# Replying to co-workers with a Snopes link? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 17, 2008, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replying-to-co-workers-with-a-snopes-link/477633 "2008-12-17T21:04:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stargazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@stargazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stargazer)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replying-to-co-workers-with-a-snopes-link/477633/1 "2008-12-17T21:04:05Z")
A co-worker sent around an email that snopes debunked. It isn’t glurge-y, it’s one of the “medical” myths. Should I: A) reply to her B) reply to all the people I know on her list (which includes all of our co-workers) C) or reply to everyone the email was sent to (including some people I don’t know) with a friendly “Snopes says this isn’t true” email? or should I D) not reply at all? Background: I work for a very small company (14 employees). The woman who sent this around is the director of another department and can be kind of sensitive about stuff like this – she wouldn’t be mean about it or do anything to “get back at me” but it might sort of, I dunno, hurt her feelings, for a day or so. I know she has good intentions about this sort of thing, but she is very technophobic so doesn’t know about Snopes. Opinions? ---
**Author:** ![Woeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Woeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Woeg)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replying-to-co-workers-with-a-snopes-link/477633/2 "2008-12-17T21:10:40Z")
Let her know politely that you shared her concern, so did a little further research, and found out that oh, thank god, it wasn’t true. Then suggest she put everyone else’s fears at rest by sending out a retraction. You let her save face, and get to be the silent hero. Win-win! ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replying-to-co-workers-with-a-snopes-link/477633/3 "2008-12-17T21:15:14Z")
I agree. If she’s that sensitive, I wouldn’t reply to everyone, or even just everyone you know, only her. As long as you’re polite and frame it in a way that doesn’t seem like you’re trying to make her look stupid, it should be fine. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replying-to-co-workers-with-a-snopes-link/477633/4 "2008-12-17T21:16:11Z")
**Woeg** , that’s a nice solution. You’re a better man than I. I do a Reply All, especially if the e-mail was a Forward. If the sender didn’t bother to check it out before disseminating it, they probably wouldn’t bother to send out a correction, and they probably won’t remember who they sent it to. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replying-to-co-workers-with-a-snopes-link/477633/5 "2008-12-17T21:18:28Z")
Reply all, baby. Otherwise, the stupid will perpetuate the myth. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replying-to-co-workers-with-a-snopes-link/477633/6 "2008-12-17T21:20:37Z")
You could ‘reply all’ and then delete just her address. That way you do a public service to everyone else and she doesn’t get her feelings hurt. ---
**Author:** ![Woeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Woeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Woeg)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replying-to-co-workers-with-a-snopes-link/477633/7 "2008-12-17T22:05:04Z")
Thanks **AuntiePam**! Maybe a combination of the above is best? Do what **UncleRojelio** says, as well as politely encouraging her to do the same. At worse, people get two retractions - at best, the spread of disinformation is halted. Yay! ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replying-to-co-workers-with-a-snopes-link/477633/8 "2008-12-17T22:05:17Z")
I’d do (and have done) what **Woeg** suggested, unless and until it becomes clearly apparent that the person has no interest in learning, but just continues to forward any and all random inbox junk. Then, all bets are off, and I hit “reply all.” I never get snarky, just say something like “Hey, everybody, just wanted to let you know I checked this out and here’s the deal” and include the snopes link. Only once has this caused a huge bru-ha-ha and frankly, in that particular instance I didn’t care. ---
**Author:** ![Finally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/67e7ee/32.png) [@Finally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finally)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replying-to-co-workers-with-a-snopes-link/477633/9 "2008-12-17T22:16:01Z")
I have restrained myself from relplying with Snopes more times than I can count, only to have someone else in the office ‘reply all’ with the same info. I’ve not responded at all to save embarassment to the original poster. ---
**Author:** ![stargazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@stargazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stargazer)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replying-to-co-workers-with-a-snopes-link/477633/10 "2008-12-17T22:49:31Z")
> [@Woeg](#): > > Let her know politely that you shared her concern, so did a little further research, and found out that oh, thank god, it wasn’t true. Then suggest she put everyone else’s fears at rest by sending out a retraction. You let her save face, and get to be the silent hero. Win-win! Ooh, I like that. And I will think about sending it to everyone I know on the list except the sender. I doubt she’ll send a retraction. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replying-to-co-workers-with-a-snopes-link/477633/11 "2008-12-17T23:08:21Z")
I’ve done “reply all” with people who I didn’t care for very much (maybe twice, ever), but I usually send a simple reply to the sender explaining things in nicer terms, providing a link, etc. I try to emphasize that almost anything you read in an email forward probably is bunk, and try to help them understand that sending it on just spreads misinformation. I think it’s worked because now people from departments all over the company call me when they get an email forward to ask if it’s legit or not before they forward it, or they call me because they looked it up themselves and found out it was phony, and they want to thank me for showing them Snopes. Yes, some days I work in a mini-utopia. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replying-to-co-workers-with-a-snopes-link/477633/12 "2008-12-17T23:14:54Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > You could ‘reply all’ and then delete just her address. That way you do a public service to everyone else and she doesn’t get her feelings hurt. Wait, seriously? I say Reply All, since it’s supposedly something that could have actual value (you said it was medical). Our Union newsletter had something like this once… something like “hold your nose at the first sign of a heart attack and the effects will be less” or something like that. This was an honest-to-God dead-tree newsletter. :smack: But yeah, just Reply All. If she’s offended, maybe she should stop being ignorant. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replying-to-co-workers-with-a-snopes-link/477633/13 "2008-12-17T23:15:58Z")
How about this: Wait a week, then send a _new_ “all” message saying, “I recall seeing this go by in email a few days ago, I don’t remember who sent it, but I happened across this today, and thought it was applicable, FYI.” ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replying-to-co-workers-with-a-snopes-link/477633/14 "2008-12-18T00:43:24Z")
I started sending Snopes links in the hopes of getting this woman to STOP FORWARDING EVERY PIECE OF GLURGE… ---
**Author:** ![JackofHearts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8c91f0/32.png) [@JackofHearts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackofHearts)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replying-to-co-workers-with-a-snopes-link/477633/15 "2008-12-18T00:48:25Z")
I think this may be the only truly useful use of “reply all” that I can think of 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replying-to-co-workers-with-a-snopes-link/477633/16 "2008-12-18T02:18:04Z")
> [@junior VP at BBDO\*](#): > > Subject: Fw: IMMEDIATELY READ & PASS ON > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \> > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \> Someone is sending out a very cute > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \>screensaver of the Budweiser > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \>frogs. > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \> If you download it, you will lose > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \>everything! Your hard drive will > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \> crash > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> and someone from > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \> the Internet will get your screen > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \>name and password! > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \> > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \> DO NOT DOWNLOAD IT UNDER ANY > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \>CIRCUMSTANCES ! > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \> > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \> It just went into circulation > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \>yesterday. > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \> Please distribute this message. > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> This is a new, very malicious virus > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \>and not many people know about it. > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \>This information was announced > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \>yesterday morning from Microsoft. > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> Please share it with everyone that > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \>might access the Internet. > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \>Once again, pass this along to > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \>EVERYONE in your address book so that > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \> this may be stopped. AOL has said > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \>that this is a very dangerous > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \>virus and > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \> that there is NO remedy for it at > \>\> \> \> \> \> \> \> \>this time. > [@AHunter3](#): > > Wrong. > > [http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/virus/virus.htm#frog](http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/virus/virus.htm#frog) > As a general rule of thumb, ANY email you get that conjoins a warning about > a virus with the instruction to “forward this to everyone you know” is a) a > hoax and b) is itself a virus, although the kind that infects our email > inboxes, rather than our operating systems and whatnot. > > Now please go unwarn anyone you warned in this fashion to help stop the > spread of “read and pass on”. - BBDO is a large advertising company of approx 17,000 employees, a member of the Omnicom Group, which is a REALLY large holding company comprising, _in additon to BBDO_, the ad companies TBWA Worldwide, and DDB WorldWide, and probably some small potatoes companies of just a few hundred each like Chiat/Day. \*\* Yes, of _course_ the email to which I did the reply-all went to the OMNI distribution list. As in, “Everyone in OmniCom”. Yes I called my boss’s boss’ s boss a blithering idiot in front of a massively huge audience. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replying-to-co-workers-with-a-snopes-link/477633/17 "2008-12-18T02:24:09Z")
> [@Woeg](#): > > Let her know politely that you shared her concern, so did a little further research, and found out that oh, thank god, it wasn’t true. Then suggest she put everyone else’s fears at rest by sending out a retraction. You let her save face, and get to be the silent hero. Win-win! Definitely the politest, and probably best, option. To me, if someone sends out crap like this (spam, basically, whatever their intentions. Would it kill them to Google?) they deserve a reply all. Or at the very least reply all with BCC. Caution, though. I once sent someone a link to Snopes and she got majorly huffy and told me she KNEW the crazy scientific data she’d forwarded regarding cancer was correct because she had friends with cancer. No real connection between the two. Oh, and she was on her way to becoming an investigative journalist. I wished her good luck. ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replying-to-co-workers-with-a-snopes-link/477633/18 "2008-12-18T02:30:57Z")
I’d suggest that if you do reply-all, bcc them if she included any extra-company addresses, with a brief mention that you did so and why (to protect everyone’s privacy, prevent spam, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replying-to-co-workers-with-a-snopes-link/477633/19 "2008-12-18T02:42:50Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > **Woeg** , that’s a nice solution. You’re a better man than I. I do a Reply All, especially if the e-mail was a Forward. If the sender didn’t bother to check it out before disseminating it, they probably wouldn’t bother to send out a correction, and they probably won’t remember who they sent it to. Same. I think it’s more important to spread correct information than it is to be nice, but that’s just me. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replying-to-co-workers-with-a-snopes-link/477633/20 "2008-12-18T03:50:33Z")
> [@Woeg](#): > > Let her know politely that you shared her concern, so did a little further research, and found out that oh, thank god, it wasn’t true. Then suggest she put everyone else’s fears at rest by sending out a retraction. You let her save face, and get to be the silent hero. Win-win! Good answer. Not what I would do, but good answer. I’m a “ReplyAll” kind of gal…not in a menacing way but a if-you’re-gonna-play-on-the-internet, you’d-better-know-your-shit kind of way. 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replying-to-co-workers-with-a-snopes-link/477633.md?page=2)