Preparedness for when

Frugalsod

nuatha wrote: »

This might interest you CTC
http://www.snopes.com/rumors/warning.asp

Yes that was my first thought as well. Modern day equivalent of the chain letter.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

nuatha wrote: »

This might interest you CTC
http://www.snopes.com/rumors/warning.asp

Ooo thank you, I feel like a right twit now, for asking.

But this does prove, you do need to check every bit of info you hear/ read

[Deleted User]

CTC if there had been any substance to the information you might have averted a tragedy, don't feel silly for asking, you never know it might just have been true and you'd have saved lives by flagging it up!

COOLTRIKERCHICK

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

CTC if there had been any substance to the information you might have averted a tragedy, don't feel silly for asking, you never know it might just have been true and you'd have saved lives by flagging it up!

I was getting ready to phone the 101 general police number , but I thought I would find out if the date had any relevance first..

moneyistooshorttomention

There is probably a name for it somewhere....ie the syndrome of people wanting to seem to be "in the know".

Obviously its gratifying to some to be able to say "I told you so" IF anything happens and I guess that's why these rumours start - ie because someone somewhere is hoping they can be the person in that situation at some point (ie start off enough rumours that one of them might just be true one of these days - by the law of averages). It's one way of trying to "be Important".....

So - I guess one could say "London is at risk on 1 December, 2 December, 3 December, 4 December etc etc" and omit to say which year - and, sooner or later (by the law of averages) it would be "proved right".

jk0

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

Anybody got killed?

OK it is prob just a LOAD of tosh, and people just scare mongering, having a group chat with people where we all work etc, cutba long story short, they said a relation picked up a wallet that fell out of a blokes pocket, so she ran after him to give it back, he said thank you, and told her as a thank you , I am telling you not to go to X city on 15 the December... Now sometimes my son works in that X city..

Luke he was pretty warning her not to be near the place

CTC, may we know which city?

Karmacat

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

OK it is prob just a LOAD of tosh, and people just scare mongering, having a group chat with people where we all work etc, cutba long story short, they said a relation picked up a wallet that fell out of a blokes pocket, so she ran after him to give it back, he said thank you, and told her as a thank you , I am telling you not to go to X city on 15 the December..

What confuses me is the person in the group that you were with, CTC - are they lying? trying to get attention? genuinely mistaken about the truth of what they've been told by their relation? is the relation lying/attention-seeking etc? It fascinates me how it spreads. CTC has stopped it in its tracks, which is great because rumours can cause mayhem. I'm still interested in the transmission, tho ...

moneyistooshorttomention

...and then there is the fact that one of the Isis tactics is they are trying to create panic and disruption amongst us. I guess false rumours are as good a way as any from their pov...

:cool:

lobbyludd

What confuses me is the person in the group that you were with, CTC - are they lying? trying to get attention? genuinely mistaken about the truth of what they've been told by their relation? is the relation lying/attention-seeking etc? It fascinates me how it spreads. CTC has stopped it in its tracks, which is great because rumours can cause mayhem. I'm still interested in the transmission, tho ...

I think what is generally supposed to happen is that most people passing on the info will say "a relation of a friend at work" and that transmission will tend to stop there as the next "transmitter" will have to say "the relation of a work colleague of my daughter" and it gets more remote and tenuous so transmission doesn't occur. However the story hits some people who are more interested in the message than in the accuracy of who told it - and will lop a link out - not in order to deliberately mislead, more for brevity or impact, and so will say it is their relative rather than a relative of a friend, and that's how transmission occurs, - almost entirely through people who omit the chains of links back to the "original" - an "originator" who can never, ever be traced back when people try to.

that's urban myths for ya -

moneyistooshorttomention

Probably true Lobby.

....and a good case for forensic examination of the actual words used. eg a query of "Oh....a relation was it? What type of relation of THEIRS was it? Daughter? Husband? Father?" and it gets stopped in tracks the second the person saying doesn't seem to know what "sort" of relation it was...