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Editorial Policy

: > If you receive an email titled "It Takes Guts to Say 'Jesus' DO NOT
> open it. It will erase everything on your hard drive.
:

This is a hoax chain letter. It can be recognised as such by the following features:
1. Hook: You will help people by telling them about this.

   If you receive an email titled "It Takes Guts to Say 'Jesus' DO NOT open it. It will erase everything on your hard drive.

2. Requests to forward it to lots of people:

   Forward this letter out to as many people as you can.

   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.

   Please practice cautionary measures and forward this to all your online friends ASAP.

   If any message encourages you to copy it to everyone you know, it's likely to be a problem (even if the factual contents were true). Can you imagine what would happen if everyone did - I've probably got addresses of 400+ people - but even if everyone only forwards it to 10 people, we get 10 messages, then 100, then 1000, then 10000 etc.

3. Unsubstantiated quotes from authoritative sources

   This information was announced yesterday morning from IBM;

   AOL has said that this is a very dangerous virus and that there is NO remedy for it at this time.

   Bryan Martin
   Compaq Computer Corporation

   Official virus warnings should have URLs and email addresses.

4. Lack of any date information.

   This information was announced yesterday morning from IBM; ...

   This always seems up to date. This helps it get copied. Email likely to be multiply forwarded should contain a date of issue, and a date after which it should no longer be forwarded. This shouls be embedded in the text of the message, not at the beginning or end where it may get accidently snipped when the message is copied. This was written on the 31st of March 1999, and shouldn't be forwarded after the 25th of April 1999.

5. Multiple forwardings (minor sign)

6. It is listed as a hoax, not a virus, on standard virus reference pages:

   <href="http://www.europe.datafellows.com/news/hoax.htm"> http://www.europe.datafellows.com/news/hoax.htm
   <href="http://www.europe.datafellows.com/v-descs/hjesus.htm"> http://www.europe.datafellows.com/v-descs/hjesus.htm

-- AndyPryke - 16 Jul 2001

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