I can't trust Snopes anymore!

[ratatoskK]

A friend of mine sent me a link to this Snopes story about Mr. Ed It claims that Mr Ed was a zebra and that they got away with it because zebra stripes didn’t show up on black-and-white TV.

If you go to the bottom and click the link saying More Information About This Page, you get this.

[Musicat]

@ratatoskK

A friend of mine sent me a link to this Snopes story about Mr. Ed It claims that Mr Ed was a zebra and that they got away with it because zebra stripes didn’t show up on black-and-white TV.

You just got whooshed, snopes-style.

We could have put up a page saying “Don’t believe everything you read, no matter how trustworthy the source,” but that wouldn’t have conveyed the message half as well as showing through direct example just how easy it is to fall into the “I got it from so-and-so, therefore it must be true” mindset. That’s the same mindset that powers urban legends, the same basic mistake that impels countless well-meaning folks to confidently assert “True story; my aunt (husband, best friend, co-worker, boss, teacher, minister) told me so.”

[Sunrazor]

I love this! It’s Snopes doing its job, and doing it very well – mainly, making people stop and do some critical thinking about EVERYTHING they read, see and hear. Anyone who accepts this spoof at face value deserves to be thought of as a dolt.

[Find_Friends]

@Musicat

You just got whooshed, snopes-style.

Yeah, I was just about to say that I thought someone was pulling his – horseshoed (horseshod?) – leg. Even though it was a little early for April Fool’s Day.

---

True Blue Jack

[Q.E.D]

@Musicat

You just got whooshed, snopes-style.

And I think you got whooshed old style. (Your second quote is from his other link)

[Revtim]

The OP wasn’t whooshed, read beyond the first sentence of the post.

[engineer_comp_geek]

Don’t feel bad.

One of those Urban Legends shows on TV a couple of years ago got wooshed by Snopes. They presented one of snope’s falsies at the real thing during the show. Apparently the show’s “research” consisted of just copying things they found off of the internet and doing no fact checking at all on them.

[ratatoskK]

I was almost whooshed!

[Spice_Weasel]

Reminds me of an old quote I rather like:
‘‘Never believe anything you hear and only half of what you see.’’

[Giles]

I love it! From the Snopes page cited:

When black-and-white television predominated in the nation’s living rooms, football games were too often disrupted when players ran into the referees, whose black-and-white striped uniform tops made them nearly invisible to onlookers. Likewise, Johnny Cash’s famous televised live concert performance at California’s Folsom Prison in January 1968 proved disastrous when several inmates wearing the traditional black and white prisoner’s garb slipped unnoticed past guards, who had been provided only black and white monitors with which to view the proceedings.

Anyone reading that and believing it would believe anything!

[Musicat]

@Q.E.D.

And I think you got whooshed old style. (Your second quote is from his other link)

Well, Duh. You caught me with my links crossed. :eek: (That’s a whoosh)

@Revtim

The OP wasn’t whooshed, read beyond the first sentence of the post.

I got the impression (but I have no hard evidence) that ratatoskK and maybe his/her friend was/were intially puzzled, then after figuring out what was going on, saw the light. Is “I can’t trust Snopes anymore!” intended to be a serious criticism or a whooshifying statement?

[ratatoskK]

It was intended to be funny!!! I guess I needed the laughing face icon somewhere!!

[Ludovic]

I love the name for the page of Snopes-hoaxes:

The
Realm
Of
Lost
Legends.

[Find_Friends]

@ratatoskK

I was almost whooshed!

Reminds me of my early days on the web, strating around '97. I was at a local branch library and one of the alt sites, devoted to pranks, casually mentioned that “gullible” was *not a real word * and was not in any dictionary.

I had traveled halfway across the main room toward a dictionary station before I said to myself, NOW, WAIT A SECOND!!!

---

So there ought to be a word for almost being whooshed.

How about whooed?

---

True Blue Jack

[Rigamarole]

I don’t know. I think it’s kind of dumb and not that funny for Snopes to purposely undermine their own credibility in order to “teach people a lesson” about trusting supposed authority.

[zelie_zelerton]

@Rigamarole

I don’t know. I think it’s kind of dumb and not that funny for Snopes to purposely undermine their own credibility in order to “teach people a lesson” about trusting supposed authority.

Snopes is not the be-all and end-all of truth. Snopes can get it wrong just like anyone else and they can provide misleading information just like anyone else. It’s very valuable to learn to question those we perceive as holders of knowledge. If people would only question what is presented to them as fact then there wouldn’t be any need for sites such as Snopes. I can’t think of a better way for Snopes to teach this.

[Rigamarole]

@zelie zelerton

Snopes is not the be-all and end-all of truth. Snopes can get it wrong just like anyone else and they can provide misleading information just like anyone else.

Never said they were. But what’s dumb is for them to intentionally provide misleading information because they think they are teaching someone a lesson. Let the universe teach the lessons, just give me the facts as best as you can gather them.

[kung_fu_lola]

@Rigamarole

just give me the facts as best as you can gather them.

Ironic username!

[zelie_zelerton]

@Rigamarole

Never said they were. But what’s dumb is for them to intentionally provide misleading information because they think they are teaching someone a lesson. Let the universe teach the lessons, just give me the facts as best as you can gather them.

That’s great, you’ve already learnt the lesson.

Others haven’t yet. A lot of people think that institutions such as Snopes or their government or their news broadcaster *are * infallible and wholly committed to providing only the truth. And it would be useful for them to learn that this is not always the case. Kudos to Snopes for fighting ignorance in a very apt way.

[Rigamarole]

@kung fu lola

Ironic username!

I actually hate rigamarole. So I guess I am what I hate, indeed.