Junk Email

I have previously given this kind of unwanted email the misnomer of spam. I am taking this opportunity to correct that error. I'm sure you've gotten an email from someone that talked about something scary or controversial, and provoked an emotion, usually with the end result that you forwarded the mail to one or more of your friends. I know I have done this, especially back when I first started going online back in the 90's... (so long ago) However, even with the rapid source of information that the internet can be, we have to be on guard against misinformation, especially the spreading of it. While the person that sent you this email may be a close friend, the information they forwarded to you still may be inaccurate. So how can we be sure before we send this on to our friends and family? A little research would be the best way to begin. The easiest way to accomplish this is simply copy the subject of the email and do a google search. This will open up lots of pages, but some of them may even lend support to the article in question! One of my favorite sites for searching out chain letters and email legends is snopes.com, but another good one is breakthechain.org. These sites are dedicated to searching out whether these stories and emails are true or not.
I know these few steps are certainly more complicated than just hitting the forward button, but you may save yourself a bit of embarrassment if you get a note back from a friend saying you've been fooled!
And if someone won't stop sending you chains, you can always reply: Thanks. No.

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