One to keep on your bookmark list – when I get an urgent appeal to forward this email virus warning to all my friends / heartbreaking charity appeal / miraculous occurrence / evidence of mass government conspiracy / piece of news that is unusual / scandalous / embarrassing to the subject it is usually worth a couple of seconds checking the story on http://www.snopes.com/ the best urban legend myth buster on the internet. It also helps in flagging the true stories – which virus warnings you should be paying attention to… And if you're bored, a quick surf on snopes will always bring up some bizarre story to amuse you.

Don't you just love to get those emails from well-meaning friends who want to warn you about some dire internet-or-email-related danger AND PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK!

Whenever I get an email that wants me to forward it to everyone in my address book, I copy a unique phrase from the text of the message and head straight to snopes.com and paste it in the search field.

Never, ever, in many years, has it not been a hoax. Or, let me say it this way: it has ALWAYS been a hoax.

I also check with snopes.com whenever I get a message or read of something that seems dubious, apocryphal or somehow "too good or too bad to be true." These have also almost always turned out to be hoaxes and urban legends.

So, dear reader, I recommend snopes.com to you, but, for all of its practical value to internet culture, I'm afraid I have to temper my recommendation just a wee bit -- it is rife with obnoxious flashing and frenetic animated ads and even popups. So on that account, be warned.

Bottom line: for the service it provides, I hold just my nose and use it whenever circumstances require.

Votes (6)  •  Comments (1)  •  Link to this review

Chris O. Get Firefox, install Adblock add-on, no more ads. Should work with Chrome and the Adblock add-on for that, also. Plus Google for how to create a HOSTS file in Windows that will prevent pretty much anything and everything even if you don't have Adblock installed. Oh, and add the Flashblock add-on to get rid of unwanted Flash ads and banners too. Nobody needs to see any of this stuff, these days.

6/22/10  •  Votes (0)

Great site for finding out the truth about popular emails, legends, viruses, etc. But just because Snopes says something doesn't make it true!

The bad - popups and banners and flash ads oh my!

Lots of good info; they seem to have the largest collection of internet hoaxes of any site I've seen. It's just too bad it's so heavily loaded with advertisements; I'd recommend using an ad blocking extension.

Great info for debunking myths.

I receive LOTS of bogus/hoax e-mails passed along by well-meaning people who don't realizing they are spreading disinformation and sometimes hate. I always check with SNOPES to get the real scoop and am always amazed by the depth of information they provide.

With a resource such as this one available, you really have to wonder how so many people can believe so much of the unmitigated BS they receive in their email boxes.
This site lets us sort out the facts from the crap with a couple of clicks of the mouse. I wish ALL of my email correspondents would make a habit of using it BEFORE they send me the fundamentally stupid and totally inaccurate propaganda they use to advance some of their foolish beliefs.

Snopes is a must read before forwarding any of those "send to all your friends" emails!

This has got to be the number one best pass time site, ever! I love reading the daily odd news and just picking a category each day to rummage through. I think I learned more from snopes than from 4 years of high school, lol.

Votes (1)  •  Comments (1)  •  Link to this review

T N. yeah, snopes is great, isn't it? it's where i go to when i need to prove someone's forwarded email is a scam!

3/15/11  •  Votes (0)

There are plenty of times when Snopes claims something is "False" when its own selected facts do not support Snopes' conclusion. You have to drill down on WHY they claim something is true or false, and not simply accept their conclusions at face value.

Votes (1)  •  Comments (3)  •  Link to this review

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T N. i love snopes - can you give an example?

2/17/11  •  Votes (0)

Severn M. I will dig around for an email that I sent to Snopes about a "legend" that they claimed was false because, as I recall, in effect they said "some people say" it is false. They responded in a huff. If I can find it, I will post it here.

2/17/11  •  Votes (0)

T N. "they responded in a huff" - that's hilarious!

2/17/11  •  Votes (0)

mythpro - this is an awesome website, i love the legends and myths that are proven true or false it overall a fun site to surf................

Love Snopes! How did we ever debug silly rumours before Snopes. With all the misinformation that circulates on the internet it's nice to know there is a reliable source where you can get the straight up facts.

Not only has snopes.com proved to be accurate time and again re: email hoaxes, I have recently discovered it holds true for text msg hoaxes as well. While no site is perfect, this is a great starting point for researching these "warnings" before you pass them on...

great - This website is great and has a lot of good information. I think it is a very good website and I use it a lot.

greatness - this website is awesome! it has great pics of all the legends and things you wouldnt think were real.