# Are SD Classics checked for accuracy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [August 5, 2004, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sd-classics-checked-for-accuracy/258387 "2004-08-05T01:32:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sd-classics-checked-for-accuracy/258387/1 "2004-08-05T01:32:41Z")
I just saw [today’s question](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_027a.html), which is a Straight Dope Classic about why you get half of your ticket back at the movies. I don’t doubt that the basic reason is still the same, but it occured to me that there have been leaps and bounds in technology between 1978 (when the question was answered) and now, and that there might no longer be a practical reason behind ticket-stub returns – these days it might just be tradition, or something along those lines. All of which made me wonder: does the accuracy of a question’s answer ever get checked before it becomes a Straight Dope Classic, or should readers know going in that the answer is only as up-to-date as its date? I don’t have a preference, I’m just wondering if Classic answers are still, indeed, _the_ answers. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Duderdude2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cdc98d/32.png) [@Duderdude2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duderdude2)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sd-classics-checked-for-accuracy/258387/2 "2004-08-05T01:40:49Z")
On the movie ticket issue, I always thought they were used by the patron to get back into the movie should they leave for whatever reason. That’s what I use 'em for at least. ---
**Author:** ![vinniepaz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b4bc9f/32.png) [@vinniepaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vinniepaz)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sd-classics-checked-for-accuracy/258387/3 "2004-08-05T05:29:03Z")
> [@Duderdude2](#): > > On the movie ticket issue, I always thought they were used by the patron to get back into the movie should they leave for whatever reason. That’s what I use 'em for at least. yeah me too… like if you go to the bathroom and the bathroom is past the ticket threshold (as it almost always is), you use the stub to prove you paid. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sd-classics-checked-for-accuracy/258387/4 "2004-08-05T12:17:43Z")
When classics are posted on the front page, there is only the most cursory of updating. We just don’t have the staff or resources to update three classic columns a week, based on full research. There was some internal debate about whether to update at all. I mean, the damn thing is dated 1977, so they didn’t know about digital photography, that should be obvious. OTOH, if the staff person posting the classic knows enough to add some update, why not do that? So, the answer is that sometimes there a li’l bit of update, but you should assume that there has NOT been any update. Yeah, it’s inconsistent. An obsession with consistency is the 'obgoblin of etc. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sd-classics-checked-for-accuracy/258387/5 "2004-08-05T15:35:20Z")
Thanks, **C K Dexter Haven**. 🙂 Like I said, I don’t have a preference either way – it could be cool/interesting in some cases to see what ‘the’ answer was back in the day – and inconsistency is no biggie. I was just wonderin’. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sd-classics-checked-for-accuracy/258387/6 "2004-08-05T16:49:31Z")
OTOH, there are some obvious updates here & there. For example, the recent column on [“The Prisoner”](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_022c.html) mentioned that the series is available on DVD, a technology which I don’t think was even a gleam in a Sony executive’s eye back in 1985. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sd-classics-checked-for-accuracy/258387/7 "2004-08-06T02:06:34Z")
Yeah, **MikeS** , I thought I said taht the person posting the Classic Column sometimes does add in little (usually fairly obvious) updates. That should NOT be interpreted as meaning that the whole column has been researched carefully for updates, it means that the person doing the posting just added a comment here or there. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sd-classics-checked-for-accuracy/258387/8 "2004-08-06T03:58:14Z")
Can I suggest that updated text be tagged as such? That will stop the frequent posts of “Hey! How did Cecil know …”. ---
**Author:** ![Beauty\_Personified](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@Beauty\_Personified](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beauty_Personified)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2004, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sd-classics-checked-for-accuracy/258387/9 "2004-08-08T04:12:03Z")
Or at least add a note(s) to the bottom of any updated columns stating the date of any update(s)… ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2004, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-sd-classics-checked-for-accuracy/258387/10 "2004-08-10T19:17:19Z")
I also think that updated text should be marked in some way, maybe written in a different color or something. That way we’d know that, unlike the Word Of Cecil, this text could possibly be wrong.