Hoax of the Day: Word-of-Mouth.org - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Peetster · 07-30-2003, 04:42 AM

Claim: Joining Word-of-Mouth.Org will enable you to find out what others are saying about you.

Status: False.

Example:

Word-of-Mouth.Org Report Awareness System

To add this e-mail address to our Do Not E-mail List click here:
http://www.Word-of-Mouth.Org/DNEL.as...somedomain.web

Word-of-Mouth.Org is obligated to inform you via e-mail (if possible) that a report has just been submitted about the person or persons associated with this e-mail address (example@somedomain.web). *Please find a link to the report below. The Word-of-Mouth.Org Report Awareness System will continue to inform you when and if reports regarding this e-mail address are submitted in the future unless you add this e-mail address to our Do Not E-mail List and, in doing so, agree to give up any right you may or may not have to be informed when reports are submitted in the future.

Word-of-Mouth.Org is a background research tool that allows users to access the valuable information source known as "word-of-mouth" on an International scale.

Do not reply to this e-mail; it has been automatically generated.

********************************************************
Click here to view all reports in our system regarding this e-mail address:
http://www.Word-of-Mouth.Org/srea.as...somedomain.web
********************************************************

Word-of-Mouth.Org is an online meeting place where users from around the world can perform background research on individuals and businesses using the powerful information source known as "word-of-mouth". A user that has had experience with or has opinions regarding an individual or business will submit an "Identification Report" whose purpose is only to identify the individual or business in question. Other users are then immediately able to search through and review these "Identification Reports." When an interesting report (typically regarding an individual or business that the user knows) is found by a user, he/she may then begin to communicate with the report author through our Anonymous E-mail System to learn the experiences and opinions of the report author regarding the report subject.

*Important! - Word-of-Mouth.Org "Identification Reports" are only for the purpose of identifying the report subject. They do not contain information additional to that which is viewable at no charge by any and all users. "Identification Reports" do not contain fields into which report authors can possibly enter any information aside from that which is for the purpose of identification. "Identification Reports" do not contain and cannot possibly contain any potentially defamatory information and "Identification Reports" are not to be construed as positive or negative.

If you decide to contact the report author through our Anonymous E-mail System, do so by using the links that clearly appear in each report.

For additonal information regarding how our site works please our FAQ at http://Word-of-Mouth.Org/FAQ.asp

If you have any questions or comments please e-mail us at http://www.Word-of-Mouth.Org/ContactUs.asp

Legal Disclaimer: Word-of-Mouth.Org is only a meeting place for its users. Word-of-Mouth.Org has no control over the content of reports nor the actions of its users. Reports found at Word-of-Mouth.Org should not be construed as positive or negative. Use our Anonymous E-mail System to contact report authors and find out what they know. Each report author owns his/her reports as well as the pages on which said reports are published.

Origins: When I was an undergraduate many years ago, having grudgingly acknowledged that receiving anything personal or valuable through a mailbox shared with three nosey and habitually cash-strapped roommates was proving to be a losing proposition, I set off one day to rent a private mailbox from a privately-operated mail service near campus. As I scanned the rental agreement proffered to me by the owner of the mail service, I noted that it included a clause obligating me to pay a $20 penalty for every piece of mail received at my box addressed to someone other than me. (The intent of this clause was to stop students from renting mailboxes, then sharing them with several friends.) I immediately objected to this portion of the agreement, pointing out that it was too broadly worded and would therefore hold me responsible for too many things over which I had no control: junk mail, misaddressed mail, mail sent to previous holders of my box number — in fact, the mail service owner himself could send (anonymous) mail to my box and then claim I owed him $20 for each item. Given the number of heated arguments I witnessed between the owner and customers during the time I rented a mailbox there, I suspect the owner was in fact running such a scam on his less savvy renters.

The same principle is at work with Word-of-Mouth.Org, which attempts to lure the gullible into joining their "service" by spamming Internet users with ominous-sounding exhortations similar to the message quoted above: People are filing (anonymous) reports about you! Use our service to find out what they're saying! But only a sucker would pay to find out what anonymous people are saying about him, since anybody (including the people operating the service) could be generating the gossip.

And suckers is what they're counting on. The user who follows the link to "view all reports in our system regarding this e-mail address" is presented with a display.
There's no "report" or any other useful information to be found here — just a notification that some anonymous contributor recently submitted an "I HAVE INFORMATION" entry on you. If you want to find out what this anonymous contributor actually said about you, you have to communicate with him through Word-of-Mouth's ANONYMOUS EMAIL SYSTEM which — this is where the "sucker" part kicks in — is only available to Word-of-Mouth "Power Users": One-Year Subscription $19.97, Two-Year Subscription (BEST VALUE) $29.97. However, all the "Power Users" who have written to us about their experiences with Word-of-Mouth have reported that after they paid the fees to learn what was being said about them, all they learned was that the anonymous contributors had "misplaced" whatever information they supposedly had to share.

Nobody needs to pay $20 to find out nothing.

Source: snopes.com

johnnymysto · 07-30-2003, 07:26 AM

this is so funny. if you only take the time to think it through, you would never even consider paying to read anything on that website. are there people so insecure that they would go to a website to see what unsbstantiated information about them is in print????

07-30-2003, 04:42 AM	#1 (permalink)
Peetster Right Now Location: Home	Hoax of the Day: Word-of-Mouth.org Claim: Joining Word-of-Mouth.Org will enable you to find out what others are saying about you. Status: False. Example: Word-of-Mouth.Org Report Awareness System To add this e-mail address to our Do Not E-mail List click here: http://www.Word-of-Mouth.Org/DNEL.as...somedomain.web Word-of-Mouth.Org is obligated to inform you via e-mail (if possible) that a report has just been submitted about the person or persons associated with this e-mail address (example@somedomain.web). Please find a link to the report below. The Word-of-Mouth.Org Report Awareness System will continue to inform you when and if reports regarding this e-mail address are submitted in the future unless you add this e-mail address to our Do Not E-mail List and, in doing so, agree to give up any right you may or may not have to be informed when reports are submitted in the future. Word-of-Mouth.Org is a background research tool that allows users to access the valuable information source known as "word-of-mouth" on an International scale. Do not reply to this e-mail; it has been automatically generated. ***************************************************** Click here to view all reports in our system regarding this e-mail address: http://www.Word-of-Mouth.Org/srea.as...somedomain.web ****************************************************** Word-of-Mouth.Org is an online meeting place where users from around the world can perform background research on individuals and businesses using the powerful information source known as "word-of-mouth". A user that has had experience with or has opinions regarding an individual or business will submit an "Identification Report" whose purpose is only to identify the individual or business in question. Other users are then immediately able to search through and review these "Identification Reports." When an interesting report (typically regarding an individual or business that the user knows) is found by a user, he/she may then begin to communicate with the report author through our Anonymous E-mail System to learn the experiences and opinions of the report author regarding the report subject. *Important! - Word-of-Mouth.Org "Identification Reports" are only for the purpose of identifying the report subject. They do not contain information additional to that which is viewable at no charge by any and all users. "Identification Reports" do not contain fields into which report authors can possibly enter any information aside from that which is for the purpose of identification. "Identification Reports" do not contain and cannot possibly contain any potentially defamatory information and "Identification Reports" are not to be construed as positive or negative. If you decide to contact the report author through our Anonymous E-mail System, do so by using the links that clearly appear in each report. For additonal information regarding how our site works please our FAQ at http://Word-of-Mouth.Org/FAQ.asp If you have any questions or comments please e-mail us at http://www.Word-of-Mouth.Org/ContactUs.asp Legal Disclaimer: Word-of-Mouth.Org is only a meeting place for its users. Word-of-Mouth.Org has no control over the content of reports nor the actions of its users. Reports found at Word-of-Mouth.Org should not be construed as positive or negative. Use our Anonymous E-mail System to contact report authors and find out what they know. Each report author owns his/her reports as well as the pages on which said reports are published. Origins: When I was an undergraduate many years ago, having grudgingly acknowledged that receiving anything personal or valuable through a mailbox shared with three nosey and habitually cash-strapped roommates was proving to be a losing proposition, I set off one day to rent a private mailbox from a privately-operated mail service near campus. As I scanned the rental agreement proffered to me by the owner of the mail service, I noted that it included a clause obligating me to pay a $20 penalty for every piece of mail received at my box addressed to someone other than me. (The intent of this clause was to stop students from renting mailboxes, then sharing them with several friends.) I immediately objected to this portion of the agreement, pointing out that it was too broadly worded and would therefore hold me responsible for too many things over which I had no control: junk mail, misaddressed mail, mail sent to previous holders of my box number — in fact, the mail service owner himself could send (anonymous) mail to my box and then claim I owed him $20 for each item. Given the number of heated arguments I witnessed between the owner and customers during the time I rented a mailbox there, I suspect the owner was in fact running such a scam on his less savvy renters. The same principle is at work with Word-of-Mouth.Org, which attempts to lure the gullible into joining their "service" by spamming Internet users with ominous-sounding exhortations similar to the message quoted above: People are filing (anonymous) reports about you! Use our service to find out what they're saying! But only a sucker would pay to find out what anonymous people are saying about him, since anybody (including the people operating the service) could be generating the gossip. And suckers is what they're counting on. The user who follows the link to "view all reports in our system regarding this e-mail address" is presented with a display. There's no "report" or any other useful information to be found here — just a notification that some anonymous contributor recently submitted an "I HAVE INFORMATION" entry on you. If you want to find out what this anonymous contributor actually said about you, you have to communicate with him through Word-of-Mouth's ANONYMOUS EMAIL SYSTEM which — this is where the "sucker" part kicks in — is only available to Word-of-Mouth "Power Users": One-Year Subscription $19.97, Two-Year Subscription (BEST VALUE) $29.97. However, all the "Power Users" who have written to us about their experiences with Word-of-Mouth have reported that after they paid the fees to learn what was being said about them, all they learned was that the anonymous contributors had "misplaced" whatever information they supposedly had to share. Nobody needs to pay $20 to find out nothing. Source: snopes.com

07-30-2003, 07:26 AM	#2 (permalink)
johnnymysto Overreactor Location: South Ca'lina	this is so funny. if you only take the time to think it through, you would never even consider paying to read anything on that website. are there people so insecure that they would go to a website to see what unsbstantiated information about them is in print???? __________________ "I'm disinclined to acquiesce to your request." - Capt. Barbossa