When Is a Hoax Not a Hoax?

Eric Schwarz - 2002.04.24

In my last article, I talked about a certain Web site that seemed to be a Mac-bashing Christian site, and it was being talked about all over the Mac Web. As it seems by some investigating by Charles W. Moore on Applelinks, the site may well be a hoax. Of course, nothing has been confirmed, but I have read lots of articles about how writers were "amused" by that site.

iWalking It

Remember the iWalk rumors last fall? We all do. If you were living under a rock, SpyMac.com posted pictures of a Palm-like device with an Apple logo, but when it turned out to be the iPod, all of the information on it disappeared from their site.

Or How about This One?

Remember last summer when everybody thought this was going to be the Expo when a flat-panel iMac was finally released? A week after the Expo, everyone was saying "I told ya so" about the new iMac - or lack thereof. And then we were surprised when the new iMac actually was released in January?

InfiniteOS

Speaking of supposed Mac hoaxes/rumors, going a little farther back, there was an article posted on Wired's site about the InfiniteOS, a supposedly new operating system for the Mac. Whether or not it was a hoax is uncertain, but a search on Google shows it still under development.

Jag Quits the Mac - and Returns

A hoax that shocked the Mac community happened last spring when Jag, owner of jagshouse.com and a definite classic Mac guru, posted a message basically saying that he was tired of using the Mac and OS X meant the end of Macs, etc. But after I watched everyone on the various email lists I read freak out over this, I noticed how Jag quietly returned and is back doing what he does best - helping out Mac users. Maybe it was a late April Fool's Day prank.

Rumor, Prank, and Hoax: All the Same?

Not only is it in our nature as humans to crave the latest information - and as Mac users to want to be the first on our block to hear about Apple's new product before they release it, or even to make our own guesses as to what will be released next - but it's also our nature to jump on the "me too" bandwagon and share our thoughts about things. In a way, I think that this is good, since not only does it give us something to do to "keep us off the streets," but it also creates mystery around what will happen next.

If the original site actually is a parody (which it seems to be), then it did a very good job at making everyone believe it wasn't a parody. Of course, parodies mock something, so what exactly is it mocking? Fanatic Christian sites or fanatic Mac sites? I'm not quite sure, but I'm going to wrap this up - my head's starting to hurt.

Eric Schwarz has been using Macs and other computers for a few years. His personal website - dealing with Macs (of course) - is at <http://schwarztech.macweekly.com/>. You can learn more about his current computer setup in Eric Schwarz's iBook.

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