by Marie F.

Created on: October 31, 2008

Snopes.com. Believe it or not? Trust it or not?

I've used Snopes for years. Snopes is the internet site to check out those nasty chain mails that our friends and relatives feel obligated to forward. 99.9% of the time I would head to Snopes.com, grab the link debunking whatever myth was presented to me, and email back the purveyors of misinformation. I found it quite amusing.

I've stopped using Snopes as much as I used to. I realize that it is a free to use website, but the popup ads have now begun to irritate me. Popup ads used to be a necessary evil on websites. That was a long time ago. Now I find them a reason not to visit a website. Of course the webmasters need to fund the website, but I would return as a user if I knew I wasn't going to get three popups just to get to the page of interest.

There are click ads also. Dear Snopes, increase your click ads. Maybe become an affiliate for a major seller. But please, I'm a little internet savvy and I am not going to take a survey because there is a box floating across my screen. I am going to close it and i don't think that does you much good in the money department.

Don't get me wrong, Snopes is a cool website, but I have one more beef before I get into the wonders of Snopes. Update the design of the website. Except to your most loyal readers, the design looks cheesy. There are still tables with outlines. Using an updated design will give you more credibility. Yes the website is fun; but it hasn't advanced with the times.

Now, just for fun, you can go to the website and have a good laugh. Or, thump yourself on the head and say "you mean that wasn't true?" There are 45 categories to peruse with current topic keywords listed in the sidebar.

In the 2008 election there had to have been millions of hits on McCain and Obama alone let alone Sarah Palin. Snopes has a great rating system also. If they can't prove a story is false, they give you a rating to help you make your own decision. True, false, multiple truth values, undetermined, unclassifiable veracity. As long as you can define 'unclassifiable veracity' you are fine.

My neighborhood emailing list is having a somewhat nasty political debate. One email said "if you don't believe me, check Snopes.com". That's power! I even used it to debunk a myth that assailed the other side's candidate. Then another neighbor sent me an email that said that they heard on the golf course that the Snopes people (husband and wife team) are of a certain political party and are slanting their results in favor of their candidate. People are talking about Snopes.com on the golf course, pretty good if you ask me.

Believe it or not? I bet you can. Trust it or not? Probably.

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