I would like to have an honest debate about snopes and it's debunking

[hang a left]

credentials. I know some here refer to snopes as the last word on the subject. But is everyone sure? It has been alluded to by other members that perhaps they don't aggressively research all rumors. And being the suspicious person that I am, I would be interested in any issues that they have supposed resolved as "false." It this is in fact the ultimate determination of the Gospel truth. Can we discuss this?

[Blecht]

1. For things nonpolitical, they're good

For political issues, they are not -- they have a right-wing bias.

Just cruise their site in the political section and you'll find many examples of this.

[DemBones DemBones]

2. Maybe. . . but it's been my experience that they've

debunked some rumors about Democrats.

I don't think they're perfect but they can be quite useful.

[Blecht]

4. Well, maybe not

I just took my own advice, and it seems that they've cleaned things up over there since my last visit.

I couldn't find any blatant examples ... still looking.

[NMDemDist2]

3. they're just a couple of folks in california who research stuff just like

we do

no magic, but it's a handy site to point to

[Generic Other]

5. Snopes is really involved in debunking the simple urban legend stuff

Mostly very easy to do as there is clear evidence--variant examples of stories already well-documented by folklorists.

Now, in the area of rumors involving government, they must be more careful. Snopes pooh poohed the story of the FBI putting bin Laden family on a flight out of the US after 9/11. In fact, Snopes called Michael Moore a liar for saying so. A year later, Snopes retracted, even apologized to Moore. Turns out this was no urban legend.

The problem with Bush family is that so many allegations fall into one or other of the two areas: urban legends or cold hard truth. But which?

[Minstrel Boy]

6. You make a very good distinction.

And I would add that citing Snopes for anything more than the folkloric demonstrates intellectual laziness.

[jdj]

7. since I'm a lazy intellectual, I guess I'm the demographic.

I like it to send out in response to spam, cause it looks official and people don't get their back up to it like they will a personal response sometimes.

[Dem2theMax]

8. Count me in that group. Well, part of it. The lazy part. ;-)

:)