Ever opened your Inbox to find a long 'true' story of something or someone, which seems inspirational but sounds improbable? If so, you've been glurged.

And Glurge.com encourages users to copy-paste the stuff onto their site: 'Glurge.com has been designed to act as a bulletin board for glurge believers to share their stories.' People who like these stories will find a lot of stuff - true and untrue - that aims at showing the benefits of virtue and morality.

It's worth a visit even for glurge-haters - you're assured of a good laugh at the very least.

Jon Booth, the 'Glurgemaster' of the Web site has been quoted by Reporter News as saying, "The power of the written word is incredible, and people tend to believe anything that is written down. And these days, the Internet seems to strengthen that belief."

He admits that while a number of them are outrageous enough to evoke laughter, some "actually hit a nerve".

Stories are replete with 'a strange light' filling people's eyes, and angels coming to the rescue, but a few do make sense in an allegorical way.

The site categorises different kinds of glurge. Under 'Chain Letter', you find the story of a girl supposedly afflicted by cancer. 'PLEASE pass this mail on to everybody you know,' it begins, adding soon after, 'this isn't a chain letter'.

Courageous brothers, a 'very special relationship' between father and son, and the value of mothers all appear in the 'Family' segment; while the 'Religious' section has stories promoting tolerance and forbearance.

Death is a popular subject for glurge. You'll find numerous examples here. Apart from this, there are categories for 'Illness and Disease,' and a 'General' section that includes miscellaneous stuff, like 'How to make a police officer cry'.

Glurge.com also can be put to a good use, as blogger John Vey discovered: "If, for some reason, you like forwarding those sappy emails that make their rounds on the Internet every once in a while-please stop. They're stupid. Instead, just tell your friends to go to Glurge.com for a whole library full of pseudo-inspirational reading."

Many feel that glurge is all sweetness on the outside and has harsh, condemning undertones. It's a product of prejudiced minds, they say. However, there is another type that's directly reproving and brazen. It's called anti-glurge, and the site covers that as well.

You read chain letters that go on endlessly about people's disabilities. A lot of anti-glurge satirises those inane mails. Consider this:

"I was born without a body. It doesn't hurt, except when I go to sleep. The doctors gave me an artificial body. My body is a burlap bag filled with leaves. The doctors said that was the best they could do on account of us having no money or insurance. I would like to have a body transplant, but we need more money."

Further down, it spoofs emails that attempt to tug at the heartstrings of readers and emotionally blackmail them:

"What kind of person are you that you can't take five minutes to forward this to all your friends so that they can feel guilt and shame for the rest of their day, and then maybe help a poor, bodiless 9-year-old boy?"

Getting back to glurge, the next time you receive any, you can contribute to the Web site: 'If you have the urge to glurge, or are sick and tired of these emails - no matter how inspirational - clogging up your inbox, post them here on Glurge.com.'

Besides, each piece has a 'Glurge a friend' link -- an easy way for you to flood your friend's - or enemy's - inbox with the stuff!

In the meantime, what do you do when you receive glurge and are not sure whether to believe it's true? Turn to Snopes Urban Legends References Pages. They identify true messages and explode myths.

After all, it's fairly easy for anyone to fabricate a bit of glurge and pass it off as truth - The 'Glurge scam' gives you detailed instructions on doing just that!

The essence of glurge is aptly summed up in this little verse by 'fatherdan', culled from Memepool:
In times of trouble, doubt, and fear,
Glurge is a cuddly teddy bear,
Though its sweetness could kill a diabetic
And its effect is potentially emetic.