Approach the internet with skepticism. It's full of bogus information,
hoaxes and scams, and you'll find a lot of it in your email inbox.

You've probably seen them: emails that have been forwarded countless times warning of
some supposed threat, computer virus, money making scheme, or amazingly
inappropriate or blunt comment by some notable entertainer or politician.

And, of course, the always present request to "forward this to everyone you
know!" or something similar, which you may have done.

They're almost always bogus.

At best they are simply fictitious stories that have been circulating the
internet for years, known as urban legends. At their worst they're hoaxes or
scams designed solely to lighten your wallet, or get you to unwittingly help
someone else lighten theirs.

Put another way: No one is tracking whether or not you forward an email. No
one will give you a coupon or pay you or anyone else for doing so. Boycotting
gasoline for day will have no effect on the price of oil. A particular brand of
cleaning cloth won't kill your pet, plug-in air fresheners won't kill you, and
aspartame isn't going to give you half a dozen diseases.

The list goes on.

One common aspect that they all share is the request, the plea even, that
you forward the email to everyone you can. Some even go so far as to claim you
would be heartless not to!

PLEASE don't do it.

Or, at least be positive that it's legitimate before you do.

And to be clear, if it asks you to "forward this all your friends" it's
probably not legitimate.

How do you tell what's real?

There are many great websites that you can use to find out, but http://www.snopes.com is perhaps the most popular,
timely and comprehensive. A quick search there will frequently tell you not
only what a suspect email is all about, but most importantly whether or not
it's true. All of the examples above can be found there.

Why should you care?

Forwarding hoaxes is a little like filling the inboxes of your friends and
family with garbage; you're at least wasting their time, possibly causing
unnecessary anxiety and in the worst case you could even cause them to fall
victim to a hoax or scam.

We all get more than enough spam and email that you don't want to be sending
email that's likely bogus anyway to all your friends. Do them a favor
and resist the temptation.

Isn't it safer to forward in case it's actually true?

No. As we've seen here it's much more likely that you'd simply be
participating in spreading the hoax. And the alternative is so simple: check it
out first. If it's not worth your time to check it out, then it's not worth
forwarding, simple as that.

And if you're still worried realize that legitimate issues will show up in
the legitimate press. Email is not how the government, news
organizations, and corporations spread important information.