i agree it's as annoying as all get-out. (ot--where on earth did that expression come from?)

i've sent all of the worst offenders, including my parents, a note that reads something like what Emma65 said. mine said something like 'you know i love hearing from you personally, but i get a lot of email each day and i don't have time or energy to go through all the forwards. i'm happy to read any email you type to me, but please don't send forwards.

that helped. i've been very tempted to hit 'reply all' with my 'this is untrue, in the future, please go to snopes.com and search whatever before you press 'forward' response...but so far i've restrained myself.