The Coca-Cola Company is giving away Coke and Diet Coke for forwarding email. See the hoax here.

The Gap is giving away gift certificates for forwarding email. See the hoax here.

EMI is giving away cash for forwarding email. See the hoax here.

• Forwarded email can't be tracked.
• There is no free lunch.

The most tiresome thing about these hoaxes is their utter lack of creativity. Mega-merger giving away free stuff? Been there. The Gap giving away stuff? Done that. The Urban Legend Zeitgeist despairs of ever seeing the end of this drek. We give up.

These email forwarding hoaxes have been multiplying at a furious rate. New variations are popping up every week. Much like the "Good Times" virus hoaxes that preceded them, these email forwarding hoaxes are a way of tweaking the Internet novice. Consider them the Internet equivalent of the 'Kick me' sign.

Unfortunately, given the staying power of hoaxes like "Good Times" and legends like Craig Shergold, we'll be seeing these email forwarding stories for some time to come.

Why shouldn't you forward these emails?

• If you do, your friends who know these are hoaxes will think you are a credulous newbie.
• Conserve precious network bandwidth.

• General resources on Internet hoaxes:
  • "Computer Virus Myths Home Page"
  • "CIAC Internet Hoaxes" from the US Department of Energy's Computer Incident Advisory Capability

Got a new legend?
Got a question?
Send it to ulz@tafkac.org