quote:

ORIGINAL: rgod

No, I don't believe everything I hear or read.
No, I don't think that a message is more credible because a certain person sent it.
And no, certain subjects do not make it more believable to me.

Emails, messages, etc. that are untrue usually have a certain type of wording ... something about it that just screams out "fake!" Usually, they just take it a step too far. Like, the email will say - there is a stalker looking for women who are alone at the gas station to kill them. Plausible - people have to be careful. But it doesn't stop there, it will say something like - he is wearing a clown's mask and asking for donations to a children's center, and in particular, he likes to kill women who are driving sports cars. Like I said, a step too far. Or big pieces of information might be missing. Or, the email might have language or a tone that isn't quite right. So, if something seems wrong to me or if I'm very surprised about something, I will fact check - and I look at the sources. If something is wrong, I might alert the person who contacted me and tell them about snopes.com (where you can fact check urban legends and hoaxes) or something like that - but more often than not I just let it go.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Szaftoo

I recently got a "forwarded" E-mail about one of the candidates and why they shouldn't be considered for office. I did some checking and made some phone calls and found it to not be true. I tactfully challenged the E-mail and was blasted because I didn't trust the person who sent it to me. I get "forwarded" E-mails all the time about different things which also are not true.
Same with bulletin boards, members often quote people in ministry because they heard or read it somewhere.

Do we believe everything we hear or read?
Is it more credible because of who sent it?
Do certain subjects make it more believable?