When a friend posts an urban legend on Facebook...

[MamaMootz]

And it's religious in nature... do you still tell them it's an urban legend?

I did this yesterday as one of my friends posted a link to a religious story that read like a chain letter (you know, with the "you need to pass this on to all your friends and if you don't, you're not standing up for your beliefs" and "it's so easy to forward jokes via e-mail but no one will forward this" kind of messages at the end of it.)

I added a comment to her wall that it was an urban legend with a Snopes link, and now some of her other friends are coming back at me and lecturing me on pointing it out, since it was "how everyone should act" and "it's a great story regardless".

I didn't want to get into the religious connotations of the message, but I did want to let her know she was spreading an urban legend, since those are one of my pet peeves, regardless of whether or not they are religious in nature.

Should I just leave it alone because it's a sensitive subject?

[Harlow]

Personally, anything with facebook I leave alone, because you have to ask yourself a few simple question.

" What do you want to achieve with your actions by saying anything?"

" Is it really worth it?"

The best thing about the internet and facebook is you can choose to ignore things.

Really though, its up to you.

[marcel]

Regardless of what kind of story it is, if a person spreads an urban legend as fact, you can politely point out that it is an urban legend.
whether the story is religious or not is completely irrelevant.

[Lisbeth]

Honestly, I pay no attention to whether or not it's an urban legend.

If I get this kind of thing, I delete it.  I honestly think it's every person's responsibility to deal with that him/herself without someone posting a snopes.com link.

Also, does snopes.com get every urban legend right or even deal with every single one?  I'm sure its performance rating < 100%.

[rose red]

I'm not familiar with Facebook so I don't know how it works.  However, unless the spam is sent to my personal page or email, I wouldn't say anything about the content of other people's web pages.

[T'Mar of Vulcan]

And it's religious in nature... do you still tell them it's an urban legend?
... I added a comment to her wall that it was an urban legend with a Snopes link, and now some of her other friends are coming back at me and lecturing me on pointing it out, since it was "how everyone should act" and "it's a great story regardless".
... Should I just leave it alone because it's a sensitive subject?

Opinion seems to be divided about this, but the thing is - if the story is not true, then people are spreading lies. I for one would want to know if something I posted wasn't true, but a lot of people who pass around urban legends get their backs up when told it's not true. "We should still pass it on because people need to be warned!!!" and that kind of thing. Warned about stuff that doesn't happen or never happened? WHY??

So far, in the 15 years I've been teaching, the "Blue star acid tattoo" legend has surfaced about four times. The first time the principal printed it in the weekly school newsletter despite knowing it wasn't true. Her reasoning was the same - "It doesn't matter because parents need to be on the lookout." For what, fantasy objects?!! The second time (a few years later) it was being passed around with a notation to "tell the children about it". I sent it back to the teacher who had originated it saying, "It's not true - and I can provide proof if you're willing to wait until tomorrow." She was glad to hear it and withdrew the page. The next couple of times the principal just turfed it, knowing that I'd once again bring up the fact that it's NOT TRUE.

And just before the school closed last year, our PE teacher was passing around the "snake in the ball pit" legend. I went to all the teachers with small kids he'd shown it to and told them it wasn't the case - it's just an urban legend. They all seemed to realise that, yes, if it hasn't been in the paper, it's probably not true.

I think people need to be educated about urban legends and how to spot them. And NOT to pass them on. But others feel that telling someone their pet story isn't true is rude. I think spreading lies is ruder, myself.

[Hexie]

I usually do and a provide a link to snopes.  Misinformation bugs me.   

[ginlyn32]

The ones I seem to get the most are: "Don't click on JOIN XYZ GROUP because it is a virus and will eat your computer!!!!!!!!"

I've had at least 3 or 4 people out of my friend list post these "warnings". I've had the same thing happen with FarmTown saying that such and such is a hacker and not to let him on your buddy list. Fortunately, the FT forum is up to date on all these hoaxes so one can find out for themselves.

I have told people that these are hoaxes. My SIL is the biggest culprit and didn't seem to care that she was spreading lies and missinformation. So she got hidden.

ginlyn

[Twik]

I think responding to an urban legend would be dependent upon just how harmful believing it would be.

Something that would lead to physical danger, or be libellous to someone, should be responded to. Some sugary piece of glurge may be annoying, but probably less harmful in the long run.

[Morrigan]

I post a link to Snopes.

[Hillia]

A close friend of mine used to be very, very bad about passing along every 'woke up in a bathtub full of ice' story.  We had a major discussion when she passed along a story about a medical test used to screen for certain female cancers.  The email suggested to women that this test was not routinely offered because doctors (essentially) don't listen to women, so everyone should demand this test as part of their routine care each year.  When I pointed out the snopes info (the test in question can be useful, but is very unreliable and gives a false positive about as often as a true reading), she insisted that because the underlying message (women should take charge of their health care and insist that their doctors listen to them and take their concerns seriously) was good, the email was justified.  My point was that demanding unnecessary, unhelpful tests on the basis of an internet legend was unlikely to help a doctor view the patient as a reasonable person with legitimate concerns.

She doesn't send me forwards any more.

[ilrag]

Passing on urban legends is a huge pet peeve of mine, so I'd tell them for sure. 

[RingTailedLemur]

And it's religious in nature... do you still tell them it's an urban legend?
... I added a comment to her wall that it was an urban legend with a Snopes link, and now some of her other friends are coming back at me and lecturing me on pointing it out, since it was "how everyone should act" and "it's a great story regardless".
... Should I just leave it alone because it's a sensitive subject?

Opinion seems to be divided about this, but the thing is - if the story is not true, then people are spreading lies. I for one would want to know if something I posted wasn't true, but a lot of people who pass around urban legends get their backs up when told it's not true. "We should still pass it on because people need to be warned!!!" and that kind of thing. Warned about stuff that doesn't happen or never happened? WHY??

So far, in the 15 years I've been teaching, the "Blue star acid tattoo" legend has surfaced about four times. The first time the principal printed it in the weekly school newsletter despite knowing it wasn't true. Her reasoning was the same - "It doesn't matter because parents need to be on the lookout." For what, fantasy objects?!! The second time (a few years later) it was being passed around with a notation to "tell the children about it". I sent it back to the teacher who had originated it saying, "It's not true - and I can provide proof if you're willing to wait until tomorrow." She was glad to hear it and withdrew the page. The next couple of times the principal just turfed it, knowing that I'd once again bring up the fact that it's NOT TRUE.

And just before the school closed last year, our PE teacher was passing around the "snake in the ball pit" legend. I went to all the teachers with small kids he'd shown it to and told them it wasn't the case - it's just an urban legend. They all seemed to realise that, yes, if it hasn't been in the paper, it's probably not true.

I think people need to be educated about urban legends and how to spot them. And NOT to pass them on. But others feel that telling someone their pet story isn't true is rude. I think spreading lies is ruder, myself.

Same thing happened at my uni - the union spread an email round about the "perfume testing" that was ether.  I was yelled at for pointing out that it wasn't true!

[Hawkwatcher]

She might want to consider that posting an urban legend hurts her religion's credibility.  Nonbelievers may look at the message and say "Another crackpot believes X. Man, these people are stupid."  Even fellow believers may view her as foolish for posting and believing this story so you did her a favor by warning her that this was an urban legend.   

[Amalthea]

I would probably just leave it.  I pointed out to someone that the X is Xmas is actually a Greek abbreviation for Christ and got seriously cussed out.  Some people just don't take well to being corrected on their Facebooks, even if they're posting completely incorrect facts.