Can we trust Snopes?

keith99

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Their article on the government buying guillotines denies it saying no evidence is ever given.
Even a gullible kook like me could find this:

"
1- 8 The General Assembly finds that while prisoners condemned to
1- 9 death may wish to donate one or more of their organs for
1-10 transplant, any such desire is thwarted by the fact that
1-11 electrocution makes all such organs unsuitable for
1-12 transplant. The intent of the General Assembly in enacting
1-13 this legislation is to provide for a method of execution
1-14 which is compatible with the donation of organs by a
1-15 condemned prisoner.

http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/Archives/19951996/leg/fulltext/hb1274.htm

I don't see how this shows Snopes is wrong. The closest thing they addressed is a claim that the FEDERAL government was stockpiling Guillotines, about 30,000 of them. Some versions of that rumor claimed about 15,000 of those were in Georgia.

Your evidence is a link to BILL in Georgia from 1996 that does not even show it being voted on in the chamber where it was introduced, let alone become law that would allow execution by Guillotine to allow for organ donation if the condemned desired it.

EDIT: Found confirmation that this never passed and that it is often cited as 'evidence' of the false claim!

http://irregulartimes.com/2014/07/2...lowing-guillotines-to-be-used-for-executions/
 
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Rick Otto

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I don't see how this shows Snopes is wrong. The closest thing they addressed is a claim that the FEDERAL government was stockpiling Guillotines, about 30,000 of them. Some versions of that rumor claimed about 15,000 of those were in Georgia.

Your evidence is a link to BILL in Georgia from 1996 that does not even show it being voted on in the chamber where it was introduced, let alone become law that would allow execution by Guillotine to allow for organ donation if the condemned desired it.

EDIT: Found confirmation that this never passed and that it is often cited as 'evidence' of the false claim!

http://irregulartimes.com/2014/07/2...lowing-guillotines-to-be-used-for-executions/
I will look at that, thanks.
Meanwhile, I'm wondering how calmly you accept that such a bill would even be proposed?
 
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Rick Otto

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If we all spread this email around as widely as possible then if we're lucky, Snopes will debunk it!

They always show their work. It's like people who criticise Wikipedia but never click on the sources!
I have done both.
 
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Cute Tink

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Rick Otto

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They talked about it. Snopes response.

Be wary of clicking the daily headlines article. I got a popunder and an ad for, shall we say, probably less than desirable articles when I went to close the page. My personal impression: click bait publisher.
Thanks, Tink.
But... Don't you ever wonder about these people? Don't you ever smell something questionable?
I get that I am anti-establishment and that I consider myself cautious, but I'm sensing smug self-satisfaction and wonder about how compromised accepted authoritative sources are by the owners thereof being invested in the status quo.
You know what I mean?
I know I am projecting to some indefinite degree.
What's your take. Are you content with the status quo here?

...And Thanks for checking it out.
 
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MrSpikey

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Thanks, Tink.
But... Don't you ever wonder about these people? Don't you ever smell something questionable?
I get that I am anti-establishment and that I consider myself cautious, but I'm sensing smug self-satisfaction and wonder about how compromised accepted authoritative sources are by the owners thereof being invested in the status quo.
You know what I mean?
I know I am projecting to some indefinite degree.
What's your take. Are you content with the status quo here?

...And Thanks for checking it out.
What would actually satisfy you, though?

Snopes posts their take on a situation, with links to back up how they reached that conclusion. They don't - and can't - post an exhaustive list of sources they think support or oppose a position, with reasons why.

The point is not that they are to be implicitly trusted - you make that decision on a case by case basis by reviewing their stance and the evidence they provide, based on how you view the underlying sources and their reasoning.

The point is that trying to assert such a method is inherently intellectually dishonest, as you don't like the answers they give, tends to say more about the reader than about them - if the only sources you trust are ones that agree with your stance, then you won't ever see anything outside of that echo chamber.

[The "you" above is the generic, not "you, Rick Otto", for the avoidance of doubt]
 
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Rick Otto

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What would actually satisfy you, though?

Snopes posts their take on a situation, with links to back up how they reached that conclusion. They don't - and can't - post an exhaustive list of sources they think support or oppose a position, with reasons why.

The point is not that they are to be implicitly trusted - you make that decision on a case by case basis by reviewing their stance and the evidence they provide, based on how you view the underlying sources and their reasoning.

The point is that trying to assert such a method is inherently intellectually dishonest, as you don't like the answers they give, tends to say more about the reader than about them - if the only sources you trust are ones that agree with your stance, then you won't ever see anything outside of that echo chamber.

[The "you" above is the generic, not "you, Rick Otto", for the avoidance of doubt]
Don't worry, bro. I got skin and appreciate honest, unmalicious critique.
You asked the important question right off.
You are right.
Thanks so much, bro.
 
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cow451

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Rule of thumb: always check the links and see if you agree with the checker. Sometimes there is mixture of truth and not-truth. But I have found Politi-fact and Snopes consistently reliable. But always check them for yourself. That's how I arrived at a high trust level relative to other sites.
 
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Cute Tink

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Thanks, Tink.
But... Don't you ever wonder about these people? Don't you ever smell something questionable?
I get that I am anti-establishment and that I consider myself cautious, but I'm sensing smug self-satisfaction and wonder about how compromised accepted authoritative sources are by the owners thereof being invested in the status quo.
You know what I mean?
I know I am projecting to some indefinite degree.
What's your take. Are you content with the status quo here?

...And Thanks for checking it out.

Well, as I posted before, I don't really go to Snopes except for the less weighty things like posts I see on Facebook about toilet spiders and urban legends and whatnot. More serious issues I'll see what I can find out from a variety of sources.

When it comes to politics (and some other topics), I pretty much figure every source is biased and the politician is full of it, so there's that.

What I appreciate about Snopes is that they tend to cite their sources, if I'm ever curious how they came to their decision and they talk their way through it. I can follow their thought processes and make up my mind about their conclusions. That's not what I've seen in the things posted against them in this topic.
 
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The Cadet

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But... Don't you ever wonder about these people? Don't you ever smell something questionable?

On my end: not really, no. That's what happens when you run a fact-checking website with a sterling record for more than 20 years.
 
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tulc

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brinny

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...you mean by a site that snopes debunked last year?:
http://www.snopes.com/false-stanley-kubrick-faked-moon-landings/
you might want to check this out:
http://realorsatire.com/yournewswire-com/
tulc(is just sayn') :sorry:

C'mon tulc, maybe SNOPES is the very one needing de-bunking.

(jus' sayin') :sorry:

Coffee?


th_coffee_pouring.gif
 
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Rick Otto

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