Wrong!

A few years ago, a co-worker of mine gave me a t-shirt with that famous cartoon by Peter Steiner published in the New Yorker - "On The Internet, Nobody Knows You're a Dog."   It really is hard to tell what's real and what's not online, but there are some ways to stay grounded.

In thinking about the various mis-information that has come my way via emails, facebook posts and forwarded newspaper stories, they usually sort out into three categories. 

Scams.  These are the worst - and potentially the most harmful to you.  Those emails from Nigerian Princes who just need a bank transfer in order to claim their throne and their vast fortune which they'll share with you are a classic example of an online phishing scam.    That one is easy to spot, but the ones that supposedly are coming from the IRS or your bank are a little harder to point out.  If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  Nobody gives out free iPads and don't send your passwords to anyone!

Parody.  If you see a ridiculous news story - odds are good it came from The Onion.  They do such a good job of writing hilarious parody stories.  Sometimes a friend or relative might even fall for it and think it's real.  If you haven't checked out The Onion, be warned, their stories spare no-one and you might be offended once you stop laughing.

Urban Legends.  I see stuff on Facebook all the time that falls into this category.  The most recent has to do with the new Timeline feature and changing subscription settings to keep strangers from reading what you and your friend are posting on Facebook.  Others range from such innocuous topics as the Neiman Marcus cookie recipe to the more insidious like terrorists poisoning cans of soda or a celebrity that died in a snowboarding accident.

It's all fiction and don't you fall for it! 

What can you do to figure out if the information you've found online is for real?  Snopes.com is my favorite debunking source.  This simple site is constantly updated with the latest wrong information and gives you the straight scoop on what is really going on.

And don't feel bad if you have fallen for a tall tale on the Internet.  This kind of stuff has been going on since man started talking!  If you are interested in reading some Urban Legends, here is a good book to get you started...

Encyclopedia of Urban Legends by Jan Harold Brunvand  Brunvand has been writing about Urban Legends for decades.  This book is a compilation of legends that have been collected over time.  Its over 500 pages of paranoia inducing stories in all their variations.