I've got a friend who, over the years, has consistently forwarded e-mails to me: many were funny and a majority were politically biased toward the conservative end of the spectrum. Last election his forwarding of articles that were factually incorrect increased severely to the point that I would read the subject and a few sentences and then discard them.

I was surprised that he didn't check out his sources or information before forwarding information: snopes.com and other sites are so readily available and easy to use. I even suggested casually one day how he could check internet rumors with snopes, and he listened, but only muted his forwarding awhile.

So I set up a rule routing his e-mail to a separate folder that I check occasionally. I keep the good jokes and flush the fake news. Nonetheless I find it useful for keeping a finger on him and others who are seriously misled or subject to rumors. That way, I know something of what they think and I can still talk to them w/o being shocked.

I don't want to refuse someone as a person b/c they're not particularly bright or b/c they are unable to navigate the internet sufficiently to check what is true/false. This way I know a little of what they're thinking on current events and can approach them w/o offending them. And I get to hear the good jokes, which I cannot resist!