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School Science Fair
Email Projects
Summary of eRumor:
It has become popular for schools
to launch email projects asking those who receive their messages
to let them know who they are or where they are and asking that
the email be forwarded to all their friends. The class then
plots all the replies on a map to measure how widespread the email
was circulated.
The
Truth Most of us would like to
help a student project, but it pays to be cautious. If the
project is really sponsored by a class of students whose only
purpose is to see how widely and how quickly their email massage
will spread, that's fine. But if not, than this is one of
the eRumors that could result in your email address ending up on a
Spammers list. The school email projects generate a lot of
return emails and if the recipient is not a class and a teacher,
but is a person who is merely collecting email address for sending
unsolicited messages, that is a problem. Most legitimate
school projects will list the name of the school, sometimes the
teacher's name, will use an institutional email address such as
from the school, may sometimes have a web page posted where you
can find out whether the project is still current, and will often
tell you the date when the project is over. A surprising
number of these school email requests, however, do not list
identifying information and use a "free" email account
for the return address such as Hotmail or Yahoo. That is a
warning not to reply. Not long ago, TruthOrFiction.com
followed up with an email provider about a school science fair
message that looked suspicious. We suggested that the
provider contact the email user to find out if he or she really
was a teacher as was claimed. We received a reply from the provider
thanking us for the tip and informing us that the user address had
been discontinued and the person was no longer a
customer.
Los
Angeles elementary school project-Unproven!
Said to be Discontinued! This was one of those
that had no identifying information. It said it was from an
elementary science teacher. We sent an email to the address
on the message and received a reply saying the project was halted
because of too much response. We don't know if it was
authentic.
updated 05/03/02
Second-graders
at McComb Elementary school in Caro, Michigan-Truth!but Discontinued! The school tells TruthOrFiction.com that the project was to
have gone until May 1, 2001, but had to be halted because of the
number of obscene emails being received.
04/28/02
Fourth-grade class at Scottsdale Christian Academy in Phoenix,
Arizona-Truth!but Discontinued! This was a month long
project that ended on November 12, 2001
updated 11/15/2001
Fourth
graders at Riverton Elementary School in Riverton, Illinois-Truth!but Discontinued!
The school confirmed the project to TruthOrFiction.com, but said
it was brought to an end on April 9, 2001.
updated 05/05/2001
Fifth-grade
class at Tomball Intermediate School in Tomball, Texas-Truth!
but Discontinued! A spokesperson for the
school says it was halted in January, 2001, because of
overwhelming response.
updated 02/08/01
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