I guess they've run out of actual facts, so they come up with their own opinions about rumors instead. Today we have the cash back scam, with no proof whatsoever on whether or not it actually happens.
I've been seeing a lot of these "Status: Undetermined" stories lately. It makes me wonder what the point is in writing them. Are they hoping someone with more information will write in, or are they just really hurting for material? Are they too busy to investigate matters? What's the deal?
Snopes also did a lot of fact-checking about the political candidates during the election, something that seemed beyond the scope of a debunking site.
What it boils down to is, I'm not sure what kind of site Snopes is anymore.
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4 comments:
Hi there, Chloe. Welcome to the Blog o' Me.
I did read the whole article. I also never said that "Undetermined" meant "True".
My point was that rather than debunking things, Snopes is simply putting up a lot of rumors that they haven't yet proven true or false, and then giving their unfounded opinion on what the answer might be. I didn't think that was the purpose of the site.
You do have a point about hoaxes being hoaxes, etc., regardless of the nature of the item in question. However, Snopes seemed to be realigning itself as a news resource by focusing so much on the U.S. presidential candidates.
If this is the direction the site is going now, that's all well and good. All I was saying was that I started reading Snopes expecting to find articles about whether urban legends were "fact" or "fiction". Making that determination doesn't seem to be the primary function of the site anymore.
Thanks for your comment.
Hey, look! They actually proved something to be false today!I guess I won't give up on them yet :D
I can tell you for fact, as a former cashier of Stop and Shop, that this does happen. It's also quite easy to do as the cashier completely controls the cashback process and can easily enter an amount without the customer's knowledge.
As such, I consider this rumor "True". It IS something people should be aware of and watch out for. I tried to write to the people at Snopes, but I got no response and the entry wasn't edited, leading me to believe that they just don't care how accurate they are. They can't deny it happens, so they're only justification for the "Undetermined" status is the magnitude.
As they wrote, they're not sure that it is "widespread". What does it take for it to become widespread? Does it have to happen to them? While giving people the benefit of the doubt is nice and all, their classification of "Undetermined" borders on sticking one's head in the sand.
- Derik http://godlikenerd.com
Thanks for the info, Derik! Scary stuff...
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