# What Is going on between Snopes and their vendor? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 24, 2017, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-between-snopes-and-their-vendor/792038 "2017-07-24T16:07:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-between-snopes-and-their-vendor/792038/1 "2017-07-24T16:07:52Z")
This link showed up in my FB feed this morning. > **[Snopes.com](https://www.snopes.com/)** > > The definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation. > [@](#): > > We had previously contracted with an outside vendor to provide certain services for [Snopes.com](http://Snopes.com). That contractual relationship ended earlier this year, but the vendor will not acknowledge the change in contractual status and continues to essentially hold the [Snopes.com](http://Snopes.com) web site hostage. Although we maintain editorial control (for now), the vendor will not relinquish the site’s hosting to our control, so we cannot modify the site, develop it, or — most crucially — place advertising on it. The vendor continues to insert their own ads and has been withholding the advertising revenue from us. > > Our legal team is fighting hard for us, but, having been cut off from all revenue, we are facing the prospect of having no financial means to continue operating the site and paying our staff (not to mention covering our legal fees) in the meanwhile. They’ve set up a gofundme page. > **[Donate to Save Our Snopes!, organized by David Mikkelson](https://www.gofundme.com/f/snopes)** > > Get involved and become a Snopes Member or continue to contribute via GoFundMe.  > > Limited Time:  Life… David Mikkelson needs your support for Save Our Snopes! What exactly is going on here? I suppose this kills the silly right-wing claim that Snopes is funded by George Soros. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-between-snopes-and-their-vendor/792038/2 "2017-07-24T16:13:24Z")
ALWAYS keep and maintain a private back-up copy of your web site! Didn’t they do that? (Er… How many bazigabytes would that be?) ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-between-snopes-and-their-vendor/792038/3 "2017-07-24T16:30:02Z")
This is a bit crazy, If you control your own DNS and have a site backup, you are golden. Worst case scenario is you restore the site and repoint the DNS. Wait for propagation and you are back in business. My wife’s company recently launched their site using an outside vendor. I made sure that the vendor had provided database backups that we move out to a different server on a daily basis, access to the code repository in GitHub that we periodically clone, and no control over the DNS to prevent hijacking or control of the SSL cert. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-between-snopes-and-their-vendor/792038/4 "2017-07-24T16:31:50Z")
It looks like Snopes contracted with a business to maintain some semblance of privacy for the actual operators. [whois Snopes](https://www.whois.com/whois/snopes.com) What this means for Snopes is that someone else actually holds control of the domain name and where it’s hosted. So while they could set up all the content on a new host somewhere they have no way to alter the [snopes.com](http://snopes.com) master record to point at the new host. What their argument with the existing company is is anybody’s guess. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-between-snopes-and-their-vendor/792038/5 "2017-07-24T16:46:05Z")
From experience I can tell you that whois privacy services generally do NOT lock you out of modifying the DNS records. I’m not familiar with “Perfect Privacy” so maybe they do things differently but I doubt it since they’d lose pretty much all of their business to privacy providers that don’t place such restrictions. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-between-snopes-and-their-vendor/792038/6 "2017-07-24T17:01:27Z")
This from the website of Perfect Privacy LLC. [http://perfectprivacy.com/how-it-works.aspx](http://perfectprivacy.com/how-it-works.aspx) > [@](#): > > You retain the FULL BENEFITS of domain registration. You can: cancel, sell, renew or transfer your domain; set-up the name servers for, and resolve disputes involving your domain. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-between-snopes-and-their-vendor/792038/7 "2017-07-24T17:53:11Z")
Weird. It looks like [snopes.com](http://snopes.com) is sitting on a server at a hosting provider called Cogeco Peer 1, based in Canada. I wonder if Snopes’s beef is with them, or if there’s a separate development firm that holds the keys to the hosting account. Either way, seems like poor planning on the part of Snopes. Their site is a great resource. I hope they get it sorted out. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-between-snopes-and-their-vendor/792038/8 "2017-07-24T17:58:14Z")
Here’s more detail: > **[Snopes, facing legal and advertising trouble, is embarking on an urgent...](https://www.niemanlab.org/2017/07/snopes-facing-legal-and-advertising-trouble-is-embarking-on-an-urgent-campaign-for-reader-donations/)** > > Snopes is in trouble. The hoax-debunking site, founded in 1994, has in the past year gained prominence as one of the lines of defense against viral misinformation (profiles here and here), joining the likes of PolitiFact and AP as Facebook's... This article makes it out to be an ugly battle between the Mikkelsons, who are divorced and apparently fighting for control of the company. > [@](#): > > It’s also currently being “held hostage,” it alleges, by a vendor it contracted with in 2015 and ended ties with this past spring — but underlying that legal battle seems to be an argument between Snopes cofounder David Mikkelson and his ex-wife, Barbara Mikkelson, over control of the company. Snopes parent company Bardav, Inc. and the vendor, Proper Media, filed complaints against each other over issues stemming from that contract termination. Snopes alleges that Proper Media continues to control the advertising on [Snopes.com](http://Snopes.com), and is withholding revenue from those ads from the Snopes team. Proper Media, meanwhile, alleges that David Mikkelson “has engaged in a lengthy scheme of concealment and subterfuge to gain control of the company and to drain its profits.” (Daniel Funke has a lot more useful background on the battle over at Poynter.) More here: [Snopes is locked in a legal battle for control of its website - Poynter](https://www.poynter.org/2017/snopes-is-locked-in-a-legal-battle-for-control-of-its-website/465615/) Sounds like a circular firing squad. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-between-snopes-and-their-vendor/792038/9 "2017-07-24T18:47:14Z")
Whomever holds the domain, whether the site-owner[s], the host, or the registrar has the option to Lock the domain to prevent stealing. Doesn’t always work. Then again most of the domain world is wacked out and doesn’t always work. ( particularly hostage-takers, SEO, hordes of stupid TLDs, and GoDaddy’s rather extortionate prices for desires domains [Not GoDaddy, but the instant you run a search for the perfect name you’ve dreamed up, bots will snatch it up for a month in order to bargain with you for the price they now want] ). I doubt if the Snopes site weighs as much as 5 GB. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-between-snopes-and-their-vendor/792038/10 "2017-07-24T18:55:29Z")
This is why we can’t have nice things. I hope the site can continue on exactly as it always has, regardless of the Mikkelson’s personal issues. I’d hate to see it end up in the wrong hands and go the way of places like Jump The Shark. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-between-snopes-and-their-vendor/792038/11 "2017-07-24T19:10:14Z")
Or worse, get bought over by Breitbart. And is is sad that such a long and friendly relationship should shatter after so many harmonious years. From that Poynter link: **The relationship between the two companies stretches back to the fall of 2015, when Bardav founder David Mikkelson inked a deal with Proper Media to manage all content and advertising accounts for Snopes** ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-between-snopes-and-their-vendor/792038/12 "2017-07-24T19:13:01Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > Sounds like a circular firing squad. Good luck explaining that to former spouses. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-between-snopes-and-their-vendor/792038/13 "2017-07-24T21:42:52Z")
I rate the email that the OP received, “Partially true.” By the way, it sounds from the complaint as though Barbara Mikkelson sold her half share of ownership of the site to Proper Media some time ago and is not part of the current dispute. Proper Media also accuses David Mikkelson of spending company money on his honeymoon with his new wife. In other words, assuming the complaint accurately describes the ownership transactions, this is definitely a fight between owners of the site over their duties toward each other, and not just a dispute with a vendor. Another [article](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/07/the-ugly-dispute-threatening-snopes/534708/). ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-between-snopes-and-their-vendor/792038/14 "2017-07-25T01:07:59Z")
Snopes got a re-design a while back. I liked the old bare-bones look. Kinda lost interest. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-between-snopes-and-their-vendor/792038/15 "2017-07-25T01:27:51Z")
Same here, modernist flat is hideous crap — I drop any site that’s gone flat bad. As to the dispute mentioned by Tom Tildrum, there is a deeper message: Never divide shares 50 - 50 without a casting vote. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-between-snopes-and-their-vendor/792038/16 "2017-07-25T01:47:09Z")
So you’d give up on a website for form rather than content? That’s really disheartening. It’s not like it’s hard to read or anything. And you will not find any other fact-finding website. Plus the design was flat before. This is whole thing is ridiculous. The other side’s argument sounds ridiculous. “He’s mismanaged the site!” So? That doesn’t give you legal rights to not pay him, and he has 50% of the company, so you can’t get rid of him. And no one is going to use the site if Snopes himself isn’t there. It’s completely useless without him in charge. It will easily spread that Snopes had a hostile takeover and cannot be trusted anymore. These guys are morons to try and attack an Internet darling like this. If they somehow have the law on their side, it still will result in bad things for them. I hope Leonard French is on top of this and can tell us more. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-between-snopes-and-their-vendor/792038/17 "2017-07-25T02:00:33Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > So you’d give up on a website for form rather than content? That’s really disheartening. It’s not like it’s hard to read or anything. And you will not find any other fact-finding website. Plus the design was flat before. > > This is whole thing is ridiculous. The other side’s argument sounds ridiculous. “He’s mismanaged the site!” So? That doesn’t give you legal rights to not pay him, and he has 50% of the company, so you can’t get rid of him. > > And no one is going to use the site if Snopes himself isn’t there. It’s completely useless without him in charge. It will easily spread that Snopes had a hostile takeover and cannot be trusted anymore. > > These guys are morons to try and attack an Internet darling like this. If they somehow have the law on their side, it still will result in bad things for them. > > I hope Leonard French is on top of this and can tell us more. They smell money, and are assholes. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-between-snopes-and-their-vendor/792038/18 "2017-07-25T02:24:17Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I rate the email that the OP received, “Partially true.” > … To be clear; I didn’t receive an email. I follow Snopes on Facebook. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-between-snopes-and-their-vendor/792038/19 "2017-07-25T02:24:27Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > So you’d give up on a website for form rather than content? Yes. Aesthetic _matters_. I wouldn’t read the most important content if it was scrawled on a wall in a revolting public lavatory Aesthetic _matters_. > [@](#): > > Plus the design was flat before. But not **Flat Style**. If you allow pompous designers to make every site indistinguishable in it’s bare flatitude, you are complicit in their sovietism. It’s like destroying all the world’s furniture and substituting universal IKEA. Only not using bad sites improves the Web. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-between-snopes-and-their-vendor/792038/20 "2017-07-25T02:30:45Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > And no one is going to use the site if Snopes himself isn’t there. It’s completely useless without him in charge. I’m not sure that’s true. Did you even notice that half of Snopes left the site a year ago? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-going-on-between-snopes-and-their-vendor/792038.md?page=2)