Greeks Bearing GiftsFROM: laocoon@doomgloom.edu
SUBJECT: Greeks bearing gifts

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

* * *

FROM: hector@studmuffin.com
TO: laocoon@doomgloom.edu
RE: Greeks bearing gifts

Laocoon,

I hate to break it 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
Phonecians, 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.