Or how I got my co-workers to use Snopes.
For weeks after the September 11th attack, several of my co-workers would pass along any email hoax that popped into their inbox. Every time it was passed to me, I’d go to Snopes and debunk it for them using Snopes, and copy everyone the original had been forwarded to (with a polite message reassuring them of their safety and adding the Snopes link, of course).
Shortly, thereafter I started getting them forwarded with “is this true?” or “what have you heard about this one?” messages. Same response, check Snopes and respond.
Well, Cecil Be Praised if at least one (and maybe more) didn’t finally pick up on it. One co-worker said the other day about getting another spam warning from a friend, “She’s so gullible–I always check that Snoops or Snipes, whatever site it is, that Leigh-Anne always check and tell her when it’s not true now.”
I then received an email from him a few days later with the title “Careful, this one is true,” in which the same quoted Snopes in the body of the message, confirming that the forwarded email was true.
While I know there’s probably little anyone can add to this thread, and it will probably drop like a rock, I thought I’d let y’all know that sometimes when you gently correct the ignorance (meant in a completely respectful “he didn’t know til I pointed it out” way), it CAN become a victory…