E-mail Hoaxes

I am very mad at the person who invented the "mail to address book" feature in electronic mail programs. They should be SHOT! Or even better, forced to read every mass-mailed e-mail known on the internet!

I am more frustrated by those who blindly heed the last phrase written in bold or flashing or colored letters that to some degree state, "Forward this to everybody you know (or don't know)" and of course those that have the stated (or implied) threat, whatever that might be. I can think of about 10 off the top of my head that are usually coupled with these emails ("you'll have bad luck" or "something good will happen to you in the next __ hours" or "you or somebody you know might be the next victim" and so on).

Well, I am grateful for the power of search engines, and I'm particularly pleased with http://urbanlegends.about.com that is a place where you can find out if some "informational" e-mail is actually true, a hoax, or just ramped up.

I hope my friends will check the facts before forwarding on information. And if it's spam? Hmmm, I'd like to say "use your discretion" but I know my tastes vary and the same e-mail one day makes me laugh and another day just makes me ticked it's taking up bytes on my computer. I guess a good rule of thumb for me is, "did it make me laugh" and "does the person to whom I might forwad this have a similar sense of humor and would appreciate the information/joke?"

I rarely forward on e-mails. So, does that mean I have a weird sense of humor unlike any of my friends/family? or maybe it's just I figure my friends are all smarter than I, or maybe I am selfish and want to keep information for my own power?

**One more thought to ponder: I HATE typing e-mail. Has our language/dicctionary evolved enough now for it to be considered correctly spelled to have it just say email?