Get to the root of what’s e-fiction and what’s fit to forward

The once-ubiquitous “Nelson Mandela inaugural address” (“We ask ourselves: Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous”). The “tips for living from the Dalai Lama” (“When you lose, don’t lose the lesson”). Inspired, amused and willing to believe, enthusiastic e-mail forwarders have made statements of dubious origins (along with chain mail, urban legends and warnings) as inescapable as spam for Viagra.

Which is why visiting www.truthorfiction.com might be a handy habit to develop before hitting “send.” Created by Rich Buhler, president of an Orange County communications firm, the site names sources and provides information about the veracity of “eRumors” running rampant on the Web.

“I have been an urban legends hobbyist for quite some time,” says Buhler, who created the site six years ago because of his “desire to boil down things and find whatever’s true.”

With two full-time employees and a few volunteers, the site averages about 3 million hits monthly and boasts 5,000 paid subscribers. Buhler says he uses his background as a former writer-editor-producer for KFWB-AM and KNX-AM radio to approach “eRumors” with a journalistic tenacity. “We try to get as close to firsthand sources as we can.”

Listed under the “Food-Drink” category is the “Neiman Marcus cookie recipe,” which details how a mother -- who was charged $250 for a recipe -- exacts sweet revenge by forwarding the recipe for free. According to the site, it’s a classic urban legend.

But that tale of the teacher who told her students to write down their classmates’ good qualities and years later learned that one of those students had the list with him when he died during the Vietnam conflict? It’s true, according to truthorfiction.com, and the teacher in question is a Sister Helen Mrosla of Morris, Minn.

Truth is elusive, but truthorfiction.com makes it a little easier to check. You might consider forwarding the link to co-workers, relatives and friends with a forwarding habit.

Tell them if they don’t think before passing along the next pearl of wisdom or whimsy, it may mean seven years’ bad luck.