"Snopes" unmasked..... Please read.
 

Subject: FW: "Snopes" Unmasked -Please Read!

Interesting?

For the past few years www.snopes.com
has positioned itself, or others have labeled it, as the 'tell all final
word' on any comment, claim and email.

But for several years people tried to find out who exactly was
behind snopes.com. Only recently did Wikipedia get to the bottom of it
- kinda makes you wonder what they were hiding. Well, finally we know.
It is run by a husband and wife team - that's right, no big office of
investigators and researchers, no team of lawyers. It's just a
mom-and-pop operation that began as a hobby.

David and Barbara Mikkelson in the San Fernando Valley of
California started the website about 13 years ago - and they have no
formal background or experience in investigative research. After a few
years it gained popularity believing it to be unbiased and neutral, but
over the past couple of years people started asking questions who was
behind it and did they have a selfish motivation? The reason for the
questions - or skepticisms - is a result of snopes.com claiming to have
the bottom line facts to certain questions or issue when in fact they
have been proven wrong. Also, there were criticisms the Mikkelsons were
not really investigating and getting to the 'true' bottom of various
issues. I can personally vouch for that complaint.

A few months ago, when my State Farm agent Bud Gregg in
Mandeville hoisted a political sign referencing Barack Obama and made a
big splash across the internet, 'supposedly' the Mikkelson's claim to
have researched this issue before posting their findings on snopes.com.
In their statement they claimed the corporate office of State Farm
pressured Gregg into taking down the sign, when in fact nothing of the
sort 'ever' took place.

I personally contacted David Mikkelson (and he replied back to
me) thinking he would want to get to the bottom of this and I gave him
Bud Gregg's contact phone numbers - and Bud was going to give him phone
numbers to the big exec's at State Farm in Illinois who would have been
willing to speak with him about it. He never called Bud. In fact, I
learned from Bud Gregg no one from snopes.com ever contacted anyone with
State Farm. Yet, snopes.com issued a statement as the 'final factual
word' on the issue as if they did all their homework and got to the
bottom of things - not!

Then it has been learned the Mikkelson's are - very
Democratic (party) and extremely liberal. As we all now know from this
presidential election, liberals have a purposeful agenda to discredit
anything that appears to be conservative. There has been much criticism
lately over the internet with people pointing out the Mikkelson's
liberalism revealing itself in their website findings. Gee, what a
shock?

So, I say this now to everyone who goes to www.snopes.com
to get what they think to be the bottom line
facts...'proceed with caution.' Take what it says at face value and
nothing more. Use it only to lead you to their references where you can
link to and read the sources for yourself. Plus, you can always google
a subject and do the research yourself. It now seems apparent that's
all the Mikkelson's do. After all, I can personally vouch from my own
experience for their 'not' fully looking into things.
Believe or disbelieve whatever or whoever .

GB TFS :munchin

I cannot speak to any inherent political bias in the Snopes reporting (I haven't noticed anything too blatant, but YMMV); however, it isn't as if it's a big surprise that it's a husband and wife team that runs the site: it says exactly that right on their FAQ page. From there:

While there may very well be political bias in the Mikkelsons' reporting, I don't find it overwhelming, nor surprising. When you write as much as they have over the years, personal views are bound to leak out at some point. To me, Snopes is a resource on par with Wikipedia: interesting to read, but far from definitive. If you care about an issue on either of the sites, you're well advised to do your own research.

Where did this article come from?

Recently I'd sent a message to snopes about one of their pages.

The reply was an enthusiastic thanks for using snopes and a how to use their search to find what I was looking for.

Thank you, Sir! A most interesting revelation.

Hmmm. I ran it through Snopes and didn't find anything. :D;)

Pat

Kyobanim,

It was sent to me by an old friend of mine during a discussion on just how reliable Snopes is.....I told him I didn't think they were...I see so many people quote them as the final word regarding a source or statement that was made, even on this forum.....:rolleyes:

GB TFS :munchin

sf11b_p,

Thank you,I rest my case....;)

GB TFS :munchin

Hell I already busted snopes a while back.....:D

Where is that thread where I stated snopes.com creditably was zero.;)

Team Sergeant

greenberetTFS,

Thanks for the post!!

Really did wonder about them.:rolleyes:

I recall a "bust" by TS a few months ago. Did a quick search and your thread was all that showed Teddy.



RF 1

These?

http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/...5&postcount=27

http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/...61&postcount=5

Pat

Pat,

Yup!

Jim

ps. sometimes you just piss me off :-)
j

Good to know. Thanks for the info.

Gittn' slow in your old age? ;)

Pat

I couldn't find anything at Wikipedia, either. I mean ANYthing! :D