Snopes = Scam?

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zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,915
31,443
146
Snopes likes to portray itself as the ultimate and final arbiter of all that is factually correct and incorrect. It isnt.

It provides an opinion and some evidence to support those opinions (flimsy as it may be). But in the end, its just that - THEIR OPINION.

People like to give Snopes more credit than they are due and consider certain items "debunked" if said opinion is given. In reality, that is an erroneous position to take.

when an argument is supported by evidence, vs your type of arguments, well, it all just serves to make you look a little silly, doesn't it?
 

FelixDeCat

Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
31,147
2,747
126
You mean I really am eligible to win money from Microsoft if I forwarded that e-mail 1000 times!?

Did I say that? No.

But if you give me your email, Ill give you the real low down on snopes and those two dodgy people who run it, the Mikkelsons. :sneaky:
 

Juddog

Diamond Member
Dec 11, 2006
7,851
6
81
Did I say that? No.

But if you give me your email, Ill give you the real low down on snopes and those two dodgy people who run it, the Mikkelsons. :sneaky:

Are you a nigerian prince? Because I don't give out my e-mail to any peasant scum.
 

Q

Lifer
Jul 21, 2005
12,046
4
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u-mad1.jpg
 

eits

Lifer
Jun 4, 2005
25,015
3
81
www.integratedssr.com
Why? Did they say something bad about chiropractors?

lol no, i just heard from a friend, who is a hardcore conservative, that snopes was a scam and that they had no credibility and (all the other stuff i posted in the op).

my friend was told to check out truthorfiction.com or something instead, because it's more factually sound.

i headed there and, obviously, there's a ton of slant to the right.

i was completely unaware of any left slant from snopes.com, but apparently, according to hardcore conservatives, obama can do no wrong on snopes... i dunno.

i was just wondering if anyone had heard about this or not.
 

Juddog

Diamond Member
Dec 11, 2006
7,851
6
81
lol no, i just heard from a friend, who is a hardcore conservative, that snopes was a scam and that they had no credibility and (all the other stuff i posted in the op).

my friend was told to check out truthorfiction.com or something instead, because it's more factually sound.

i headed there and, obviously, there's a ton of slant to the right.

i was completely unaware of any left slant from snopes.com, but apparently, according to hardcore conservatives, obama can do no wrong on snopes... i dunno.

i was just wondering if anyone had heard about this or not.

They're just pissed that snopes listed many of the fallacies that people make up about him and debunk them. When a site counters your lies, next step is to attack the credibility of the site.
 

Adrenaline

Diamond Member
Jun 12, 2005
5,320
8
81
apparently, it's just two people with no background in investigative reporting? any validity to this claim?

I received an email about this 2 weeks ago. Apparently someone, may have been associated with Wikipedia, decided to find out who owned Snopes and it is a couple that do not do to much research on things. They were also hinted at being very liberal minded which influenced truthfulness to some of the harsher emails towards Democrats that circulated around the net. I did not know how much truth there was to the liberal part so I did not bother to put anything out about it here. I thought somebody already had.
 

eits

Lifer
Jun 4, 2005
25,015
3
81
www.integratedssr.com

the first link doesn't really say for or against chiropractors...
the second link doesn't either... if anything, it'd be for chiropractors and against medical doctors (md's thought baths caused illnesses, chiropractors didn't and thought the md's were standing in the way of progress of healthcare).

anyways, NOT THE POINT! get back on the subject...
 

Sumguy

Golden Member
Jun 2, 2007
1,409
0
0
You want them to be some sort of private investigators?

They're internet rumors, when it really gets down to it who gives a fuck.
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,915
31,443
146
lol no, i just heard from a friend, who is a hardcore conservative, that snopes was a scam and that they had no credibility and (all the other stuff i posted in the op).

my friend was told to check out truthorfiction.com or something instead, because it's more factually sound.

i headed there and, obviously, there's a ton of slant to the right.

i was completely unaware of any left slant from snopes.com, but apparently, according to hardcore conservatives, obama can do no wrong on snopes... i dunno.

i was just wondering if anyone had heard about this or not.

well, facts do have a liberal bias.

everyone knows this.
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,915
31,443
146
the first link doesn't really say for or against chiropractors...
the second link doesn't either... if anything, it'd be for chiropractors and against medical doctors (md's thought baths caused illnesses, chiropractors didn't and thought the md's were standing in the way of progress of healthcare).

anyways, NOT THE POINT! get back on the subject...

the first link questions the validity of the author:

For the record, "Dr" Sillyfacepants is a chiropractor.

So, basically, they are exposing a rather distrustful eye towards an argument made by a chiropractor--quoting his Dr. title, and simply announcing his field.

It's like the "scientists" that the fundies bring out to support ID are always astrologers or fringe physicists; scientists that have absolutely no expertise in Biology, Molecular genetics, or any other scientific field that works with evolution. In such cases, it's important to point out the source of so-called expert opinions, b/c an expert in one area is a complete layman in another.
 

Iron Woode

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 10, 1999
31,346
12,842
136
lol no, i just heard from a friend, who is a hardcore conservative, that snopes was a scam and that they had no credibility and (all the other stuff i posted in the op).

my friend was told to check out truthorfiction.com or something instead, because it's more factually sound.

i headed there and, obviously, there's a ton of slant to the right.

i was completely unaware of any left slant from snopes.com, but apparently, according to hardcore conservatives, obama can do no wrong on snopes... i dunno.

i was just wondering if anyone had heard about this or not.
did you actually read what they said about Snopes?
Summary of the eRumor:
An eRumor about Snopes.com accusing them being owned by a flaming liberal and this man is in the tank for Obama.

The Truth:
In October, 2008, stories began circulating via forwarded emails that the popular urban legends site Snopes.com was owned by liberals and was "in the tank" for presidential candidate Barack Obama.

As with many forwarded emails, the criticism did not include any example of what the writer of the email claimed was the difference between what Snopes.com reported and what Barack Obama had actually said.


Snopes.com is an excellent site that has become an authoritative source for information about urban legends and forwarded emails. We regard David and Barbara Mikkelson, the founders and operators of Snopes.com, as colleagues and professional researchers who have earned a good reputation for what they do.

We can give a unique perspective on this story because we do the same kind of work as Snopes.com and have sometimes been the target of similar criticism.

We've got a collection of emails that have come to TruthOrFiction.com accusing us of being "right wing whackos" as well as "liberals" and "communists." We've been suspected of being owned and operated by both Republicans and Democrats. We've been called "Christian propagandists" as well as "atheists pretending to be neutral." We occasionally receive emails that have elaborate theories about who "really" owns us and what our "real" motives are.

The bottom line is that if you try to report the truth, there will be those who don't like the truth you've reported and who will develop suspicions about why you did.


That, in our view, is what is happening with Snopes.

The 2008 presidential campaign has been one of the most intense and unique in our nation's history and has prompted more political eRumors than any presidential campaign in our experience, especially about Barack Obama.

These anti-Snopes emails have probably been prompted by someone who does not like Barack Obama and does not like the fact that Snopes (or TruthOrFiction.com for that matter) has debunked some of the emails that are not true about him.


One of the versions of the eRumor mentions TruthOrFiction.com and recommends our site. We appreciate that, but we want to say for the record that we've had nothing to do with this eRumor about Snopes.com and we condemn it.

updated 10/21/08