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NSF Research Reveals Chain Letter Travel Patterns
alphadogg writes to tell us that the NSF is researching chain letters and how they travel. The results aren't quite what one might expect, showing a pattern of more selective and circuitous travel. "One surprising finding was that messages often took meandering routes between people who knew each other, often through as many as 100 intermediaries. Many email users also received copies from multiple social groups. The researchers concluded that because messages come from many directions, there's ample opportunity for the messages to be edited along the way."
What? African or European?
ZuluPad, the wiki notepad on crack
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Oh my gosh! That email about an email tracker is TRUE!! Chain letters DO get tracked! And guess what? If you send this information to 10 people, you'll get a $100 GIFT CERTIFICATE!
// jokes, obviously
Wait, you actually read your chain mail? Mine goes straight to the trash...
it doesn't matter what the pattern is.. they all end up in my moms mailbox
It is well documented that forgeign customers of the African Development Bank have a 110% chance of dying, with all family and next of kin, in a plane crash, leaving behind, on average, 40 million dollars in unclaimed accounts. This will invariably result in hundreds of unscupulous bank employees attempting to recruit only slightly less unscrupulous partners to transfer these funds out of the country before the accounts are turned over to the government.
In an attempt to curb this illegal activity, the Office of Account Disbursement, has decided to automate the disbursement proceedings so that these funds may be liquidated before the scammers can act.
You have been selected through a highly rigorous screening process, based on your certified honesty and integrity, to participate in this entirely legal and worthwhile program. To recieve an automatic disbursement following the next fatal plane crash, simply send your bank account information and any necessary passwords/pin numbers to: SueDonym@hotmail.com and in no time, you too will be rich!
Please forward this confidential email to everyone in your address book. Thank you, and enjoy your future wealth.
Scientific conclusion: conservatism is an intellectual disease.
I'm more interested in knowing why, when they plotted the path of the chainmail it looked like suit of, well, chainmail. This is a clear indication of the fractal nature of reality, such that our terminology for spam actually infects the upper layers of reality to the point where even couch potatos are zombified into following this ancient topology.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
What I do, is I look at the CC info... Then I reply to everyone on the list telling them there is good news, and bad news.. the good news is that I chanted an incantation and waved my mouse 3 times over my head breaking the spell on their chain letter forever !.. The bad news is that if they send me chain letters again, I'll have to block them, as I only have so much magic available.
waiting for ad.doubleclick.net
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
Reality has been shown to have a clear liberal bias.