Seth Godin posted “how to deal with forwarded emails”:http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/01/dont-get-fooled.html that have claims or instructions, or whatever:

bq. Instead, go to Google and type in the word “snopes” followed by the gist of the cause or the event or emergency. Snopes will then tell you whether it’s a hoax or not. Save you and your list a whole lot of time.

That is exactly what I have been doing for awhile now. I make it a step simpler… just highlight and copy a segment of the email (preferably a segment that includes a good portion of the claim or subject) and send that over to Google. Snopes usually comes up with the #1 result, if it is a common forward (which most seem to be nowadays!) With Firefox it is even easier: highlight the text, right click your mouse and select the Search Google for option. Blammo. You’ve found the truth.

This comes in handy for sure – I’ve rebutted a ton of the wacky right-wing focused emails I’ve gotten from relatives over the last year or two!