snopes.comReviews 72

Don't you just love to get those emails from well-meaning friends who want to warn you about some dire internet-or-email-related danger AND PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK!

Whenever I get an email that wants me to forward it to everyone in my address book, I copy a unique phrase from the text of the message and head straight to snopes.com and paste it in the search field.

Never, ever, in many years, has it not been a hoax. Or, let me say it this way: it has ALWAYS been a hoax.

I also check with snopes.com whenever I get a message or read of something that seems dubious, apocryphal or somehow "too good or too bad to be true." These have also almost always turned out to be hoaxes and urban legends.

So, dear reader, I recommend snopes.com to you, but, for all of its practical value to internet culture, I'm afraid I have to temper my recommendation just a wee bit -- it is rife with obnoxious flashing and frenetic animated ads and even popups. So on that account, be warned.

Bottom line: for the service it provides, I hold just my nose and use it whenever circumstances require.