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The Urban Legends Reference Pages, also known as snopes.com, is a website dedicated to determining the truth about many urban legends, internet rumors and other such stories of uncertain or questionable origin. Snopes is run by Barbara and David Mikkelson, a couple from California who met on the newsgroup alt.folklore.urban and married. The couple also founded the San Fernando Valley Folklore Society, who were credited as the owners of the site until 2005. * The site is organized according to topic and includes a messageboard where questionable stories and pictures may be posted.

Main Site

The Mikkelsons' work has been effective in debunking or confirming widely spread urban legends. The site is referenced by numerous other sites, directing people to more information about various hoaxes, especially in regard to chain e-mails. Although they research their topics heavily and provide references when possible, not all of their sources (especially those which are personal interviews, phone calls, or e-mails) are fully verifiable. Where appropriate, pages are generally marked "undetermined" or "unverifiable" if the Mikkelsons feel there is not enough evidence to either support or disprove a given claim.

The site is sometimes confused with The AFU and Urban Legends Archive *, a similar site run by the denizens of alt.folklore.urban, which houses that newsgroup's FAQ.

The Mikkelsons have stressed the reference portion of the name Urban Legends Reference Pages, indicating that their intention is not merely to dismiss or confirm misconceptions and rumors but to provide evidence for such debunkings and confirmations as well."Urban Legends Reference Pages: (Frequently Asked Questions)". (Re "How do I know the information you've presented is accurate?") Retrieved 9 June 2006. In an attempt to demonstrate the perils of over-reliance on authority, the Mikkelsons created a series of made-up urban folklore tales which they termed The Repository of Lost Legends."Urban Legends Reference Page: Lost Legends". Retrieved 9 June 2006. (The name was chosen for its acronym, T.R.O.L.L.) One fictional legend averred that the children's nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Sixpence" was really a coded reference used by pirates to recruit members. (This parodied a real false legend surrounding "Ring Around the Rosie"'s link to the bubonic plague.) Although the creators were sure that no one could believe a tale so ridiculous – and had added a link"Urban Legends Reference Page: Lost Legends (False Authority)". Retrieved 9 June 2006. at the bottom of the page to another page explaining the hoax, and a message with the ratings saying Note: Any relationship between these ratings and reality is purely coincidental. – eventually the legend was featured as true on an urban legends board-game and TV show. "Urban Legends Reference Pages: Humor (Mostly True Stories)". Retrieved 20 June 2006. Whether this meant their plan backfired or succeeded is in the eye of the beholder.

The name snopes comes from the name of a family in the works of writer William Faulkner."Urban Legends Reference Pages: (Frequently Asked Questions)". (Re "What are 'snopes'?") Retrieved 9 June 2006.

Criticism

Critics have accused the Mikkelsons of bias towards several ends on the political spectrum."snopes.com: Kiss my bias". Message-board thread, where the Mikkelsons repost some of the e-mails they receive. Retrieved 9 June 2006. However, the site debunks or confirms myths no matter which part of the political spectrum that the myth touches. Since one category of modern myths concerns spreading rumors or various positive or negative truths about political representatives, debunking or confirming such a myth is seen by some as being supportive of the political beliefs of the one that benefits from the analysis. This is however a logical fallacy of accident since a determination of the veracity of a statment does not automatically indicate support of an opinion expressed in that statement.

Example: Alice is a politician that represents certain political beliefs. Mallory spreads a rumor that Alice has a criminal record in order to discredit Alice. Bob presents proof that Alice does not have a criminal record and that the statement put forth by Mallory therefore is false. When seeing that Bob debunked the rumor, Marvin claims that Bob supports Alice' political beliefs (i.e. is biased). The fallacy of accident comes from the following reasoning:

  • Anyone that supports Alice' political beliefs will attempt to debunk the rumor.
  • Bob debunked the rumor.
  • Therefore Bob supports Alice' political beliefs.
This is wrong because Bob may have chosen to debunk the rumor for any other reason than wanting to support Alice' political beliefs.

Forums

The ULRP has a reasonably active forums community. The community, who call themselves "snopesters" (usually lowercase "s") have their own lingo, such as NFBSK (Not For British School Kids, a euphemism for adult subjects or language), Waffles (for when posters accidentally double post), YOMANK (You Owe Me A New Keyboard, their equivalent to LOL), and other expressions.

The current forums have been around roughly since 2000, replacing the two old forums, as shown in this post. The current forums are powered by UBB Classic.

The forums have a variety of subforums with different areas of discussions, grouped together, such as a group of forums devoted to discussions of different types of Urban Legends, a group of forums devoted to general talk, with forums about real life (SLC), current events (Soapbox Derby), a forum for entertainment (Amusement Bark), a forum for rants (Rantidote), and a forum for suggestions about new forum features.

There is also a forum about Glurge (Glurge Gallery) and Hurricane Katrina, as well as a forum where threads that get out of control go (Petty Bickering), a forum for jokes (Fun House), a forum for technological discussions (Technobabble) and a forum for bizarre emails sent in through the comments section (We've Got Mail!).

There are also archived versions of forums, to save space in the current versions of the forums, but not every forum has an archived version. Also, many older threads have been deleted, but there are plenty of older threads that still exist.

The forums regularly have different themes, centered around a concept. With each theme, there is a near-universal color scheme (with only some of the forums staying another color scheme all the time) and theme related member statuses. Throughout the forum's history, usage of custom member statuses and avatars have been enabled or disabled. Currently, the forums provides for custom avatars (regardless of theme) and custom member statuses (that must relate to the theme).

The organization of the forum groups has seen minor changes in the past, but currently stands composed as:

  • Urban Legends
  • Non-UL Chat
  • SLC Central
  • Diversions
  • About This Site
  • Archived Forums

David and Barbara Mikkelson are active participants on the forums, with David going by the name "snopes" (lowercase "s") and Barbara going simply as "Barbara".

References

See also

External links

Urban legends | Educational websites | Skeptics | 1995 establishments

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Urban Legends Reference Pages".

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