BreakTheChain.org

Hotmail or Notmail

Date Added: Mar. 6, 2002
Last Updated: Mar. 6, 2002

Despite what these letters claim, Hotmail is not running out of resources, the server is not being taken offline, nor is your account in danger if you don't prove you use it.

A common theme in chain letters is that since the big corporations (in this case, Microsoft, the owner of Hotmail) offer for free services that you grow very dependent on, they can do whatever they want to with them and you'll have to cooperate or lose the "right" to use them.

Originally an independent company, Hotmail was one of the first and most successful web-based free e-mail services. So successful it was, in fact, that Microsoft bought the startup when it was only a year or so old. Now, we're expected to believe that one of the oldest and most successful free e-mail services could run out of resources, especially with the backing of a multi-billion-dollar giant like Microsoft?

On top of that, we're to believe that Hotmail's management would send such news to you via a randomly forwarded and poorly written e-mail?

Seasoned Hotmail users (and users of other web-based e-mail services) know that this type of information, if real, would appear on the service's login page or sent directly to each user in an e-mail bulletin. Hoaxes like this one prey on the novice user, who is not yet used to how these services work.

That is one of the reasons this chain is so pervasive and persuasive. Hotmail appeals to the novice user in droves. It is simple to set up, simpler to use and is included in Windows, MSN and other Microsoft products.

In 2001 - perhaps responding to the realization that people just weren't buying Hotmail running out of resources - a new version surfaced instructing Hotmail users to forward to avoid having to pay a monthly fee for the service. This one is "signed" by none other than Bill Gates himself.

One month later, a prettier version - designed to look like an html message from MSN (but delivered as a .jpg image file) - began making the rounds and duping a new group of MSN-ers.

Here's another - with more grammatical errors.

Yet one more tells you that the MSN and Hotmail servers will be taken offline and that you need to forward all important mail and copy your address book. You're also told that your account will be cancelled if you don't forward the notice to 20 friends. The grammatical errors alone should be enough clue that this one is a hoax.

In March, 2002, many users received the supposed "final warning" that, while prettier than its predecessors, is no more valid or better written.

The most convincing argument against the claim that MSN wants you to forward an e-mail to prove you use your account is that e-mail tracking as it is described in this chain letter is not possible. Also, what if you don't know 15 or 20 other hotmail users (I know I don't)?

If Hotmail really wanted to weed out inactive accounts, they could just check their system to find any account whose owner has not logged in in a given amount of time - In fact, that's exactly how Hotmail manages its inactive accounts. The following is from Hotmail's Frequently Asked Questions page:

The very first version listed above contains a comment from one of the fowarders that "i don't know if this is for real, but it can't hurt to just send it to all the hotmail users ya know..." Well, it can hurt, and here's why: One version of this chain I received contained nearly 650 e-mail addresses from numerous forwards. It took me about 20 minutes and a word processor to isolate those addresses and create a list that would be worth hundreds of dollars to any e-mail marketer (spammer). Don't worry, I deleted the list and would never sell such a thing, but I wanted to demonstrate how easy it would be to collect them using chains like this.

Hotmail is alive and well and you don't need to forward some dumb e-mail to save your account or keep it free. Break this Chain!

References: None

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