Forwards

I hate "forwards." You know, those emails that clog your inbox and the subject starts with "Fwd." I finally had to start telling people, especially family members, that I delete these without reading them. They drive me crazy because they usually fall into one of two categories: false stories that cannot be traced back to a source or sappy sentiments that are really very impersonal. I'm a trained historian/researcher/librarian, so the first category really gets to me. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion but these emails aren't opinions - they are lies masquerading as facts. Sometimes these emails contain a kernel of truth or are carrying a good message, but the lies undermine the integrity of the message and the messenger. The first time I forwarded one of these without checking the facts, someone emailed back and told me to check www.snopes.com because it just wasn't true. I was quite embarrassed and have since checked out the email before hitting that "forward" button. Not once have the facts been true. The other category annoys me because it gives the appearance that someone is thinking of you, but they really aren't. They just hit "forward" and send it to an email list - it's like a mass mailing. If someone is thinking about me, I prefer a quick email saying "how are you?" or "I was just thinking about you." And I like to see that it was addressed just to me - not to "undisclosed recipients." How about it? Is it just me or do other people find these emails annoying?