MacFormat España 19/macformat_19.iso/Shareware/Info/Tidbits/tidbits-325.etx

Text File | 1996-05-27 | 30KB | 628 lines

TidBITS#325/22-Apr-96
=====================

Lots of hot news in this issue: Apple announces new Macs, Adobe
   announces PageMill 2.0, Specular announces 3D Web Workshop,
   Connectix ships the Color QuickCam, and you can download betas
   of Eudora Pro 3.0 and Internet Assistant for Microsoft Word 6.
   This issue also brings you information on a few compatibility
   problems with the System 7.5.3 update and a follow-up to Adam's
   recent article about Internet chain mail.

This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:
* APS Technologies -- 800/443-4199 -- <[e-mail]>
   Makers of hard drives, tape drives, and neat SCSI accessories.
   For APS price lists, email: <[e-mail]>
* Northwest Nexus -- 206/455-3505 -- <http://www.halcyon.com/>
   Providing access to the global Internet. <[e-mail]>
* Power Computing -- 800/375-7693 -- <[e-mail]>
   Now shipping... The Award-Winning First MacOS Compatible!
   Press comments! <http://www.powercc.com/News/quotes.html>
* America Online -- 800/827-6364 -- <http://www.aol.com/>
   The world's largest provider of online services.
   Give Back to the Net -- <http://www.aol.com/give/>
* EarthLink Network -- 800/395-8425 -- <[e-mail]>
   Providers of direct Internet access for Macintosh users.
   For eWorld refugees: no setup fee! <http://www.earthlink.net/>
* DealBITS: Shake and bake deals!
   <http://www.tidbits.com/dealbits/> -- <[e-mail]>

Copyright 1990-1996 Adam & Tonya Engst. Details at end of issue.
   Information: <[e-mail]> Comments: <[e-mail]>
   ---------------------------------------------------------------

Topics:
    MailBITS/22-Apr-96
    Connectix Ships Color QuickCam
    Updating for the 7.5.3 Update
    As The Web Turns
    Breaking the Chain

<ftp://ftp.tidbits.com/pub/tidbits/issues/1996/TidBITS#325_22-Apr-96.etx>


MailBITS/22-Apr-96
------------------
  It's been an interesting few days. Last Thursday, my main Mac - a
  Centris 660AV -  started to experience weird errors and crashes. I
  tried basic fixes first, repairing minor problems with Norton Disk
  Doctor and rebuilding desktops, but the problems worsened. Around
  midnight I gave up on recovering the drive, and focused on
  recovering the one file that would have been hell to recreate -
  the third part of the Bookmark Managers article. At 1:40 AM, I
  managed to recover the file, so I went to bed. Sleep merely
  refreshed me for Friday, when I tediously reformatted and tested
  the drive with different formatting applications, only to confirm
  my 1 GB drive was toast. A quick call to APS late on Friday
  afternoon started a 2 GB drive (and a matching 2 GB drive and CD-R
  burner I need for the next edition of Internet Starter Kit for
  Macintosh) on their way to me for Saturday delivery. The drives
  arrived as promised, and I spent Sunday reformatting,
  repartitioning, and restoring from our nightly DAT backup with
  Retrospect. Luckily, all of those things take a long time but
  almost no attention, so I enjoyed the nice weather on Sunday, and
  (in the first major wildlife sighting since moving) met a bear
  while running in the woods behind our house. I'd like to thank the
  folks at APS for service above and beyond the call of duty, and
  also the folks at Dantz for Retrospect, which saved the day once
  again. [ACE]


**More Bookmarks than Books** -- I've written another part to the
  bookmark managers mini-series that began in TidBITS-323_ and
  continued in TidBITS-324_. We didn't have space in this issue to
  include Part III, but we do plan to run the article next week.
  [ACE]


**Eudora Pro 3.0 Beta Available** -- Qualcomm has released a
  public beta of Eudora Pro 3.0 for owners of Eudora Pro 2.x. I've
  been using earlier test releases for a month or so now, and find
  the added features extremely welcome. My favorites include much-
  enhanced filters that can automatically forward or reply to email,
  a Reply With menu item that makes boilerplate replies easier, a
  completely new rich text editing environment that's not limited to
  32K (and supports drag & drop), and the capability to launch URLs
  (which display in blue) by double-clicking them. Other features
  abound, including multiple signatures, an improved Address Book,
  an improved Find dialog, and a configurable toolbar. As usual,
  some of the best parts of Eudora are the little touches, such as
  the feature that lets you can Option-click any cell in a mailbox
  to select all messages matching the value of that cell (useful for
  selecting all message from a certain person or with a certain
  subject). I also like being able to set mailboxes to group
  subjects, which is essential for handling high-volume mailing
  lists. If you use Eudora Pro 2.x and don't mind using stable beta
  software, take a look. [ACE]

<http://www.qualcomm.com/ProdTech/quest/mac30B.html>


**Apple Unveils Four New Power Macs, Upgrade Cards** -- Today
  Apple unveiled four new PowerPC 604-based Power Macs: the
  9500/150, 8500/150, and 8500/132 (essentially faster versions of
  current 9500 and 8500 models), plus the Power Mac 7600/120. Apple
  is gearing the Power Mac 7600/120 at business and education users,
  and claims the machine runs up to twice as fast as the current
  7500/100. All these new machines support processor speeds up to
  200 MHz. Prices range from $4,800 for the 9500/150 down to $3,000
  for the 7600/120. Apple also introduced a 120 MHz version of the
  Power Mac 7200 starting at $1,900.

  Apple announced it expects to have 120 MHz and 132 MHz PowerPC
  604-based upgrade cards for the Power Mac 7500/100, as well as
  logic board upgrades for the Power Mac 8500 and 7200 by this May,
  although the logic board upgrades will not come with a processor
  card, which presumably must be purchased separately. [GD]

<http://product.info.apple.com/pr/press.releases/1996/q3/
960422.pr.rel.pmfamily.html>


**New All-In-One Macs for Education** -- Last week Apple announced
  the Power Macintosh 5260/100 and 5400/120, which are specifically
  targeted at the education market. Both systems are all-in-one
  designs with a built-in monitor, quad-speed CD-ROM drive, 16 MB of
  RAM, and a PowerPC 603e processor. The 5400/120 also features PCI
  slots, a video input card and video-out connector, and an
  expansion bay for an optional TV tuner. The 5260/100 is available
  now for $1,700; the 5400/120 should be available in mid-May for
  about $2,300. [GD]

<http://product.info.apple.com/pr/press.releases/1996/q3/
960415.pr.rel.powermacs.html>


**Apple PC Compatibility Cards for Power Macs** -- Apple has
  officially announced its next generation of PC Compatibility
  cards, designed to provide Windows and MS-DOS capability to PCI
  Power Macs. Two versions will be available: the 12-inch card
  sports a 100 MHz Pentium, and the 7-inch version uses an "entry
  level" 100 MHz 586 chip (a third-party x86-compatible chip) that's
  roughly equivalent to a 75 MHz Pentium in performance. Both cards
  incorporate an ATI Mach64 video controller, game port, 16-bit
  Sound Blaster Pro support, and 8 MB RAM (upgradable to 72 MB).
  Prices for the stand-alone cards will range from $800 to $1,050;
  Apple is also introducing a Power Mac 7200/120 PC Compatible with
  either a 586 or Pentium card for $2,600 to $2,800 (a substantially
  better value). Both the cards and the 7200-based systems should be
  available in June. [GD]

<http://product.info.apple.com/pr/press.releases/1996/q3/
960422.pr.rel.pccompat.html>


**Free Email, but not for Us** -- D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P. today
  launched Juno, a nationwide free email service sponsored by
  advertiser dollars, claiming the model used by free TV and radio
  stations ought to work on the Internet. The custom software and
  service will be free to the user; the software will display ads
  tailored to the user's "member profile" while he or she reads and
  writes mail, and while messages are transferred via modem. (Users
  who aren't within a local call of about 200 dialup numbers will be
  able to use an 800 number at no cost.) The new service currently
  lacks file attachment capability, but more importantly, it lacks a
  Macintosh version of the free software, which is required to
  access the service. The company claims it will consider developing
  a Mac version if there's sufficient interest. D. E. Shaw & Co --
  800/654-5866 -- <[e-mail]> [MHA]

<http://www.juno.com/>


Connectix Ships Color QuickCam
------------------------------
  by Mark H. Anbinder, News Editor <[e-mail]>

  Almost two years after bringing video input capability within
  financial reach of ordinary Mac users with its attractive,
  spherical QuickCam video camera, Connectix recently upped the ante
  with the new Color QuickCam, available shortly from dealers and
  mail-order firms for about $230. The new camera sports the
  familiar spherical eyeball form, and connects to a Macintosh via
  both a serial port and an ADB (keyboard and mouse) port. The ADB
  connection brings power to the camera; the connector has a pass-
  through port so users won't lose an ADB port. Connectix is
  offering a $30 rebate to anyone purchasing a QuickCam through
  31-Jul-96 (the camera currently comes with a rebate form).

<http://www.connectix.com/>

  The new unit's color CCD (charged couple device) array can take
  color still images as large as 640 by 480 pixels at up to 24-bit
  color depth and provides higher frame rates than the original
  QuickCam: up to 15 frames per second (fps) at 320 by 240
  resolution and 24 fps at 160 by 120 resolution (even faster on
  high-end Power Macs). Connectix engineers developed a new video
  compression technology to enable up to 16:1 real-time compression
  of the video stream being sent through the serial connection to
  the computer, so even mid-range Macs can handle video streams
  containing three times the raw data of similarly sized greyscale
  video images. Still, Connectix recommends a 68040-based Macintosh
  or a Power Macintosh for use with the Color QuickCam, since a
  slower computer may have trouble handling a color video stream.

  Color-capable versions of the QuickPICT and QuickMovie utilities
  developed for the original QuickCam come with the Color QuickCam.
  The new QuickPICT, intended for taking still snapshots, includes a
  new Auto Capture feature that's useful for automatic updating of
  images on a Web page, security spot checks, or similar tasks.
  (Visit the Connectix Web site to see a color snapshot of the
  obligatory company fish tank, updated once a minute.)

<http://www.connectix.com/connect/fishcam.html>

  QuickPICT also has a timed snapshot feature with visual and
  audible countdowns, and the ability to expose a still image for a
  user-selectable number of seconds. [QuickPICT is also scriptable,
  but just barely. -Geoff]

  The QuickMovie utility, for recording video streams to disk, lets
  users set frame size and rates to optimize the video quality of
  the finished product. It stores video in QuickTime movie format,
  requiring between 1 and 2 MB of disk space for ten seconds of 160
  by 120 video. The new version of QuickMovie offers digital effects
  such as image mirroring and flipping so users can change the video
  orientation while recording.

  [The new versions of QuickPICT and QuickMovie appear to work with
  the original QuickCam, but there's no word on when (or how)
  Connectix might make the software available to current QuickCam
  owners. -Geoff]

  Connectix says the new camera works well with their existing video
  software products, QuickCards and VideoPhone. QuickCards sells for
  around $30 and creates self-running multimedia presentations for
  use as floppy-based greeting cards. VideoPhone, about $60 by
  itself (also available as a bundle with an original QuickCam or a
  Color QuickCam), offers network videoconferencing for local
  network or Internet use. The software supports AppleTalk and
  TCP/IP protocols, and unlike Cornell University's free CU-SeeMe
  utility (or White Pine's new commercial version of the same
  program), has broadcast capability without the need for a Unix
  server. Both VideoPhone and White Pine's Enhanced CU-SeeMe have a
  white board feature for collaboration.

<http://goliath.wpine.com/cu-seeme.html>
<http://cu-seeme.cornell.edu/>

  The Color QuickCam lacks audio capture. Connectix included a
  microphone in the original QuickCam so even users of fairly low-
  end Macs could produce QuickTime movies complete with sound, but
  adding additional audio data to the Color QuickCam's serial stream
  impeded the smooth flow of video. Since most current Macintosh
  models have built-in or included microphones (or at least
  microphone ports), Connectix decided not to compromise video
  quality to provide separate audio input.

  As with the original QuickCam, the Color QuickCam is available for
  Macintosh first. A Windows version should be ready in about a
  month; happily we Mac users needn't wait.

    Connectix -- 800/950-5880 -- 415/571-5100 -- 415/571-5195 (fax)
      <[e-mail]>


Updating for the 7.5.3 Update
-----------------------------
  by Tonya Engst <[e-mail]>

  In TidBITS-318_ Geoff reported on System 7.5.3, and in TidBITS-
  322_ and TidBITS-323_, I talked about how you might obtain the
  update. Reports I've seen suggest once you've successfully
  installed 7.5.3 you won't encounter many compatibility problems.
  Even so, users of Connectix's RAM Doubler and Speed Doubler, as
  well as Symantec's AntiVirus for Macintosh may save themselves a
  great deal of hair-pulling by checking out the rest of this
  article.


**Speed Doubler** -- Speed Doubler users running 7.5.3 must update
  to version 1.1.2, which is available via Connectix's Web site. If
  you need a localized version, note that Connectix should start
  posting localized versions later this week.

<http://www.connectix.com/connectix/sdchoice.html>
<ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/info-mac/cfg/speed-doubler-112-updt.hqx>


**RAM Doubler** -- If you run RAM Doubler on a 68K-based PowerBook
  (but not any PowerBook using a PowerPC chip) the machine is likely
  to experience Type 8 errors upon awakening from sleep. To avoid
  this particular problem, either disable RAM Doubler or try
  installing MacsBug 6.5.3, which - according to Connectix - blocks
  the problem.

  In case you were wondering, MacsBug is a low-level programming
  debugger. It won't fix bugs, but programmers use it to isolate
  bugs and there's no harm in non-programmers using it. To install
  MacsBug, place it in your System Folder and restart. After that,
  other than a "Debugger Installed" message in the Welcome to
  Macintosh startup screen, you shouldn't be able to tell that
  MacsBug is installed - it doesn't have a control panel, put icons
  in your menubar, or anything like that. However, if you crash, you
  may be "dumped" into MacsBug, a black and white display with lots
  of numbers and low-level programming stuff. To recover from the
  crash, try these techniques, in this order:

  1. Type g and press return. (G stands for Go.) In a few instances,
  this may return you to what you were doing.

  2. If g doesn't work, type es. (ES stands for Exit to Shell - it's
  like Command-Option-Escape in System 7.x.) This might return you
  to the Finder. If it does, quickly save any unsaved work in other
  applications and restart normally.

  3. If es doesn't work, type rs. (RS stands for Restart.) This
  should restart the computer, though you won't get to save any
  unsaved work.

  4. If rs doesn't work, do whatever you normally do when your Mac
  freezes (you might press a reset button or Command-Control-Power).

<ftp://ftp.support.apple.com/pub/apple_sw_updates/US/mac/utils/
MacsBug_6.5.3.hqx>

  Getting back on topic, if you have RAM Doubler with System 7.5.3
  on a 68040-based Macintosh (but not the 660AV or 840AV) you are
  likely to crash while copying files in the Finder. MacsBug won't
  help with this problem, though Connectix plans to fix all these
  problems in the next release of RAM Doubler.

<http://www.connectix.com/connectix/New_Stuff.html>


**SAM** -- If you update to 7.5.3, run SAM, and receive an error
  message saying SAM can't find its Virus Definitions file, you can
  solve the problem by updating to SAM 4.0.8. (Symantec recommends
  4.0.8 for anyone running 7.5.2 or 7.5.3). A patcher is available
  at Symantec's FTP site.

<ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/mac/sam/SAM408.faq>
<ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/mac/sam/SAM_4.0.8_Patcher.sea.bin>


  If the 7.5.3 Update has become an important part of your life, and
  you want to stay abreast of each and every incompatibility, you
  might monitor Julian Daniel's 7.5.3 Tips site as well as Macworld
  News's running list of 7.5.3 incompatibilities, by Roxanne
  Gentile.

<http://www.norstar.on.ca/System-753/tips.html>
<http://www.macworld.com/exclusive/753patches.html>


As The Web Turns
----------------
  by Tonya Engst <[e-mail]>

  I've been slightly remiss in reporting on Web authoring stuff
  lately, so I want to mention a few noteworthy recent events and
  also share some of the information in Adobe's official
  announcement of PageMill 2.0.


**Tables for BBEdit** -- If you use BBEdit for Web authoring and
  wish to create tables, don't miss Stephen Marshall's $5 shareware
  BBEdit HTML Tables version 1.0.1, which brings rather good table-
  making abilities to BBEdit. Although the extension doesn't add a
  visual way to set up tables, it does facilitate typing table tags
  and it can also convert existing delimited text to tables.

<ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/info-mac/text/bbe/bbedit-html-tables-101.hqx>


**PageSpinner** -- Another recent shareware entry, the $25
  PageSpinner by Optima System, is well worth a look, especially if
  you want to learn HTML in a friendly and reasonably robust
  environment. I've almost completed a review, but - because Optima
  System may update PageSpinner in the next week or so, I haven't
  finished.

<http://www.algonet.se/~optima/pagespinner.html>
<ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/info-mac/text/html/page-spinner-104.hqx>


**PageMill 2.0** -- In the commercial arena, the big news is
  Adobe's announcement of PageMill 2.0, due to ship in July for both
  Macintosh and Windows, with similar feature sets in both versions,
  though the Windows version will sport a Windows interface. If all
  goes as planned, version 2.0 will fix many problems (see my review
  of PageMill 1.0 in TidBITS-305_). In particular, the new version
  will support reasonably sophisticated tables within its WYSIWYG
  interface, including a toolbar button for quickly dragging out a
  table's dimensions.

  Adobe has identified serious HTML geeks as an audience that -
  although perhaps not their largest - is certainly their most
  vocal, and they have eliminated a number of technical annoyances,
  such as the <BR> problem and much (though not all) of PageMill's
  tendency to rewrite existing HTML code, hopefully eliminating the
  problematic aspects of this behavior. The HTML exported by
  PageMill will also be more nicely formatted, making it easier to
  work with in a more powerful, text-based program, such as BBEdit
  or Nisus Writer.

  Other new features include spell checking, search-and-replace, a
  source code view for directly editing HTML, support for Netscape
  plug-ins (help with coding for them and using them in Preview
  mode), drag & drop for sounds (if you drag a sound file into a
  PageMill document, it will be linked into the document and
  converted to .au format), and more control over image alignment.
  PageMill 2.0 should also offer the ability to embed text (such as
  JavaScript) that cannot be modified while in the WYSIWYG editing
  view. PageMill may come with a few converters for common word
  processing programs, and - if you drag it in - PageMill will be
  able to convert a range from an Excel worksheet into an HTML
  table.

  If you purchase PageMill 1.0 on 22-Apr-96 or later, and register,
  you will be eligible for a free copy of PageMill 2.0.

<http://www.adobe.com/>


**3D Web Workshop** -- Graphically oriented Web authors may be
  especially interested in Specular's announcement of 3D Web
  Workshop. Scheduled to ship on 15-May-96, 3D Web Workshop will
  integrate features available in Specular's existing products
  LogoMotion and TextureScape with PageMill (presumably version 1.0,
  initially). The integration will help Web authors create and use
  animated logos and backgrounds for both background tiling and
  coloring other Web-ready graphics. 3D Web Workshop will also
  include WebHands, a large collection of Web-ready graphics. 3D Web
  Workshop should retail for $399, though if you own PageMill you
  can purchase a light version for $249.

<http://www.specular.com/hot-stuff/press_releases/041596.ww_announce.html>


**Internet Assistant** -- Microsoft has released a public beta of
  Internet Assistant for Word 6 for Macintosh (the beta only works
  with the English language version of Word). Given that I don't
  have Word 6 installed, I'm unlikely to spend time with the beta.
  However, I did see a demo of a slightly pre-beta version of the
  product, and the Microsoft employees who demoed the product
  emphasized that they see it as a way to make Web pages within the
  Microsoft Office environment, making it most handy for people
  already familiar with Office. In the demo, Internet Assistant
  appeared to have a strong and reasonably well thought-out feature
  set.

  What twisted round and round in my mind as I drove home from the
  demo, though, was not the fact that Microsoft appeared to have
  done quite a good job on Internet Assistant. Instead, I found
  myself thinking about the fact that - not surprisingly - Microsoft
  has integrated Internet Explorer extensions into the product and
  has done nothing to help users differentiate the currently
  uncommon Explorer extensions from more commonly used proper HTML
  tags and Netscape extensions. Although this makes it easier for
  Microsoft to pitch the value of their products to large sites
  running intranets (internal miniature Internets) and standardizing
  on Word 6 along with Internet Explorer, it only adds to end-user
  confusion about which HTML options are likely to work in which
  browsers. The fact the people who gave me the demo seemed far more
  excited about intranets than concerned about end user confusion on
  the Internet suggests to me that Microsoft doesn't yet fully
  understand what the Internet is all about.

<http://www.microsoft.com/msword/internet/ia/macia/>


Breaking the Chain
------------------
  by Adam C. Engst <[e-mail]>

  My article on chain mail in TidBITS-324_ elicited more responses
  than I'd anticipated. They fell into a couple of categories that I
  found interesting, and I thought I'd share some of the information
  with you.


**Creative Responses** -- Several people wrote in with creative
  responses to chain mail messages. One group keeps a list of ten
  volunteers who are willing to receive chain mail messages from
  anyone within that organization who can't bring themselves to
  break the chain of a "bad luck" message. Needless to say, those
  ten volunteers delete the messages to ensure that the chain goes
  no further, and the people who forward the mail don't worry about
  a spate of bad luck.

  There's also a clever piece of chain mail that frees "its
  recipients from the need to send future chain-letters." I have no
  idea how effective it is, but it should confuse the superstitious
  types (what happens when you have one chain mail note promising
  good luck if you send it along, and another promising bad luck if
  you do?).

  A number of people requested my boilerplate response to chain mail
  messages I receive. My impression is that many people feel
  uncomfortable informing the senders of chain mail of what they've
  done wrong, especially since people who forward chain mail seldom
  act out of spite. This bit of text is no masterpiece of prose, but
  feel free to use it as a reply to anyone who sends you chain mail.

  "By forwarding that message to me, you have participated in
  electronic chain mail, which not only irritates everyone involved
  but is also an abuse of the Internet. You have allowed someone to
  exploit you for their purposes. Even worse, you have helped them
  exploit even more people and waste more time, bandwidth, disk
  space, and money. It's bad enough to be a victim, but it's worse
  to become an accessory. If everyone forwarded every piece of chain
  mail to the number of people requested, normal email delivery
  would grind to a halt, thanks to the exponential growth of chain
  mail. Please do not ever forward chain mail again."

  Finally, Mark Horne <[e-mail]> comments:
  For chain letters that involve sending money via the U.S. Mail
  (which is illegal, and commonly referred to as a "ponzi" scheme),
  you can alert the United States Postal Service by sending a hard
  copy of the offending document to:

    Postal Inspector In Charge
    United States Postal Inspection Service
    Operations Support Group
    222 South Riverside Plaza
    Suite 1250
    Chicago IL 60606-6100

  They'll investigate, send warning letters or take legal action as
  appropriate, and send you a letter explaining what transpired (it
  may take a long time, however).

<http://www.usps.gov/websites/depart/inspect/chainlet.htm>


**What about worthy causes?** Several readers wrote in to say they
  felt chain mail about worthy causes was justified in some
  instances. I feel there is no cause worthy enough to justify
  abusing the Internet via chain mail. Those that use chain mail to
  promote a cause risk far greater damage to their reputations.
  Using chain mail for worthy causes suffers from two basic
  problems.

  First, even if the information in a piece of chain mail was
  accurate at one time, situations change. The classic piece of
  chain mail is the one that requests that postcards be sent to
  Craig Shergold, a dying boy in England. Guess what? Craig was
  cured, he's quite a bit older now, and the postcards keep coming,
  overwhelming the local post office. Craig was a classic good
  cause, but chain mail turned his wish for postcards into a
  nightmare.

<http://www.eff.org/papers/eegtti/eeg_81.html#SEC82>

  Second, there are without a doubt a ton of good causes. If they
  all decided to use chain mail in order to raise money or gain
  support, the Internet would be swamped. Then there's the issue of
  differences in opinion - your good cause may be my anathema, and
  vice versa. Of course, once a good cause proved successful, how
  far behind would the con artists and scam mongers be? The only way
  to deal with chain mail is to stop it whenever it rears its head.

  Worthy causes can use other tools available on the Internet to
  garner support. For instance, the Web is ideal for disseminating
  information. You can update a Web page with the latest information
  so what's disseminated is never inaccurate. A Web page can also
  provide source information so people can check for themselves and
  decide if they agree with you. You can even collect names for an
  online petition on a Web form.


**Identifying and Analyzing Chain Mail** -- I'd like to leave you
  with a few bits of advice on how to identify and analyze chain
  mail.

* Look for specifics, especially a cut-off date, a court case
  number, or an FCC docket number. Most chain mail doesn't contain
  much specific information, because otherwise people would see that
  it was a hoax.

* Look for an authoritative source. Who is the message from
  originally? Who forwarded it to you? (Be wary if you don't know
  the person who forwarded it.) Remember, it's easy to forge email.
  Also, if the message doesn't come with an email address or Web
  page from which you can get more information, it's likely to be
  chain mail.

<http://www.crew.umich.edu/~chymes/newusers/Think.html>
<http://www.utopia.com/mailings/rre/chain.letter.petitions.html>

* Verify the situation. Recently there was a furor over a proposed
  newsgroup called rec.music.white-power. The first chain mail
  message I saw exhorting people to vote against the group didn't
  contain the call for votes (CFV) and without the CFV, there was no
  way to tell when the voting would end. Research in DejaNews
  revealed the voting had been over for almost a month, but the
  results hadn't been released. You must take everything with a
  grain of salt, but the more information you have, the better.

<http://www.dejanews.com/>

* Finally, don't be gullible. Just because something appears in an
  email message doesn't mean it's true or has any bearing on
  reality. Think before you act and encourage others to do the same.


$$

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