Yearly Internet Maintenance Prank Email
Summary:Email claims that the Internet will be closed down for maintenance for a 24-hour period (
Full commentary below).
Status:False (April Fool's Joke)
Example:(Submitted, March 2005)
YEARLY INTERNET MAINTENANCE ANNOUNCEMENT
IT IS URGENT THAT YOU DO NOT CONNECT TO THE INTERNET FROM MARCH 31st 23:59
GMT (11:59 PM) UNTIL 00:01 GMT (12:01 AM) APRIL 2nd.
It's that time again. As many of you know, each year the Internet must be
closed down for a 24 hour period of time in order to receive maintenance, or
a "Tune Up" if you will.
Many dead links on the World Wide Web will be removed, as well as ftp links
that are no longer used. Lost email will also be removed from the system at
this time. The White House is very interested in this part of the project.
In addition to the normal maintenance to be completed this year, we will
also be using new high pressure information jets to clear out the
bottlenecks that have plagued the internet so greatly this past year.
Although the down time for maintenance will be an inconvenience for many
people, you will find this will allow for a much more efficient and faster
responding internet.
This year, the "Tune Up" will occur from 23:59 GMT (11:59 PM) on March 31st
until 00:01 GMT (12:01 AM) on April 2nd. During that 24 hour period, dozens
of powerful Internet bots at key locations around the globe will
simultaneously scan the Internet and complete the desired maintenance jobs
wherever they may be required.
To help protect any valuable data you may have on the Internet from possible
corruption, we highly recommend you take the following steps before this 24
hour maintenance period begins:
1. Disconnect all terminals and LANs from the Internet.
2. Disconnect all Internet servers from the Internet.
3. Refrain from connecting any computer, or any other Internet connection
device, to the Internet in any way.
Note: The term "other Internet connection device" includes such devices as
WebTV.
Again, we understand the inconvenience this will cause many people. And for
that, we apologize. However, the great increase in Internet performance you
will experience after this short period of maintenance will far outweigh
any problems it will cause.
This message comes to you from the Internet via your Internet Service
Provider.
Commentary:
This prank email gets trundled out for another run every year as the 1st April approaches. And every year it nets new victims who indiscriminately believe what they read. Some people have a tendency to skim read messages and therefore fail to pick up on the fact that the message is just a joke. Perhaps the moral of the story is to make sure you read a message thoroughly and think about what you've read before acting upon the information it contains.
For the record, the Internet is not nor could it ever be effectively "closed down" for 24 hours. The logistics of such an exercise are mind-boggling. What's more it would most likely have a nasty and far-reaching impact on the world economy.
Write-up by Brett M. Christensen
