Rumor Control - Hoaxes Debunked - Clearing Houses

Hoaxes, urban legends, email scams... We've all been tempted or even believed in them or had associates get exited about them and sound the alarm, firing off emails to seemingly everyone in the world. Some hoaxes or scams keep resurfacing over and over again. Before you or someone you know goes too far off the deep end in reaction to them, first do eveyone a favor and take a minute or two to check them out on one of the Internet clearing house sites to see if they are valid:

Truth or Fiction - Check out rumors, inspirational stories, virus warnings, humorous tales, pleas for help, urban legends, prayer requests and calls to action,
Snopes - Rumors and Urban legends reference pages
Museum of Hoaxes - Examines dubious claims and mischief of all kinds.
Vmyths - Learn about computer virus myths, hoaxes, urban legends, hysteria, and the implications if you believe in them.
Sophos - Sophos provides information about virus hoaxes, chain letters, scams and misunderstandings to aid companies and individuals.
Hoaxbusters- A service of the Computer Incident Advisory Capability and the US Dept. of Energy with links to other sites.
Hoax info from Nonprofit.net - Database of Net hoaxes.
EFF's Folklore page - Background on the folklore from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Urban legends & modern myths - A collection of the entertaining modern folktales.
CERT Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon University - Virus and virus-hoax news.
HoaxKill - A site that identifies hoaxes and provides instructions to combat them, with an archive of chain letters, urban legends and hoaxes.
E-Mail Junkyard - A chain letters and hoax verification site with links to other sites. Was "Chain Letter Central".
Purportal - Search portal to other hoax/urban legend sites.
Big Hoaxes - Find out about hoaxes, urban legends, chain letters, scams and more.
Wikipedia - Hoaxes - Reference on Hoaxes.

CAUTION: When researching hoaxes, verifying statements, etc... PLEASE make sure you also check with the originator (such as their web site or blog), especially if involving quotes or actions reported by 3rd parties. I've had experiences where the hoax debunking sites contained analysis with a bias that actually interjected more false or inaccurate information. A quick check on the originator's web site turned up first hand credible facts and rebuttals to the hoax debunking site "analysis".

Visit my web site for additional resources and services: www.LawrenceYerkes.com

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