This email gets more elaborate each time it appears, it would make a great topic for a study on the delusion of crowds.

The first time the Mars Hoax came out it wasn't a hoax at all, it was a legit description of a particularly close opposition (2003, 0.37 AU). The size of Mars' disc (24 seconds of arc) when viewed through a telescope at 75X was indeed comparable to the full moon (30 minutes of arc) as seen with the naked eye. Of course, you wouldn't see as much detail unless you had a big scope at high power and under ideal seeing conditions.

I observed Mars with a 3 inch f/5 refractor during that opposition, and at about that magnification, and it certainly didn't look that big, but that is due to an optical illusion that makes the moon appear much bigger than it actually is when visually observed. For example, the full moon is much smaller than the Pleiades, although it appears about the same size to the unaided eye.. With my scope, I could see no surface detail on the planet except a polar cap. The moon shows a wealth of detail to the naked eye.