(4/13/2000) For people new to the wonders of e-mail, its capabilities seem limitless, so it's easy to believe hoaxes like this one.
SAMPLE CHAIN LETTER TEXT
Subject: Fw: McDonalds vs. Taco Bell (this is sooooo cool!)
Send this to 6 people and you will see the Taco Bell dog run across your screen. If you send this to 8 people Ronald Mcdonald comes out and attacks the taco bell dog. it is really funny and it works!! you have to try it .
END CHAIN LETTER TEXT
What this message claims to be able to do is impossible. For some reason, many people are willing to believe that e-mail messages have some sort of magical qualities. Forwarding a message will not cause anything to happen. Well, unless you call getting a bunch of disappointed and/or angry replies from friends and family something.
E-mails are text messages that contain no programming code. Just as you can't get infected with a virus by opening an e-mail, you won't get a special surprise by forwarding it on. There is no way for a text file to "know" how many people you forward it to.
There is a variant of this hoax that has been circulating for over a year promising a really funny video clip if you forward it to 11 people. It doesn't work either! Break this chain.
(4/13/2000) For people new to the wonders of e-mail, its capabilities seem limitless, so it's easy to believe hoaxes like this one.