to another site does not make it yours.
Can someone post a URL for this bug-reproduction on this thread? Thanks...
Regards,
Denny
# Using Linux in the UK? Check out Linux UK
Police State UK - news and
Mind translating that for us dumb Americans?
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
I know I shouldn't even waste my time with this...
There is no recall by sony, however owners of the PSX2 are still reporting the problem.
Actually I read two weeks ago at MSNBC that the playstation accounts for 40% of sony's total revenue.
Just because you don't care doesn't mean that the rest of US don't. I for one want to see how Sony handles the situation and I would like to see where the actual cause of this memory card / DVD driver problem is because unlike you I may actually consider getting a PSX2 when they are released.
Upgradeability for high-end (ie gaming) PCs is
little to non-existant.
Change your CPU, oh no, new slot, change the motherboard. Change the motherboard, change the RAM. Change the motherboard, end up with a no-ISA board for the features you want, throw out all your "legacy" (== "more than six months old" modem, sound, network cards). Buy a new graphics card every six months and be unable to sell the old one for anything more than a pittance. PCs now seem to be desinged for six-month obsolescence.
I've given up with the whole PC upgrade rat-race. My boxen are a P75, P133 and K5-100 (Win95, Linux, NetBSD), and I'm only adding hardware when something I want to do needs it (the P133 is looking for a second CPU, but only because I want to play around with an SMP box. Nothing I'm doing needs the speed.) I gave in and bought a Playstation - it's *so* much easier, all the games run on it, I don't have to keep checking the box thinking 'do I meet the specs? Do I have enough disk space to install?'
Admittedly I probably picked a bad time to do it, with the PS2 due in the UK late this year, but in general with consoles you can look at three to five years of playing games on the same machine without any upgrades. I've no intention of being on the PS2 bleeding edge, so I should get another year at least out of my PS1.
Regards,
Tim.
My thoughts exactly. :)
--GnrcMan--
I guess that wasn't the best wording, I didn't mean to say that nobody from Japan reads slashdot, but I would assume that most people who do are in North America. Though this may also be wrong seeing as I have nothing to base that on. That being said what I really mean is in the next few months to a year Sony will have (hopefully) cleared up these problems. Too bad they didn't fix them first but that seems to be the way everybody releases software/hardware today. At this time, is when most people be they in Japan, the US or elsewhere is probably when they will buy these systems so why do we give the initial problems so much attention. As for a PC I made another incorrect assumption, that anyone reading slashdot had a PC that was probably capable of playing these games. Obviously this was a bad assumption to make since not everybody can afford to buy a new computer ever year or so. Personally though I would rather spend the money to upgrade my PC then buy a console gaming station. On the other hand if all you have is a mainframe (poor you NOT! :)) then a console game just may be the way to go......
Cheers
for the fact that an overwhelming percentage of product is defective. In light of the PSX2 being the most eagerly awaited console in years, and in light of Sony making a grab to enter the financial industry; it certainly doesn't take a genius to realize that the last thing Sony can afford right now is for the PSX2 to publicly have issues so severe that only a full recall is sufficient to fix the problem. How would those market analysts react to Sony attempting to be part of the financial community when they (Sony) can't even get a video-game right?
Funny you mention it...
IBM introduced the VGA port on its PS2 way back in 1987.
Somehow I doubt one of those fine 386's could handle Kessen, though.
"The best way to do mathematics is to be creatively lazy." -I. M. Isaacs
There are no
Never go out to fight for freedom and justice wearing your best trousers.
Nintendo had problems with the Famicom (NES) when it was first released in Japan. Those issues caused Nintendo to miss out on the entire Christmas season because the issues were serious enough that a full recall was needed.
Sony missed the Christmas '99 season (probably because of software development issues) but even with their delayed launch date, they can't keep up. Geesh!
At which point did I say that I was from Japan?
I also live in Europe but the difference between a console and a games-pc is large enough to stop me from ever buying an up-to-date PC.
Most of my non-gaming computer activities are either at work on a high-end machine that I can't play games on, or on a 486 at home which runs an up-and-coming OS. I have no need of a high-end machine at home, therefore - even in Europe - news like this matters (even more so if it turns out to be true).
People need to realize that the resolution on console systems are no where near what that of a computer is. Sure, we could all get a Voodoo3 and a low-end Pentium and play most games fine on at 320x200. When you start to increase resolution, thats when bad things happen. TVs are horrible when it comes to gaming, assuming you don't have a wide-screen digital one.
If you have a problem with that much for a much more usable and upgradeable piece of hardware, just build a low-end CPU and run at 320x200. Thats all the consoles really are: cheap computers that don't expand as much as a real computer.
-Bill
The stats are staggering, they have sold 900K units in a few days. A recall/repair would be quite a mess, even if it was limited to Japan.
%SYSTEM-W-ABORT, abort
Either way, the PSX2 is bound to have some teething problems, just as the PSX did - It's been too short to see if one can run for a week and not overheat yet :-) I'd say that'll be tested soon, for sure!
I was thinking that very same thought actually, seems odd none of the articles I've read has brought that up. I wouldn't hold Dell responsible if a PC game I bought destroyed data on my system.
PC's just aren't that expensive anymore. I have a p3/550 that I built last summer for under $1000. I can play the latest and greatest bleeding-edge games, and will be able to for at least another year.
Hell, even ps2.ign.com had posted that false story. How could something like that get going? Matters not, I want it and I want it now.
Well, it's either that or it's a bug in how Ridge Racer writes to the memory card. But you're right, it's not such a big deal, especially to one who hardly ever rents movies like me. But now my curiousity is piqued, I want to see if there is anything to this.
I wonder if PS2 games can save their data on PSX memory cards? I know it can read from them just fine though.
And is the PSX memory card really 1MB? I never bothered to find that out. Anyway, I ask because if you look at files on one with the PS2, it lists each "block" as being 8KB...
Joe
Thanks for the link! Seems like everyone here has been citing the Dailyradar article when mentioning the DVD playback bug. This gives the bug rumors more credibility...
BUT, I still want to see this for myself; in other words does this affect each and every PS2, or just a certain number of them? Is there anyone out there that has tried this out themselves??
I plan to try it out probably tonight...go rent a DVD and see if the DVD player has been corrupted.
Seems like if this is a universal problem, scores of people would have found and been talking about it already over here. Still, even over here, I don't know too many who own one that could have tested this yet. But most BBSs only seem to have "normal" discussions of games, etc, (so far....)
Joe
I think the point is that the Memory card technology is supposed to let you lock the data on the card so that other processes (that do not have the key) can not affect it. This is I believe to prevent copying and alteration of the stored information.
The fact that Ridge Racer V can affect this data suggests that the implementation of the protection on the card to prevent this is open to bypassing.
It may be in the future that these early memory cards become prized posessions as they allow people to bypass the Magic protection. Which may be useful for people GameSharking hacking the DVD playback software, etc.
Gamma Testing - Where testing is extended to the full user community (AKA Shipping the Program)
yes, that may be true but dell dose not charge mega bucks to allow you to make games for their computers nore dose it recive a cash for ever game sold for a dell system. This type of arangment in my opion shifts some blamb onto the console company for ensuring that all games made for there console work proply
You have 5 Moderator Points!
Which Helpless Linux zealot/MS basher do you want to mod down today?
>I am glad that the problem doesn't exist, but do we really care? The
>product is not available to us yet and by the time it is all of these
>issues will surely be fixed, that being said almost every decent game
>they release will also be released for the PC. Therefor why would you
>want to pay for the device when you could just pay for the game on
>your computer?
Have you seen the *IDOITIC* system requirements for PC games nowdays? Buying 1 $300-400 PlayStation 2 beats buying a $1000-2000 computer every 6 months kiddo....
Thought it might be interesting to check out the article in the norwegian newspaper Nettavisen.
It seems Playstation 2 will be on sale in Norway within a few days at Smartshopper for 750$. They found a totally legal way of avoiding Japanese export regulations.
Feel free to moderate me down for being off topic and spoiling your tomorows news.
And this is the same problem as the DC -- manifested in a different way. On the DC bad discs froze the system, on the PS2 bad code overwrote its bounds.
This doesn't cover the overheat/freeze problems however. I suspect they need to further cool these puppies. DVD playback is still an issue.
Lowmag.net
All I see on the core site is screenshots from a game. I want to see what's inside the box.
Starman97@Gmail.com (bring it on spammers)
...to protect their stock price. They had a full new product news (free advertising) blitz this last weekend, I haven't seen the bug report stories yet...
Playstation (mostly the games) accounts for 20% of Sony's overall revenue and 33% of their profits (according to those same news stories) The PS2 is a *big* deal for them and damage control is a very serious occupation around there right about now.
--
+&x
Daily Radar's take. They don't give too many details, but few details is likely to satisfy a rumor-hungry horde where no details has failed.
"If one is really a superior person, the fact is likely to leak out without too much assistance" -- John Andrew Holmes
For those keeping score at home, there's at least one: rmager@vgkk.co.jp. I fail to see what you're responding to, however -- the summary didn't contain the word "us".
"If one is really a superior person, the fact is likely to leak out without too much assistance" -- John Andrew Holmes
Though this may seem like a biased report seeing as how it's a Nintendo related site, it's also IGN and they usually report accurate legit stuff. It would seem that if you look past the fill-rate capabilities of the PSX2, you run into some hardware limitations of a different kind.
Since that topic is sorta Dolphin related, some of you may want to check this other link as well...it would appear that a Dolphin release later this year isn't that far fetched after all.
This post sponsored by Ninja Burger. "
Don't be so arrogant as to assume that nobody from Japan reads Slashdot.
Some of us even care about things we will never own (mainframes, big unix boxen etc)- never mind only having to wait a few months.
Some of us can't afford to buy a PC that will run the latest games, wheras a console is a much more economical option.
That's actually very strange considering that I hardly see any homeless Japanese people (hell even in Europe for that matter) and that Japan has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. Technically you can order a nice new state of the art computer (PIII and all that) for less than $900 from pricewatch I would also hazard a guess that they have similar deals in Japan. Plus a PC can do so much more than a console can.
Slashdot social engineering at it's finest
Has anyone even thought for a second that the memory cards may not be defective? The only game the screws with the cards is Ridge Racer V - Therefore, the problem is that Ridge Racer was badly programmed, and overwrites or corrupts the DVD playback software, case closed. If the memory cards don't screw up at any other time, then the cause of the problem is not the memory cards, but with Ridge Racer V!
Daily Radar sucks. But regardless, if you want import game news from a source that actually has reasons to take it seriously, check the what's new section on NCSX.com. They've confirmed the problems, they're considering halting sales of the console.
The recall may have been bogus, but the cards still have bugs. The Daily Radar reported that Sony denies the recall, but that the DR has replicated the bug that Sony vehemently denies exists.
So yesterday's story may have been not 100% accurate, but there still is a problem.
Have you seen the *IDOITIC* system requirements for PC games nowdays? Buying 1 $300-400 PlayStation 2 beats buying a $1000-2000 computer every 6 months kiddo....
Well I have stated similar concerns but people sweep them under the rug as rantings from a wacko and I get massarced. They are rediculous and could use some trimming down.
I however disagree with the price tag. Theoretically with new PCs upgradeability is something that can be more easily achieved without too much hassle.
Slashdot social engineering at it's finest
There may not have been a recall but the reports of problems w/ the cards seem to be legitimate. See Ike Sato's impressions of the PS2 @ videogames.com for a first hand account of some of the problems.
Daily Radar has experienced Ridge Racer V saved game files wiping out the PS2's DVD drivers. We were able to replace the old drivers using the Utilities disc, but the memory card bug is still a significant flaw that Sony has not yet addressed.
Apparently Sony is denying the problems. What I think is they shipped the cards, found the bug, managed to quickly fix the problem. However they are now having supply problems putting out enough of the fixed cards to meet demand. The delay in sales is simply to give them time to make enough of the new cards to be marketable.
The idea that they are simply short on cards is just BS, they just don't want to admit to making a mistake. If they were producing good cards to begin with, why would they stop selling? If I was them I'd keep selling, I don't see the point in halting shipping.
Don't be so arrogant as to assume that nobody from Japan reads Slashdot.
Some of us even care about things we will never own (mainframes, big unix boxen etc)- never mind only having to wait a few months.
Some of us can't afford to buy a PC that will run the latest games, wheras a console is a much more economical option.
But wasn't it a problem with the Japanese machines? SCEA shouldn't be bothered with this, as the console won't ship over there for months yet, hence the 'we're rectifying this' spiel. As far as I can tell, the problem of corruption with savegame files (RR5) is still a problem, and I think that that is far more damaging PR than a recall. Strictly speaking, if the component parts of Sony have some degree of independence from each other, who says that the Japanese arm has to tell the US arm that they're recalling?
This sounds like marketroid-speak for 'The first release machines are crocked in Japan, but don't worry about the US/Europe release'.
If you take the leading and final statement from the article (catenated above), then it seems that this press release contradicts itself more than it does the previous story, with marketing bumpf inbetween. Sounds more like face-saving and future-protection than a denial to me.
- "How do we do it? Volume!" - The Bursar of Unseen University.
* the willingness to believe improbable stories without thinking
* the willingness to post meaningless comments on the hoax at Slashdot
* the urge to forward multiple copies of such stories to others
* a lack of desire to take three minutes to check to see if a story is true.
A. C. is an example of someone recently infected. He told one reporter,I read on the Net that the major ingredient in almost all shampoos makes your hair fall out, so I've stopped using shampoo.; When told about the Gullibility Virus,A . C. said he would stop reading e-mail, so that he would not become infected. President Clinton has been advised by the National Health Council. He has had an emergency session with former presidents Bush, Reagan, Carter, Ford, and Lincoln. All agreed he should not quarantine the country. This is not being reported in the major news media to avoid panic. Anyone with symptoms is urged to seek help immediately. Experts recommend that at the first feelings of gullibility, Internet users rush to their favorite search engine and look up the item tempting them to thoughtless credence. Most hoaxes, legends, and tall tales have been widely discussed and exposed by the Internet community. Many companies have internal support groups to help employees minimize the impact of this terrible virus
Forward this message to all your friends right away! Don't think about it! This is not a chain letter post! This story is true! Don't check it out! This story is so timely, there is no date on it! This story is so important, we're using lots of exclamation points!!! For every message you forward to some unsuspecting person, the Home for the Hopelessly Gullible will donate ten cents to itself.
More race stuff in one place,
than any one place on the net.