Snopes: Difference between revisions

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
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{{quote|"''Rumor Has It''"|The ''[[Snopes|Snopes.com]]'' tagline.}}
{{quote|"''Rumor Has It''"|The ''[[Snopes|Snopes.com]]'' tagline.}}


[http://www.snopes.com Snopes] is very nearly the definitive website for busting urban legends and chain emails. They really have [[Shown Their Work]], and while some things can't be proven, they can be proven false.
'''[http://www.snopes.com Snopes]''' is very nearly ''the'' definitive website for busting urban legends and chain emails. They really have [[Shown Their Work]], and while some things can't be proven, they can be proven ''false''.


If someone sends you some stupid email, or posts on Facebook saying "Bubble Yum is made of [http://www.snopes.com/horrors/food/bubbleyum.asp spider eggs]!" you can point them to the right place to figure out that no, it isn't. Or that "[http://snopes.com/inboxer/prayer/bundy.asp Amanda Bundy] needs your prayers!" (she recovered years ago). Or, what about Craig Shergold? You know, the boy that was collecting greeting cards years ago? Well....Snopes checked, and Mr. Shergold made a full recovery, is now a healthy young man and -- having collected upwards of 33 ''million'' greeting cards -- respectfully requests that people stop sending them.
If someone sends you some stupid email, or posts on Facebook saying "Bubble Yum is made of [http://www.snopes.com/horrors/food/bubbleyum.asp spider eggs]!" you can point them to the right place to figure out that no, it isn't. Or that "[http://snopes.com/inboxer/prayer/bundy.asp Amanda Bundy] needs your prayers!" (she recovered years ago). Or, what about Craig Shergold? You know, the boy that was collecting greeting cards years ago? Well....Snopes checked, and Mr. Shergold made a full recovery, is now a healthy young man and -- having collected upwards of 33 ''million'' greeting cards -- respectfully requests that people stop sending them.


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{{tropenamer}}
=== Tropes present: ===
* [[Glurge]]
{{creatortropes}}
* [[Adult Fear]] : The "Parental Nightmares" section
* [[Adult Fear]] : The "Parental Nightmares" section
* [[Chain Letter]]: The emails recorded on the site generally ask people to forward it to everyone they know. They don't specify a quota or threaten bad luck, but still push the urgency.
* [[Chain Letter]]: The emails recorded on the site generally ask people to forward it to everyone they know. They don't specify a quota or threaten bad luck, but still push the urgency.
* [[Easy Road to Hell]]: A common urban legend about a paper made on [http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/hell.asp whether hell is endothermic or exothermic] states that hell must be really hot and getting worse because everyone has been cursed to go to hell by at least someone else in the world...and because he's not yet slept with a woman who said it'll be a cold day in Hell when she does.
* [[Easy Road to Hell]]: A common urban legend about a paper made on [http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/hell.asp whether hell is endothermic or exothermic] states that hell must be really hot and getting worse because everyone has been cursed to go to hell by at least someone else in the world...and because he's not yet slept with a woman who said it'll be a cold day in Hell when she does.
* [[Fun With Acronyms]]: [[Troll|The Repository of Lost Legends]]
* [[Fun with Acronyms]]: [[Troll|The Repository of Lost Legends]]
* [[Glurge]]: A whole section on it, in-universe (and they are the [[Trope Namer]]).
* [[Glurge]]: A whole section on it, in-universe (and they are the [[Trope Namer]]).
* [[Poe's Law]]: They debunk satire because of this. [https://www.snopes.com/notes/why-we-include-humor-and-satire-in-snopes-com/ See here.]
* [[Politically Motivated Teacher]]: Quite a few [[Urban Legends]] archived and discussed here have such teachers, typically involving them teaching a lesson to their students or getting into a fracas with a student of a different political alignment. A few examples (of varying degrees of truth) include [http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/socialism.asp a professor giving his students a hands-on lesson about socialism], [http://www.snopes.com/glurge/nodesks.asp a teacher having veterans come into her class to impart patriotism to her students], and a [[Hollywood Atheist]] [http://www.snopes.com/religion/chalk.asp professor attempting to disprove the existence of God...]by dropping a piece of chalk.
* [[Politically-Motivated Teacher]]: Quite a few [[Urban Legends]] archived and discussed here have such teachers, typically involving them teaching a lesson to their students or getting into a fracas with a student of a different political alignment. A few examples (of varying degrees of truth) include [http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/socialism.asp a professor giving his students a hands-on lesson about socialism], [http://www.snopes.com/glurge/nodesks.asp a teacher having veterans come into her class to impart patriotism to her students], and a [[Hollywood Atheist]] [http://www.snopes.com/religion/chalk.asp professor attempting to disprove the existence of God...] by dropping a piece of chalk.
** The latter of these also mentions [http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0055/0055_01.asp a similar] [[Chick Tracts|Chick Tract]].
** The latter of these also mentions [http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0055/0055_01.asp a similar] [[Chick Tracts|Chick Tract]].
* [[Schmuck Bait]]: The Repository of Lost Legends ([[Fun With Acronyms|T. R. O. L. L.]]), which purports to be just as true as the rest of the site. It isn't. Humorously, a TV series on urban legends [http://www.snopes.com/humor/mediagoofs/sixpence.asp fell for one] of the joke entries.
* [[Schmuck Bait]]: The Repository of Lost Legends ([[Fun with Acronyms|T. R. O. L. L.]]), which purports to be just as true as the rest of the site. It isn't. Humorously, a TV series on urban legends [http://www.snopes.com/humor/mediagoofs/sixpence.asp fell for one] of the joke entries.
** Yahoo!'s [http://news.yahoo.com/who-knew/#crsl=%252Fwho-knew%252Fflag-trivia-oldest-mistakes-more-28688110.html "Who Knew?"] feature totally fell for the joke entry about how California's flag supposedly was meant to have a ''pear'' on it instead of a bear.
** Yahoo!'s [http://news.yahoo.com/who-knew/#crsl=%252Fwho-knew%252Fflag-trivia-oldest-mistakes-more-28688110.html "Who Knew?"] feature totally fell for the joke entry about how California's flag supposedly was meant to have a ''pear'' on it instead of a bear.
* [[Shown Their Work]]: Considering it's driven almost entirely by two people, those two people always make sure to cite their sources when proving or debunking an urban legend.
* [[Shown Their Work]]: Considering it's driven almost entirely by two people, those two people always make sure to cite their sources when proving or debunking an urban legend.
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[[Category:Other Sites]]
[[Category:Other Sites]]
[[Category:Snopes]]
[[Category:Snopes]]
[[Category:Trope]]
[[Category:Website]]
[[Category:Urban Legends]]

Latest revision as of 04:07, 23 October 2021


"Rumor Has It"
—The Snopes.com tagline.

Snopes is very nearly the definitive website for busting urban legends and chain emails. They really have Shown Their Work, and while some things can't be proven, they can be proven false.

If someone sends you some stupid email, or posts on Facebook saying "Bubble Yum is made of spider eggs!" you can point them to the right place to figure out that no, it isn't. Or that "Amanda Bundy needs your prayers!" (she recovered years ago). Or, what about Craig Shergold? You know, the boy that was collecting greeting cards years ago? Well....Snopes checked, and Mr. Shergold made a full recovery, is now a healthy young man and -- having collected upwards of 33 million greeting cards -- respectfully requests that people stop sending them.


Snopes is the Trope Namer for:
Snopes provides examples of the following tropes: