A message forwarded without context can make yesterday’s uncertainty look like today’s decision.

Forwarding strips time out of a conversation. A line written while someone was still thinking aloud, hedged and provisional, arrives in a new inbox looking settled, because the surrounding mess of maybes did not travel with it. The reader has no way to tell a draft thought from a conclusion. That is how positions get attributed to people who were only exploring, and how small disagreements become formal ones.

Before passing something on, add the sentence that says where it came from and how firm it was. And when you receive a forward, ask whether the person still thinks it before responding.