WASHINGTON, D.C.--The Institute for the Investigation of Irregular Internet Phenomena announced today that many   Internet users are becoming infected by a new virus that causes them to believe without question every groundless story, legend, and dire warning that shows up in their inbox or on their facebook page. The Gullibility Virus, as it is called, apparently makes people believe and forward copies of silly hoaxes relating to cookie recipes, email viruses, taxes on modems, get-rich-quick schemes, whatever politician they currently don't like, stuff that facebook is doing to (a) charge money; (b) sell their information.

"These are not just readers of tabloids or people who buy lottery tickets based on fortune cookie numbers," a spokesman said.  "Most are otherwise normal people, who would laugh at the same stories if told to them by a stranger on a street corner."  However, once these same people become infected with the Gullibility Virus, they believe anything they read on the Internet.

"My immunity to tall tales and bizarre claims is all gone," reported one weeping victim. "I believe every warning message and sick child story my friends forward to me, even though most of the messages are anonymous."

Another victim, now in remission, added, "When I first heard about Good Times, I just accepted it without question. After all, there were dozens of other recipients on the mail header, so I thought the virus must be true." It was a long time, the victim said, before she could stand up at a Hoaxees Anonymous meeting and state, "My name is Jane, and I've been hoaxed." Now, however, she is spreading the word. "Challenge and check whatever you read," she says.

Internet users are urged to examine themselves for symptoms of the virus, which include the following:

•       The willingness to believe improbable stories without thinking.
•       The urge to forward multiple copies of such stories to others.
•       A lack of desire to take three minutes to check to see if a story is true.

Anyone with symptoms like these is urged to seek help immediately. Experts recommend that at the first feelings of gullibility, Internet users rush to their favorite search engine and look up the item tempting them to thoughtless credence. Most hoaxes, legends, and tall tales have been widely discussed and exposed by the Internet community.

Courses in critical thinking are also widely available, and there is online help from many sources, including

       Department of Energy Computer Incident Advisory Capability at
       http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html

       Symantec Anti Virus Research Center at
       http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/index.html

       McAfee Associates Virus Hoax List at
       http://www.mcafee.com/support/hoax.html

       The Urban Legends Web Site at
       http://www.urbanlegends.com

       Urban Legends Reference Pages at
       http://www.snopes.com

       Datafellows Hoax Warnings at
       http://www.Europe.Datafellows.com/news/hoax.htm

Those people who are still symptom free can help inoculate themselves against the Gullibility Virus by reading some good material on evaluating sources, such as

       Evaluating Internet Research Sources at
       http://www.sccu.edu/faculty/R_Harris/evalu8it.htm

       Evaluation of Information Sources at
       http://www.vuw.ac.nz/~agsmith/evaln/evaln.htm

      It is possible to design responsible alerts for people to circulate on the Internet. Here is a how-to that draws positive conclusions from long experience with the evils of badly designed alerts:

Designing Effective Action Alerts for the Internet at http://weber.ucsd.edu/~pagre/alerts.html

Lastly, as a public service, Internet users can help stamp out the Gullibility Virus by sending copies of this message to anyone who forwards them a hoax.   (just copy this URL -- http://bl.net/forwards/gulvirus.html -- paste it into an email and send it to the offender)