Origin of the Bill Gates $1000 chain letter?
Ray Depew
Okay, so in my mailbox drops this message with a kabillion-line
header and a crap message from somebody purporting to be "Bill
Gates". The writer claims to have written SW that scans headers
of OUTGOING messages for email addresses, automatically sending
the addresses to BG. The writer promises that once he's harvested
a thousand names, he'll send the addressees a thousand bucks.
The message has been forwarded a kabillion times, hence the 774-line
header/preface (the whole thing is 807 lines). A quick perusal of the
header shows, not surprisingly, that most of the addressees are on AOL
-- and Juno, and Hotmail -- but it also shows a significant number of
them at universities, military installations and highly respected
high-tech companies, indicating a famine of gorm even at the brain
farms.
Many of those forwarding the message added one-liners like "What's
it hurt to forward?" and "Maybe, maybe not, but I could use an extra
$1000!" Sheesh. Hey, lemme print this thing out, roll it up and swat
you on the head with it and then you can tell me if it hurts to forward.
I'm not going to ask "Has anyone else received this?" because I'm
sure many of you have. I just want to know who started it, when,
and where.
The oldest forward on this copy is dated "Tuesday,
November 25, 1997 2:19 PM", it looks to have come from Compu$erve
although it uses a mail alias and not a decipherable e-mail address,
and the author claims to have "erased the longest list of forwards
that have ever preceeded an e-mail" before launching it on its latest
orbit.
Can somebody find an origin for it, predating 25 Nov 97?
Regards | "It does not do to
Ray Depew r...@fc.hp.com | leave a live dragon out of
Integrated Circuits Business Division | your calculations."
Hewlett Packard Co, Fort Collins, CO | -- Tolkien
Richard Brandt
Ray Depew wrote:
> The message has been forwarded a kabillion times, hence the 774-line
> header/preface (the whole thing is 807 lines). A quick perusal of the
> header shows, not surprisingly, that most of the addressees are on AOL
> -- and Juno, and Hotmail -- but it also shows a significant number of
> them at universities, military installations and highly respected
> high-tech companies, indicating a famine of gorm even at the brain
> farms.
I once replied to a student at a university in the United Kingdom who
had sent me the old "mail five people five dollars" one, calmly and
patiently explaining to him why it was impossible for
50,000 people to become wealthy as described.
He replied, "Of course it works! Didn't you read the message? Check
out the math!"
Richard "Proud of My Anglo-Saxon Heritage" Brandt
--
========== http://members.xoom.com/rsbrandt =========
"God would have been a great writer, if only he had
stuck to describing scenery." -- Giuseppe Tornatore
Glen B. Paetz
It's alway so funny that the idiots who start this stuff didn't check
the wording with at least one bone-fide programmer --
"written up [sic] a program ..."
No one would ever say that. Sort of like why don't
Chinese restaurants ever get their menus proofread?
OJz a Liar wrote:
> >Okay, so in my mailbox drops this message with a kabillion-line
> >header and a crap message from somebody purporting to be "Bill
> >Gates". The writer claims to have written SW that scans headers
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>
lots of snip ....
> Hello everybody,
>
> My name is Bill Gates. I have just written up an e-mail tracing program
> that traces everyone to whom this message is forwarded to. I am
> experimenting with this and I need your help. Forward this to everyone
> you know and if it reaches 1000 people everyone on the list will receive
> $1000 at my expense. Enjoy.
>
> Your friend,
> Bill Gates
> >>>>>>>>>
Rush Strong
Glen B. Paetz wrote in message <3498914F...@lumisys.com>...
>It's alway so funny that the idiots who start this stuff didn't check
>the wording with at least one bone-fide programmer --
>
> "written up [sic] a program ..."
>
>No one would ever say that. Sort of like why don't
>Chinese restaurants ever get their menus proofread?
Yeah. I hate it when they say "/~\" instead of "/~/"
- Rush "still hungry, an hour after I typed this" Strong
Ben Walsh
Richard Brandt wrote:
> He replied, "Of course it works! Didn't you read the message? Check
> out the math!"
You're lying. An Archipeligan would never say that.
ben "got you bang to rights, guvnor" w.
--
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"If you name me a street | ben walsh
Then I'll name you a bar | benw at iona dot com
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Just to buy you a jar" -- shane |
Michele Tepper
Glen B. Paetz <gl...@lumisys.com> wrote:
>It's alway so funny that the idiots who start this stuff didn't check
>the wording with at least one bone-fide programmer --
It's always so funny when someone who complains about other people's
writing includes an obvious error in his own prose.
Michele "something about motes and beams and -- ow, I've got something
in my eye!" Tepper
--
Michele Tepper "When bad techs happen to good cultures," Lentz said.
mte...@panix.com "When bad cultures happen to good machines," I insisted.
--Richard Powers, _Galatea 2.2_
Visit the scenic AFU archives and FAQ! http://www.urbanlegends.com
Richard Brandt
Ben Walsh wrote:
>
> Richard Brandt wrote:
>
> > He replied, "Of course it works! Didn't you read the message? Check
> > out the math!"
>
> You're lying. An Archipeligan would never say that.
>
> ben "got you bang to rights, guvnor" w.
Maths, schmaths, if he could spell it right I'd place more credence in
his reasoning ability...
Richard "Still fighting to ban the intrusion of foreign-language
elements into the native tongue. Like English." Brandt
--
==================== http://members.xoom.com/rsbrandt ================
"...I think Gates is wrong to act like a wounded dove and wrap himself
in the flag of righteous innovation..." -- Eric Lundquist, PC WEEK
Ted Frank
In article <67bgjd$9...@panix2.panix.com>,
Michele Tepper <mte...@panix.com> wrote:
>Michele "something about motes and beams and -- ow, I've got something
> in my eye!" Tepper
I was told we didn't have to discuss boats and memes in this newsgroup.
--
"Stop chasing Ganesh!" http://www.radix,net/~moe