# Really folks, Snopes isn't exactly a new site **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 17, 2006, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-folks-snopes-isnt-exactly-a-new-site/348822 "2006-03-17T22:52:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-folks-snopes-isnt-exactly-a-new-site/348822/61 "2006-03-27T15:23:11Z")
I had a former friend/coworker that I wrote to and asked how she was feeling- she had major surgery just as I moved out of state and I was concered. Usually when I write from the particular address I used for the first time, I let people know explicitly- NO JUNK MAIL, period. None. Ever. But I forgot to and she sent me on of those "FORWARD ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-folks-snopes-isnt-exactly-a-new-site/348822/62 "2006-03-27T15:25:51Z")
OOOPS! FORWARD THIS AND YOU’LL GET MONEY- I DIDN’T BELIEVE IT EITHER BUT IT’S TRUEEEEEEE!!! I sent back this EXACT mail and never heard another single word from her. "Hi MORON (OK, I changed the names)! Just a quick note and I know you won’t take it as an offense- This mail account is for personal and business correspondance only- I should have said so right up front but I forgot to. My other box is overrun with junkmail and a lot of it comes from forwards and things like this- well meaning, but kind of a pain. I’d love to hear from you, but please don’t send me joke forwards, chain mail, etc- I appreciate it so much! I’ve been on the Internet so long I’ve literally seen every single one 🙂 By the way, check here: > **[Free Company Giveaways](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/thousand-dollar-bill/)** > > Can you get free cash or merchandise for forwarding an e-mail message or clicking share links? For info about this particular urban legand. [http://www.snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com) is the best resource on the internet to check when you get a forward to see if it’s true or not (95% are not true). If you go to the main page and type in Bill Gates you’ll get a slew of old and new internet forwards about him giving away his fortune, none of which are true or possible. Anyway, I hope this doesn’t make you mad, but it’s better to be up front, in my opinon, then let something go on that you don’t like. I hope you’re feeling better- I heard from other coworker today and she said you had a terrible time in the hospital. I’m so sorry to hear that! I hope you’re on the mend now and are able to enjoy the holidays. Take care- sending you sunshine and warmth from FL, Me I thought it was polite and to the point, but apparently she’s done with me now. No mail at all. Whatever. I can’t imagine how stupid you have to be to believe that crap. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-folks-snopes-isnt-exactly-a-new-site/348822/63 "2006-03-27T15:31:45Z")
hijack - how on earth would ‘TRUEEEEEEE’ be pronounced?? It’s repeatedly emphasizing a silent letter, for cripes’ sake!! I wouldn’t say is as ‘trooo-ooo’, because that would be spelled ‘TRUUUUUUE’ or something like that. And yet it would be silly to say it as ‘troo-wheeee-eeeeh’ 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Edwin\_North](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47c2d/32.png) [@Edwin\_North](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edwin_North)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-folks-snopes-isnt-exactly-a-new-site/348822/64 "2012-01-25T07:15:03Z")
the truth ruins a great story. I was really pissed off that the great Chief Seattle letter was NOT written in the 1800’s by him, But by a film guy in 1972 ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-folks-snopes-isnt-exactly-a-new-site/348822/65 "2012-01-25T07:20:57Z")
> [@Edwin\_North](#): > > the truth ruins a great story. I was really pissed off that the great Chief Seattle letter was NOT written in the 1800’s by him, But by a film guy in 1972 You just responded to a six year old thread but the good news is that Snopes still isn’t new. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-folks-snopes-isnt-exactly-a-new-site/348822/66 "2012-01-25T07:50:02Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > You just responded to a six year old thread but the good news is that Snopes still isn’t new. I was reading through this thread, scratching my head and wondering, “Who the hell still uses MySpace?” About halfway through I looked at the date on one of the posts…:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-folks-snopes-isnt-exactly-a-new-site/348822/67 "2012-01-25T08:25:59Z")
> [@Incubus](#): > > I like snopes, but not for shooting down other people’s ignorance (since there are varying levels of success in that regard) but in just proving myself wrong- “Oh, so that’s how that rumor got spread” types of things. Agree. It’s almost useless for trying to quell an ongoing rumour - people either already know about it, or are savvy enough to suspect the rumour false, or they don’t care, or play the ‘better safe than sorry’ card, etc. And in at least one case, Snopes is plain wrong (and not on purpose). ---
**Author:** ![Napkin\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8dc957/32.png) [@Napkin\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napkin_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-folks-snopes-isnt-exactly-a-new-site/348822/68 "2012-01-25T09:20:20Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > I was reading through this thread, scratching my head and wondering, “Who the hell still uses MySpace?” The sort of people who don’t know about Snopes, of course! ---
**Author:** ![Stelios](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Stelios](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stelios)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-folks-snopes-isnt-exactly-a-new-site/348822/69 "2012-01-25T09:32:23Z")
Fuck Snopes! Bunch of party poopers. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-folks-snopes-isnt-exactly-a-new-site/348822/70 "2012-01-25T12:50:44Z")
My beef with Snopes is that you can’t quote it. Just try to copy their text. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-folks-snopes-isnt-exactly-a-new-site/348822/71 "2012-01-25T13:02:05Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > My beef with Snopes is that you can’t quote it. Just try to copy their text. Turn off JavaScript. Ot if you use Firefox, run the NoScript add-on. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-folks-snopes-isnt-exactly-a-new-site/348822/72 "2012-01-25T13:03:48Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > I was reading through this thread, scratching my head and wondering, “Who the hell still uses MySpace?” > > About halfway through I looked at the date on one of the posts…:smack: Exactly! I kept thinking- “MySpace, Really?” ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-folks-snopes-isnt-exactly-a-new-site/348822/73 "2012-01-25T13:08:15Z")
I don’t have any problem copying. > [@](#): > > McDonald’s is facing a Big Mac-size problem thanks to a twitpic circulating online. > > The chain took to Twitter to dispel any association with a Web picture that falsely introduces a new company policy to charge an extra fee for African-American customers due to a recent string of robberies. I just c&p that from the first story under “what’s new”. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-folks-snopes-isnt-exactly-a-new-site/348822/74 "2012-01-25T13:12:03Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > And in at least one case, Snopes is plain wrong (and not on purpose). I’m sure they’re wrong about a whole lot of things, but which one are you specifically pointing out? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-folks-snopes-isnt-exactly-a-new-site/348822/75 "2012-01-25T14:12:57Z")
> [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > I’m sure they’re wrong about a whole lot of things, but which one are you specifically pointing out? This one: > **[Saving Plastic Bottle Caps for Medical Treatment](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/capped-well/)** > > Collecting plastic bottle caps will provide chemo treatments to cancer sufferers or prosthetic limbs for wounded soldiers? Well… it’s _kinda_ wrong. There are and have been valid recycling schemes for HDPE bottle caps for a decade or more in the UK, where the buy price of clean used plastic was in the hundreds of GBP per tonne (it has since dropped to a much lower level, so as to make it much less profitable as a fundraising method), and there were campaigns to raise interest - I suspect those campaigns got circulated beyond their scope though - into areas where no arrangments had been made to collect and sell the materials. One specific detail on which the article is explicitly wrong though is: > [@](#): > > Plastic bottle caps have no inherent monetary value. Unlike aluminum cans (and the metal tabs attached to them), they aren’t worth anything as raw material because such caps are the wrong form of plastic to be recycled. There is therefore virtually no market for used plastic bottle tops. -This statement is (and was, since before the date of the article) simply incorrect on every detail. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-folks-snopes-isnt-exactly-a-new-site/348822/76 "2012-01-25T14:35:16Z")
I once got this one: [Did a Houston Store Close on September 11 to Honor a 9/11 Hijacker? | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/rumors/photos/martyr.asp) sent to me and CCed a bunch of other people (the false claim, not the Snopes link). When I responded to all with the Snopes link demonstrating that it wasn’t referring to a 9/11 hijacker, you’d have though I pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda. Bunch of fucking idiots. The guy who originally sent it responded with a link from Stormwatch (yes, the white supremacy website) attacking the couple behind Snopes, primarily for being Jews. So then I responded with the list of the hijackers from a government website, showing that none of them had that name. Of course, he never admitted being wrong. Then another imbecile on the list said the Muslim store owners _wanted_ us to believe it was the 9/11 hijacker being honored. Yeah, that would be great for business in Texas. Then he or she went on about the USA being created as a Christian country and all that usual horseshit. I would have lost all faith in humanity but another person in the group brought up Treaty of Tripoli explicitly stating that we were not. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-folks-snopes-isnt-exactly-a-new-site/348822/77 "2012-01-25T15:31:35Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > I once got this one: [Did a Houston Store Close on September 11 to Honor a 9/11 Hijacker? | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/rumors/photos/martyr.asp) sent to me and CCed a bunch of other people (the false claim, not the Snopes link). > > When I responded to all with the Snopes link demonstrating that it wasn’t referring to a 9/11 hijacker, you’d have though I pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda. Bunch of fucking idiots. > > The guy who originally sent it responded with a link from Stormwatch (yes, the white supremacy website) attacking the couple behind Snopes, primarily for being Jews. Atheist Jews? ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-folks-snopes-isnt-exactly-a-new-site/348822/78 "2012-01-25T15:56:48Z")
One of my favorite “Waaaaa! Facts?!? I hate facts!!” [moments of doucheyness](http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=318482014863323&set=a.284444838267041.74398.284438941600964&type=1&theater) ever. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-folks-snopes-isnt-exactly-a-new-site/348822/79 "2012-01-25T16:28:49Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > The guy who originally sent it responded with a link from Stormwatch (yes, the white supremacy website) . . . You mean Stormfront, right? ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-folks-snopes-isnt-exactly-a-new-site/348822/80 "2012-01-25T17:22:15Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > I once got this one: [Did a Houston Store Close on September 11 to Honor a 9/11 Hijacker? | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/rumors/photos/martyr.asp) sent to me and CCed a bunch of other people (the false claim, not the Snopes link). Well, whether the guy was a terrorist or not, you have to admit the sign was bi-lingual. We don’t want your Mexican translations in \*my \*America. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-folks-snopes-isnt-exactly-a-new-site/348822.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-folks-snopes-isnt-exactly-a-new-site/348822.md?page=5)