About once a week someone will ask me how it is that I know the things that I know. They frequently have this puzzled look on their face that will tip me off that The Question is coming.
And, of course, the answer is that I have already made that Mistake at least once. In some cases, once was not enough. I had to go back and try it again. Having done it wrong, I am in a position to report to those who are on the verge of perhaps making the mistake themselves.
Many years ago, I learned the hard way to not take those chain e-mails at face value. I hit the forward button and sent on an email telling people to delete a file off their computer. It was a hoax. It caused massive amounts of trouble for me as well as for several people who received the forwarded message from me. That experience taught me to be more careful. That is also when I learned about Snopes!
http://www.snopes.com/
The main value of Snopes is that they have invested the time and energy in chasing down the background of a number of these chain-emails. Lots of times, there is absolutely no basis for the email. It is just another urban legend. If I find the email in Snopes, that is the end of it for me. I do NOT pass it on.
If I don't find it in Snopes, I will cut and paste the first sentence into the search box on Google and see where that leads...
The main problem I have had is what do I do to tip off the person who sent it to me? The Universe has given me graphic proof over time that it is NOT my assignment to straight everyone out. So, usually I just leave these emails alone. Not always. Just usually. I had an office manager at one point who was not a very sophisticated email user. She would step off into one of these email traps about every 3 months or so. I finally went around the corner and physically showed her how to find Snopes on her computer. The emails stopped.
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