Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2001 01:43:57 -0400
Reply-To: TOURBUS-Request@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Sender: The Internet TourBus - A virtual tour of cyberspace
Comments: Resent-From: crispen@netsquirrel.com
Comments: Originally-From: Patrick Douglas Crispen
From: Patrick Douglas Crispen
Subject: TOURBUS -- 1 OCT 01 -- URBAN LEGEND DEBUNKING WITH BOOKMARKLETS
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TOURBUS Volume 7, Number 20 -- 1 Oct 2001
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SIX YEARS of Searchable Archives at http://www.TOURBUS.com !!
TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP(S):
Urban Legend Debunking with Bookmarklets
TODAY'S TOURBUS ADDRESS(ES):
http://listserv.aol.com/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0012C&L=tourbus&P=R2
http://www.bookmarklets.com/mk.phtml
http://www.snopes.com/info/search
Howdy, y'all, and greetings once again from beautiful Tuscaloosa,
Alabama, an 18th-century Franciscan mission that was the site of a
historic resistance effort by a small group of determined fighters for
Texan independence from Mexico.
TOURBUS is made possible by the kind support of our sponsors. PLEASE
take a moment to thank each of our sponsors for keeping our little bus
of Internet happiness on the road week after week.
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On with the show ...
If you have been on our little bus of Internet happiness for a while,
you'll know that your fearless bus driver has a hobby of squishing
Internet urban legends. Today's post introduces you to one of the
best urban-legend-squishing tools available: a free bookmarklet that
automatically searches Barbara and David Mikkelson's Urban Legends
Reference Pages at snopes.com.
Bookmarklets are amazing Web browser links that let you use a
search engine's database without actually visiting that search
engine's Web site. The best example of a bookmarklet is Google's free
browser buttons which we talked about last Christmas:
http://listserv.aol.com/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0012C&L=tourbus&P=R2 .
What most people don't know is that you can easily create your own
bookmarklets for practically ANY search engine you can think of ...
including snopes.com. Here's how.
-------------------------------------------
Creating an Urban Legend Search Bookmarklet
-------------------------------------------
If you use Internet Explorer go to View --> Toolbars and make sure
that there is a checkmark next to "Links." If you use Netscape go to
View --> Show and make sure that there is a checkmark next to
"Personal Toolbar." If you use AOL, minimize AOL, launch Internet
Explorer (Start --> Programs --> Internet Explorer), go to View -->
Toolbars, and make sure that there is a checkmark next to "Links.".
Then, point your browser to
http://www.bookmarklets.com/mk.phtml .
Sort of in the middle of this page you'll see a blue "Make Search
Bookmarklet" link. This is the hardest part (and this really isn't
all that hard): click and hold on the link, drag it up to your
browser's Links bar or Personal Toolbar, and let go. Internet
Explorer may give you a warning that you are adding a link that is
unsafe. Ignore that. This is perfectly safe.
Once you add the "Make Search Bookmarklet" link to your browser's
Links bar or Personal Toolbar, head on over to the Urban Legends
Reference Pages search engine page at
http://www.snopes.com/info/search
and search for *anything* that comes to mind. For example, the
"Klingerman Virus" hoax has popped its head up again in the past
couple of weeks, so you might want to search for the word klingerman.
No matter what you search for, WRITE DOWN ON A PIECE OF PAPER THE
EXACT KEYWORD(S) YOU USE. This will come in handy in a moment.
Once you have entered your keyword(s) and either clicked on the grey
"Search" button or pressed enter on your keyboard, the Urban Legends
Reference Pages search engine will show you all of the pages in its
database that contain your keyword(s). Pretty standard stuff.
Here is where things get a little un-standard. DON'T CLICK ON ANY OF
THE LINKS ON THIS PAGE. Instead, click on that "Make Search
Bookmarklet" link you dragged and dropped just a few minutes ago.
This automatically takes you to a page that has four textboxes.
Ignore the first textbox -- it's just the URL of the page that
resulted from your search. In the second textbox type in the exact
keyword(s) that you searched for, the word(s) that I asked you to
write down on a piece of paper. Ignore the third textbox, and in the
fourth textbox type in a name for this new bookmarklet. I'd suggest
something like "Urban Legend Search" or "Search Snopes.com." Finally,
click on the grey "Submit" button.
Eventually you'll be taken to a new page that shows you your new
search bookmarklet. Click and hold on this link, drag it up to your
browser's Links bar or Personal Toolbar, and let go.
That's it.
----------------------------------------------
Using Your New Urban Legend Search Bookmarklet
----------------------------------------------
Okay, so what have you just done? You just created a way for you to
automatically search the Urban Legends Reference Pages by simply
clicking on a link on browser's Links bar or Personal Toolbar!
No, really.
Click on the new bookmarklet that you just created -- not the "Make
Search Bookmarklet" one but the urban legend search one -- and up pops
a textbox. Key in any search term you want and then press enter.
Ta-da! :)
--------------------------------
Making Other Search Bookmarklets
--------------------------------
You can use that "Make Search Bookmarklet" link on your browser's
Links bar or Personal Toolbar to make search bookmarklets for pretty
much every search engine you can think of. Just follow these five
simple steps:
1. Go to the search engine you want to use.
2. Search for something, but make sure to write down what you
search for.
3. When the search engine shows you the results of your search,
click on the "Make Search Bookmarklet" link on your browser's
Links bar or Personal Toolbar.
4. Fill in the appropriate textboxes -- the exact keywords you
searched for and what you want to name this new bookmarklet --
and then click on submit.
5. On the next page, click and hold on the new bookmarklet link,
drag it up to your browser's Links bar or Personal Toolbar,
and let go.
Neat, huh?
Oh, two quick notes for those who use Internet Explorer:
1. To delete something from your Links bar, just right-click on
that something and choose "delete" from the pop-up menu.
2. The Links bar will only display a certain number of folders,
links, and bookmarklets at once. When your Links bar fills
up, new stuff added to the Links bar will appear in a drop-
down menu on the right side of the Links bar. Just click on
the ">>" on the right side of the Links bar to see the rest of
your Links bar folders, links, and bookmarklets.
---------------------------
How to Debunk Urban Legends
---------------------------
Now that you have a bookmarklet that automatically searches the Urban
Legends Reference Pages, let's see how you can use this bookmarklet to
debunk some urban legends.
When a friend or colleague sends you an email that you want to
research, fire up your Web browser, click on your urban legends search
bookmarklet, type in a keyword or two from the email in question, and
hit enter. With relatively few exceptions, this search will result in
at least one page that either supports or refutes the email in
question.
For example, when someone sends *me* an urban legend, here is what I
do:
1. I use my urban legend bookmarklet to search for a page at
snopes.com that either supports or refutes that urban legend.
2. I then copy the URL of the page that either supports or
refutes that urban legend and then paste that URL into a
semi-personalized canned reply.
You're certainly free to steal my canned reply if you want:
Thank you for your email. The story you just sent me is a well-
known urban legend. You can read more about this urban legend at
[insert appropriate URL here]
By the way, I'll let you in on a little secret. When people ask
me if a particular email is true, I usually just hop on over to
http://www.snopes.com/info/search/search.htm
and type in a few keywords from the email in question. This site
is a free search engine for urban legends, and I use it all the
time. :)
Okay, so that last part is a lie. I don't actually use the snopes.com
search engine page, I use a bookmarklet instead. They don't need to
know that. :P
I hope this helps!
That's it for today. Have a safe and happy week and we'll talk again
soon.
TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP(S):
Urban Legend Debunking
TODAY'S TOURBUS ADDRESS(ES):
http://listserv.aol.com/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0012C&L=tourbus&P=R2
http://www.bookmarklets.com/mk.phtml
http://www.snopes.com/info/search
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