snopes.com

I would like to know why I was kicked off your group when I simply made a reasonable comment about something that was posted. I used no harsh words only the truth. I thought your page is to find out the real truth?

And I was blocked from sending messages to snope asking. I was only clearly making a truthful comment and I get deleted and blocked.

That's not good to hear when they say they have the truth about averything online. Is the page truthful to the people? I think not.

SNOPES SOLD OUT TO GREED AND SHALLOWNESS AS THEY LOST THEIR VALUES AND FACT FINDING. NOW THEY POST WHATEVER WILL COVER-UP STORIES AND FLAWED REPORTING.

I have always checked Snopes instantly upon receiving any email which urges me to send it on to all my friends. That is the big red flag. Invariably these chain emails do turn out to be hoaxes.

One of the stupidest hoax recommendations: Everyone should drink 8 glasses of water per day. The history of this stupidity comes from the dropping off from a government recommendation of the all-crucial statement: "Most of this quantity is contained in prepared foods" and propagation of the error in Dr. Erwin Stillman's publication in 1967, the Doctors Quick Weight Loss Diet, which sold 12 million copies, apparently without being factually checked. A book by a "Doctor", with its gross error, tends to be trusted by 12 million naive readers. For further details read: http://healthpsych.psy.vanderbilt.edu/howmuchwater.htm.

BTW, there is one exceptional condition when drinking enough water on a regular basis may have very real medical value. I am told by a good friend that he totally stopped his frequent incidence of kidney stones by continuously drinking enough water. He claims that, in his particular case, this prevents the seeding of the crystals which lead to the kidney stones. That, to me, is a plausible mechanism. Comments from others on this subject are invited.

I would give them zero stars if I could. I went to Snopes.com to find out if it is true thatless than 20% of donations to the Susan G. Komen Foundation actually go toward cancer research. The article Snopes.com posts on this topic gives a long-winded discussion that does discuss the high salaries of top employees at Komen but then digresses into a sermon about how many charities have other goals besides just funding research so it really is still good to contribute to them - however, they don't tie this to Komen at all by discussing whether Komen supports other goals. I found this very disappointing and offensive that they would try to "spin" charitable contributions this way. Snopes.com, in my opinion, should be a fact-based website and this clearly strayed from facts about Komen. I decided to share my opinion on this with them using their "Contact Us" feature. I received the following reply from them:

"Your comments evince a flawed understanding of the item you remarked upon.

For best results, we recommend ensuring you carefully read and thoroughly comprehend articles prior to submitting comments on their contents."

This was simply rude and uncalled for. When I attempted to respond to them I received an automated message from my e-mail provider that my message was undeliverable. I'm presuming that means they blocked further communication from my e-mail address. Rude and shocking. I will never rely on Snopes.com for information again. I have many other options.

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.