http://www.canada.com/vancouverisland/nanaimo/story.html?id=4f7749de-8e18-487b-948e-8b30bf42b78a
Furthermore, it's also a rip-off of the Evan Trembley hoax.
http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/evantrembley.html which was started as a
sick joke on Myspace by the real and not missing Evan Trembley himself.
It borrows content from the Ashley Flores hoax
http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/ashleyflores.html
which was started by one of the real and not missing Ashley's friends on Myspace
as a sick joke, and borrows heavily from the Penny Brown hoax
http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/pennybrown.html
which is a mutation of the Kelsey Brook Jones chain, which was true for the two
hours that kelsey was thought missing. Kelsey was found playing, and unharmed
two hours after her mother's initial panic.
http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/kelsey.html
http://www.breakthechain.org/missing.html
People who start hoaxes like that should be penalized, because they are getting
very sick kicks at others' expense!
It's manipulative, attention-seeking behavior on a level that is so low and
disgusting because people are getting jerked around just so a few childish teens
can get their haw-haws.
Ignorance or lack of forethought as no excuse.
Playing pranks on your friends in a social network like Myspace is bad enough,
but when it's in the form of a chain letter, it's not going to stay just among
the friends of the hoaxter. This is because your circle of friends also has
their own circles of friends, which in turn, have their own circle of friends,
so, you start a hoax about yourself as missing or dying or whatever, and your
friends might think it's funny, but somebody else who is listed as one of their
friends but not listed as your friend, looks at this friend's profile and
bulletins, and this stranger looking at your friend's profile, sees your
missing/dying hoax and assumes it's for real, and compulsively passes it along
to their friends, who pass it on to theirs.
So, yet more reasons chain letters really stink, and why starting a hoax might
get you the controll over the masses and the attention you desire, but it could
also land you and those associated with you in a pile of inconvenience if not
trouble.
I'm very sorry for anyone these hoaxes have hurt, from those who were taken in
by them, (hopefully they'll know better than pass on chain email from now on) to
those who are friends of or related to the hoaxter and suffering fallout because
of the hoax.
But as for the hoaxters themselves, I wish they would get a lot more than just a
slap on the wrist for their self-serving, inconsiderate and just plain sick
actions.
Evan Trembley was exceedingly stupid to start a hoax about himself, as was the
friend of Ashley Flores. The guy who mooched off the Trembley hoax and made it
about himself as a missing kid in Nanaimo is just as guilty. Shame on them!
Full article about the Nanaimo prank:
http://www.canada.com/vancouverisland/nanaimo/story.html?id=4f7749de-8e18-487b-948e-8b30bf42b78a
Missing Nanaimo Teen Email is a Big Hoax
Nanaimo Daily News Missing teen e-mail is a big hoax
Plea urging people to look out for Nanaimo boy is a prank that first began in
Texas
Derek Spalding , Daily News
Published: Thursday, October 11, 2007
Nanaimo RCMP say its unfortunate that someone is circulating a fake missing
person notice through e-mail accounts.
Thousands of Harbour City residents have recently received a message in their
inbox about a missing teenager from Nanaimo, but the chain mail is nothing but a
hoax. The message asks recipients to please "pass this to everyone in your
address book" in hopes that someone will have seen 15-year-old Evan Trembley.
After a simple Internet search, however, the real story behind the prank is
revealed.
Evan Trembley of Wichita, Falls, Tex, created a fake Amber Alert with himself as
the missing person. He then sent it out to his friends on MySpace.com. Then a
few people who didn't know it was a joke, sent the e-mail out to everyone on
their list. Police exposed Trembley who said he thought his "friends would
recognize it, get a laugh out of it" and delete it, he told reporters in
Wichita.
****But then people who weren't his friends took it seriously and continued to
e-mail all their friends. Trembley and his mother Tammy said they do not expect
any criminal charges.
It appears someone in Nanaimo decided to localize Trembley's prank and
distributed it throughout the city. Using the same photo and similar
information, Trembley now appears to be a missing Nanaimo boy. This week, the
e-mail reached Robin Dutton, owner of Arrowsmith Bikes, who then forwarded it to
more than 300 people on his mailing list.
"I just thought, if somebody's missing, it doesn't take a whole lot for me to
send it out to everyone in my address book," he said before expressing his
disappointment in the hoax. "I just think it's really unfortunate. I'd like to
think that people have a bit more to do rather than waste people's time."
DSpalding@nanaimodailynews.com
250-729-4231
