Overload of Malarkey
Claim: Your free e-mail or instant messaging service is about to cancel the accounts of users who don't forward a particular e-mail message to others.
Status: False.
Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2000]
Dear Hotmail User,
Because of the sudden rush of people signing up to Hotmail, it has come to our attention that we are vastly running out of resources. So, within a month's time, anyone who does not receive this email with the exact subject heading, will be deleted off our server.
Please forward this email so that we know you are still using this account.
WARNING WARNING
Hotmail is overloading and we need to get rid of some people and we want to find out which users are actually using their Hotmail accounts. So if you are using your account, please pass this e-mail to every Hotmail user that you can and if you do not pass this letter to anyone we will delete your account.
From Mr. Jon Henerd
Hotmail Admin. Dept.
Origins: This
sort of leg pull began its life on the Internet in December 1999 with the jape quoted above that targeted Hotmail. Even among dumb hoaxes, this one takes a prize. If Hotmail (or any other service) wanted to know whether subscribers were using their accounts, why would it gather that information by having those folks forward a message to other users of the same service? Wouldn't it make more sense to simply instruct them to reply to the message?
Hotmail is owned by Microsoft and has 68 million users and more than a quarter-million new customers signing up every day. This popular service lets users send and receive e-mail for free from any computer connected to the Internet. Company officials say that contrary to the hoax's claim, it's not bogging down and is in fact in great health.
According to the auto-response Hotmail has set up to answer queries about the supposed cancellation: "The message you've received is a hoax chain letter."
On the subject of dormant accounts and when they will be deleted, Hotmail has this to say in its FAQ:
What does it mean when my account is marked "inactive"?
Currently, if you do not sign in to your MSN Hotmail account for 45 days, or if you do not sign-in within the first 10 days, your account will be marked "inactive." Stored e-mail and addresses will be permanently deleted, and inbound mail will be refused. Your Passport will still function, and your MSN Hotmail e-mail name will be reserved. To re-activate your account, simply go to
www.Hotmail.com and enter your Sign-In name and password. You will then be able to send and receive e-mail using MSN Hotmail once again. If your account stays "inactive" for over a period of 90 days, it will be permanently deleted.
In other words, a Hotmail account goes dormant if it's not accessed by its owner during a 45-day period. (Even then, it's not cancelled for another 45 days, just put on the shelf in case the owner returns during that time to claim it.) Therefore, if you are reading your e-mail (including this hoax note) through Hotmail, you aren't at risk, because the system already knows your account is active.
Since that first Hotmail version, there have been numerous others, each skewering various free online services and companies.
September 2001 saw the same violin used to play a slightly different song:
Attention Hotmail Users:
Due to a recent increase in the number of Hotmail users, we have found that our free web-based email service has become too popular for our resources. Because free web-based email service has become too popular for our resources. Because of this, we are going to begin charging a fee to the users who are not sufficiently taking advantage of the technology we are providing them. The users who receive this email and do not forward it to at least 15 people will be charged a fee of $25.00 per month. I have conferred with I disagreeociate S. Jobs, and we have agreed that this is an appropriate amount.
Sincerely,
William Gates, CEO
Microsoft Inc.
In a reverse of the Thousand Dollar Bill leg pull, Hotmail users are being asked to forward a particular e-mail to a set number of recipients to avoid a pending charge. (In "Thousand Dollar Bill" and all it variants, the opposite sort of carrot is offered — users are told their forwarding a particular e-mail will gain them all manner of goodies.)
Once again, there was no plan afoot to charge Hotmail users for their accounts, thus no looming $25 a month fee. The hoax wore a new mask, but it was still the same guy underneath.
A graphical version of the "you must forward this message to 15 people to prevent your account from being cancelled" hoax began circulating in September 2001:
It may be prettier, but it's still every bit a hoax.
A cruder version attempted to convince people that Hotmail was shutting down on 15 November 2001:
In February 2002, the Hotmail hoax was reworked into a Yahoo! one. Compare the text given below with that quoted above in the Example section — very little changed other than "Hotmail" became "Yahoo."
Dear YAHOO User,
Because of the sudden rush of people signing up to YAHOO, it has come to our attention that we are vastly running out of resources. So, within a month's time, anyone who does not receive this email with the exact subject heading, will be deleted off our server.
Please forward this email so that we know you are still using this account.
WARNING WARNING
We want to find out which users are actually using their YAHOO accounts. So if you are using your account, please pass this e-mail to every YAHOO user that you can and AND IF YOU DO NOT PASS this letter to anyone we will delete your account.
From Mr. ALLEN SMITH
YAHOO Admin. Dept.
Our YAHOO system is getting to crowded!! We need you to forward this to at least 20 people. I know this seems like a large number, but we need to find out who is really using their account. If you do not send this to at least 10 YAHOO members, we will delete your account.
Sorry for this inconvenience.
Sincerely,
Director of YAHOO Services
BOB LOPEZ
Please do this! Some of my friends have already gotten deleted and you aren't allowed to send it back to the person who sent this email to you!!!
In February 2003 this badly spelled version of the Hotmail shutdown hoax appeared in inboxes:
Dear Hotmail User,
We understand that you have previously recieved many messages that have state the colising of accounts not being used within our servers. This message, however, is your final warning. Within this message is encoded a small program that will located and debug your account when sent to fifteen other Hotmail users. If you do not send this message to fifteen Hotmail users within 24 hours of recieving this message, your account will be PERMANETLY SHUT-DOWN. When and if you send this, we herebygrant that you will no longer recieve such messages as this one.
We realize that this process is becoming an annoyance, however, this is the final message you will recieve from the Hotmail Announcement staff. Thank you for you time and cooperation.
Sincerely,
Calvin W. Kreantz
MSN Accounts Coordinator
2003 saw the hoax reappear, once again aimed at Yahoo.
Yahoo Alert: Yahoo is shutting down on August 17,2003 because they are running outta space and all the names are getting took up, so pass this around if you don't want your name to be deleted from Yahoo. If you don't pass this on, then your Yahoo will be shut down for good. Those that don't send, your name will be deleted August 17,2003, thanks, Yahoo Board Leader, Tom Buslowski"
In 2006 it was turned once again upon MSN via these two e-mail messages:
Hey it is Andy the director of MSN, Tim Buiski, sorry for the interruption but MSN is closing the system down because too many inconsiderate people are taking up all the names, we only have 578 names left, if you would like to close your account, then do not send this message out, if you would like to keep your account, then send this message to everyone on your list.
This is no joke, we are really shutting down the servers.
Send it, thanks,
Tim Buiski
WHO EVER DOES NOT SEND THIS MESSAGE, YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE CLOSED AND WILL COST $10.00 A MONTH TO USE, SEND THIS T0 EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST
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Hey it is Andy and John the directors of MSN, sorry for the interruption but msn is closing down. this is because too many inconsiderate people are taking up all the name (eg making up lots of different accounts for just one person), we only have 578 names left. If you would like to close your account, DO NOT SEND THIS MESSAGE ON. If you would like to keep your account, then SEND THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYONE ON YOUR CONTACT LIST. This is no joke, we will be shutting down the servers.
Send it on, thanks. The use of msn and hotmail will cost money from summer 2006. If you send this message to 18 different people from your list your little icon will become blue and that will make it free for you. If you dont believe me go on (www.msn.com) and see it yourself. Dont foward this message copy paste it so people will actually read it
Also in 2006, a version targeting Friendster (a social network web site competing with MySpace) was put into circulation:
Message from Mr. Allen Smith (manager of friendster )
Friendster system is getting too crowded!! We need you to forward this to at least 20 people. I know this seems like a large number, but we need to find out who is really using their account. If you do not send this to at least 10 Friendster members, we will delete your account. WARNING! We want to find out which users are actually using their Friendster accounts. So if you are using your account, please pass this e-mail to every Friendster
In May 2006, the hoax was turned upon MySpace, the highly popular social network web site, via this pair of e-mails that asked users not to e-mail anything to anyone else, but to repost the hoax on their own MySpace pages:
Hello Myspacers. This is Tom. I wanted to inform all of you that I will be deleting thousands of myspaces next week. I don't know if you have noticed, but many times when you try to access a page it will say, Server Busy. Because of this I will be deleting people's myspaces if you do not repost this. You must have the exact title "TOM IS SERIOUS"
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This is Tom, I just wanted to let everyone know that we need to clear out some space on MySpace. It's becoming too crowded, and I've posted bulletins like this before, but it doesn't seem to be working, so, if you do not repost THIS bulletin, I am sorry to say, but that means you don't get on MySpace that much, therefore you don't need to have it. This is not just one of those stupid little bulletins someone posted to scare you, this is the REAL THING! So if you do not repost this, your MySpace WILL be deleted. Remember, this is NOT a game. I'll give it a week starting tomorrow. If I don't see everyone reposting this, I WILL delete their MySpace. Just repost it as "Tom".
September 2006 saw another version of the MySpace hoax:
MySpace2 coming soon..Tom is way in debt. Payin' for MySpace, yes, the rumor is true. With all the fines and licences, Tom has become in Debt. In addition, Tom needs to clear the overly crowded site. We appoligise for the let down but Starting September 21. Myspace members will be charged $22.50 per month. But there is something YOU can do. A petition. We will track this bulletin, And for Everyone who reposts it will receive a code for the first 2 years of Myspace 2 FREE. This is no Joke. We have tried our hardest to keep this from happening. Myspace 2 coming September 21, 2006 To get the free code, repost this Bulletin as "Myspace 2" and look in your message box within a week
Another updating of the MySpace hoax appeared in February 2007:
MYSPACE is OVER
If you notice, at the bottom of your myspace is says ©2003-2007 MySpace.com. All Rights Reserved. Thats because, Tom only has myspace reserved for those years. Now that it is 2007, the myspace contract is over. Tom wants to see if you really care about your myspace. He is tracking the friend I.D. of who sends it. If over 100,000 people repost it he will renew the contract. If not, myspace is over. So please repost
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In the spring of 2003 we began hearing about an instant message version of the "Send this info to twenty of your best friends or we'll pull your account" hoax, one threatening the loss of AOL's instant messaging service, AIM. The AOL/AIM hoax circulated primarily in two forms, both quoted below. (AOL's instant messaging service had also earlier been victimized by a fake petition asserting that only the collection of a specified number of signatures would keep the service afloat.)
Sorry to break the news to you, but AIM and AOL are asking you to send this message To at least 20 people becasue AIM is getting very Crowded And we want to see who is useing there Screen Name And who is Not. You Have 3 days to Do this. If In the 3 days this is not sent to anyone from your screen name your account will be deleted ! Sorry again
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Dear AIM users,
Because of our overloading of our servers, we are being forced to extract our non-active AIM users. Because this is a free service, AOL has exceeded the budget for the AIM service. We are asking that you send this exact message to 20 other AIM users to ensure us that you're an active AIM user. Our system tracking devise will pick up this message to keep you on user. Our system tracking devise will pick up this message to keep you on our active list. You have 72 hours to complete this task or your service will be cancelled immediately. Starting April 9, 2003, we will be charging a small fee for registering of a screen name for AIM. Thank you for your time and for using AOL or AIM.
Sincerely,
Mark Jenkins
AOL Time Warner
In 2004, the messaging hoax was turned on Yahoo, when the following alert was spread by concerned users of Instant Messenger:
DO NOT DELETE!!!! This is Yahoo President Jay Russell, I am sorry to announce that Yahoo has reached its maximum number of accounts two million. If you would like to keep your account for free send this to everyone on your list. This way we can know which accounts are being used and which accounts we can delete. Send this within 8 days and your account will remain free. Once again I am sincerely sorry that I have to do this. Please start sending. Jay Russell, Yahoo Management
November 2004 saw the Spring 2003 version dusted off, changed slightly, and sent out again. In that newer incarnation, the previous "starting April 9, 2003" became "starting January 1st, 2005," with the directive supposedly signed by Mark Jenkins, someone e-mail recipients were told was AOL's owner and founder. (Which wasn't the case — AOL is a publicly traded company and so doesn't have just one owner; it has many thousands.)
Dear AIM users,
Because of our overloading of our servers, we are being forced to extract our non-active AIM users. Because this is a free service, AOL has exceeded the budget for the AIM service. We are asking that you send this exact message to 20 other AIM users to ensure us that you're an active AIM user. Our system tracking devise will pick up this message to keep you on our active list. You have 72 hours to complete this task or your service will be cancelled immediately. Starting January 1st, 2005, we will be charging a small fee for registering of a screen name for AIM. Thank you for your time and for using AOL or AIM. Sincerely,
Mark Jenkins
AOL Owner and Founder
Bottom line? It's the same leg-pull no matter which e-mail or instant messaging service is mentioned, how authoritative the signature appears to be, or how fancy the visual presentation of the exhortation to forward the letter to all your buddies.
Barbara "the hoax diamond" Mikkelson
Last updated: 20 February 2007
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www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/overload.asp Click here to e-mail this page to a friend
Urban Legends Reference Pages © 1995-2006
by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson
This material may not be reproduced without permission
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Sources:
Reuters. "Fake E-Mail Threatens to Cut Microsoft Hotmail Users."
The New York Times. 1 July 2000.
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