flying fish Posted March 21, 2013 Posted March 21, 2013 Anyone else see those chain letters propagating on email and facebook? Particularly the bad medical device ones... like the one suggesting that you should cough if you're having a heart attack or the one saying to apply egg whites to a severe burn. There's the other classics like "use your reverse pin if you're being robbed at an ATM". Are they dangerous or harmless fun? It's gotten to be a pet peeve of mine...I can only imagine how many gullible grandmothers have taken these to heart or even tried to use the advice. I'd like to start a chain letter telling people not to forward chain letters.
nater Posted March 21, 2013 Posted March 21, 2013 (edited) Coughing during a heart attack would have a grain of truth in some circumstances. Coughing and other vagal maneuvers can slow the heart rate down if it gets too high. It may or may not work and is not appropriate in all situations. The best thing to do would be to call 911 and let medics do our job. Same goes for burns. I saw the egg white tip and it really made me scratch my head.I had never heard of such a thing and could not find anything in my textbooks to support it. (Contrary to the firefighter who supossedly said that using eggs were the proper training.) I would REALLY be worried about introducing bacteria from raw eggs directly into an open wound. Edited March 21, 2013 by nater
flying fish Posted March 21, 2013 Author Posted March 21, 2013 (edited) I'm glad it helped! I have heard before that coughing can help if you know the proper technique and the type of situation it is appropriate for. I think the issue with the chain letter is that it is half baked and doesn't tell the whole story - even though it claims to tell the whole story. Perhaps those who do look into it further after seeing these chain letters would benefit, but I believe if someone were to take the letter at face value it would do more harm than good. I do not have any expertise, these are just things I looked into after seeing the letters and thinking they sounded fishy... Nater, out of curiosity are you an EMT? Edited March 21, 2013 by flying fish 1
nater Posted March 21, 2013 Posted March 21, 2013 Nater, out of curiosity are you an EMT? Yep. Paramedic / Firefighter, it is the only full time career I have known.
pyroshell Posted March 22, 2013 Posted March 22, 2013 Some are harmless, but some are not. As a rule of thumb just don't click on any links in the messages.
Capri Posted March 22, 2013 Posted March 22, 2013 They're not harmless when they give dangerous advice. The cough CPR one has been debunked by all the hoax-busting sites out there, and warned against as being potentially very harmful to follow. A chain letter to stop chain letters is an anti-chain, still a chain letter, still contributing to the chain letter problem. It's like trying to cover up the smell of burned toast with that of burning more toast. Better to smash chain letters down and not make any more.
TritonPyro Posted March 29, 2013 Posted March 29, 2013 I kept getting e mails from a laser eye treatment company that continued for months. I was getting at least three a week I told them I was blind which did not slow it at all. Then I got a friend to tell them I had passed away.Still they arrived! Only after complaining to the trading standards did it all cease. I suppose it is all computer generated crap with not a grey cell in sight.
Hoppy Posted March 30, 2013 Posted March 30, 2013 I haven't received these in so many years. Fish, are you sure someone that doesn't like you didn't sign you up in some voodoo spam listing? The FB spam does come at full throttle however... but that's not chain letters. Its more of all the game apps like "Oh help me please get two raddishes so I can sell them to buy more wheat" or "___ just sent you 200 *fake/worthless* dollars to play with him in drugwars and waste your life a away" I'd like to start a chain letter telling people not to forward chain letters. I've seen this happen before and then someone will get upset. Or, the best one is 'Reply All" with a small comment like your email address doesn't accept chain letters. Unfortunately, worst case scenario is black listing the culprit (s) until they realize its a bother.
Capri Posted March 31, 2013 Posted March 31, 2013 I consider those so-called "social games" and "gifting apps" to be chain letters as well. They're all the same, promising a bunch of virtual junk but you have to level up and level up to "unlock" more gifts or get more virtual stuff. Mafia warms = farmville = Cityville = Yoville = Fishville and whateverville they come up with. The window-dressing is different. But yes, all the pest spam coming from these "games" is all about collecting more users, who get talked into inviting more users via these spammy broadcast messages. The only game on FB I liked was Simmbook (yes, with two 'm's) because you got a character to take care of, sort of like a virtual pet, only this was a person who you send to work, buy meals for, etc. until their life is up. No pesky urges to spam your friends.
Recommended Posts