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Hey Hector,
This was forwarded to me by Cassandra—it looks legit. Please
distribute to Priam, Hecuba, and your 99 siblings. Thanks,
Laocoon
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
IF YOU RECEIVE A GIFT IN THE SHAPE OF A LARGE WOODEN HORSE DO NOT
DOWNLOAD IT!!!! It is EXTREMELY DESTRUCTIVE and will overwrite
your ENTIRE CITY! The "gift" is disguised as a large wooden horse
about two stories tall. It tends to show up outside the city
gates and appears to be abandoned. DO NOT let it through the
gates! It contains hardware that is incompatible with Trojan
programming, including a crowd of heavily armed Greek warriors
that will destroy your army, sack your town, and kill your women
and children. If you have already received such a gift, DO NOT
OPEN IT! Take it back out of the city unopened and set fire to it
by the beach.
FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!
Poseidon
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FROM: hector@studmuffin.com
TO: laocoon@doomgloom.edu
RE: Greeks bearing gifts
Laocoon,
I hate to break to you, but this is one of the oldest hoaxes
there is. I've seen variants on this warning come through on
other listservs, one involving some kind of fruit that was
supposed to kill the people who ate it and one having to do with
something called the "Midas Touch." Here are a few tipoffs that
this is a hoax:
1) This "Forward this message to everyone you know" crap. If it
were really meant as a warning about the Greek army, why tell
anyone to post it to the Phoenecians, Sumerians, and Cretans?
2) Use of exclamation points. Always a giveaway.
3) It's signed "from Poseidon." Granted he's had his problems
with Odysseus but he's one of their guys, isn't he? Besides,
the lack of a real header with a detailed address makes me
suspicious.
4) Technically speaking, there is no way for a horse to overwrite
your entire city. A horse is just an animal, after all.
Next time you get a message like this, just delete it. I appreciate
your concern, but once you've been around the block a couple
times you'll realize how annoying this kind of stuff is.
Bye now,
Hector