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Co-founder of Snopes was writing plagiarized articles under a fake name

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Re: Co-founder of Snopes was writing plagiarized articles under a fake name

#341

Post by rufus_foreman »

ezekiel68 wrote: post #134
nradov wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Snopes altered those pages when they got called out for it.

Or perhaps they changed their minds once they realized the error? Just because something seems obvious to you doesn't mean it must seem obvious to anyone else. When friends of friends on my social media networks started posting links to their articles (without any context) I certainly got caught "refuting" more than a few of them in the comments until someone pointed this out to me.

They "realized the error" after the Babylon Bee put out a press release stating, "While we wish it wasn't necessary, we have retained a law firm to represent us in this matter".

Organizations have more credibility when they realize their errors before the lawyers get involved.

Re: Co-founder of Snopes was writing plagiarized articles under a fake name

#342

Post by alentist »

smnrchrds wrote: post #86
dfee wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this not a better established position? I see Snopes as pure, unadulterated bias. Honestly, I see all those fact checking websites the same way. Which is fine, though humorously this pairs nicely with another thread on HN this morning about HS critical thinking courses around journalism, quite well.

> I see Snopes as pure, unadulterated bias Could you please elaborate? I have never seen them described like this.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/blm-terrorist-rosenberg/

Rating: Mixture

What's True

Susan Rosenberg has served as vice chair of the board of directors for Thousand Currents, an organization that provides fundraising and fiscal sponsorship for the Black Lives Matter Global Movement. She was an active member of revolutionary left-wing movements whose illegal activities included bombing U.S. government buildings and committing armed robberies.

What's Undetermined

In the absence of a single, universally-agreed definition of "terrorism," it is a matter of subjective determination as to whether the actions for which Rosenberg was convicted and imprisoned — possession of weapons and hundreds of pounds of explosives — should be described as acts of "domestic terrorism."

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/biden-forgot-defense-secre...

Rating: Mixture

What's True

A video shows Biden fumbling his words and apparently blanking on Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's name at one point in the speech, although he had mentioned Austin's name a few minutes earlier without issue.

What's Undetermined

It's unclear whether Biden literally "forgot" his defense secretary's name at that moment, or whether, for example, he got stuck doing an extended "folksy" ad lib after initially tripping over his words.

Re: Co-founder of Snopes was writing plagiarized articles under a fake name

#343

Post by hitpointdrew »

retsibsi wrote: post #339
hitpointdrew wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "debunk" COVID and the efficacy and safety of the vaccine What evidence is there of the efficacy of the vaccine that isn’t provided directly from Pfizer/Moderna? What evidence is there that it is safe, when there are 0 mid-to-long term studies on the effects of it? If it safe why are the pharma company’s immune from all liability? Why is anyone that question the narrative on how safe and effective the vaccines imme…

> What evidence is there of the efficacy of the vaccine that isn’t provided directly from Pfizer/Moderna? There are multiple observational studies looking at real-world effectiveness. If necessary I'll find some links, but have you looked?

I haven’t look for studies specifically, if you could link some that would be great.

I just hear anecdotal evidence like “hospitalizations have gone down”. Which may be 100% true, but is hardly evidence that the vaccines are effective. The placebo effect is well known. It’s not shocking that hospitalization has gone down when the media has been beating the fear drum on how terribly dangerous the virus is 24/7, causing people to panic (pre vaccine days) and go to the hospital out of caution. Along comes a vaccine that is touted as effective and the media pounds that drum 24/7 and hospitalization goes down. The vaccine could have been saline solution and you would have seen a drop in hospitalization.

Re: Co-founder of Snopes was writing plagiarized articles under a fake name

#344

Post by alentist »

qkqk wrote: post #247
dukeofdoom wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's an example Snopes article questioning the authenticity of the photos on Hunter's Biden Laptop. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/fox-hunter-biden-porn/ They have not updated the fact check. Here's a story with a video in which Hunter Biden himself claims Russian drug dealers stole another one of his laptops for blackmail. And 'The Russians have videos of me doing crazy f**ing sex! Source with the Video: https:…

Huh, the article where they say "Trump did not explicitly tell people to 'storm' or 'breach' or 'break into' the Capitol" and instead “peacefully and patriotically” march does't fit the mold of "pure, unadulterated bias." https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-tell-supporters-stor... I'm so confused!

That statement is correct. Why are you confused?

https://www.npr.org/2021/02/10/966396848/read-trumps-jan-6-s...

Re: Co-founder of Snopes was writing plagiarized articles under a fake name

#345

Post by alentist »

smnrchrds wrote: post #315
Wolfenstein98k wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Engage with the given example, which proves the claim.

If a source makes questionable claims to the left or right, it is biased. If it makes questionable claims to the left and right, it is not biased, it just lacks quality.

There's nothing questionable about the statement you quoted.

Re: Co-founder of Snopes was writing plagiarized articles under a fake name

#346

Post by samstave »

xqyf wrote: post #265
samstave wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FUCK SNOPES --- They are literally FAKE NEWS and they are actively paid to push narratives. Utter douchebags.

Surely there's a horrible subreddit for you to secrete hot takes like "literally FAKE NEWS" on instead of this forum?

Go fuck yourself.

4 month old account while I have been on both HN and Reddit for more than a decade? Sure -- I am just someone who doesnt know what the fuck I am talking about because I disagree with you?

Re: Co-founder of Snopes was writing plagiarized articles under a fake name

#347

Post by [deleted] »

retsibsi wrote: post #339
hitpointdrew wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "debunk" COVID and the efficacy and safety of the vaccine What evidence is there of the efficacy of the vaccine that isn’t provided directly from Pfizer/Moderna? What evidence is there that it is safe, when there are 0 mid-to-long term studies on the effects of it? If it safe why are the pharma company’s immune from all liability? Why is anyone that question the narrative on how safe and effective the vaccines imme…

> What evidence is there of the efficacy of the vaccine that isn’t provided directly from Pfizer/Moderna? There are multiple observational studies looking at real-world effectiveness. If necessary I'll find some links, but have you looked?

[deleted]

Re: Co-founder of Snopes was writing plagiarized articles under a fake name

#348

Post by retsibsi »

hitpointdrew wrote: post #343
retsibsi wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What evidence is there of the efficacy of the vaccine that isn’t provided directly from Pfizer/Moderna? There are multiple observational studies looking at real-world effectiveness. If necessary I'll find some links, but have you looked?

I haven’t look for studies specifically, if you could link some that would be great. I just hear anecdotal evidence like “hospitalizations have gone down”. Which may be 100% true, but is hardly evidence that the vaccines are effective. The placebo effect is well known. It’s not shocking that hospitalization has gone down when the media has been beating the fear drum on how terribly dangerous the virus is 24/7, causin…

I've mostly been interested in effectiveness against the Delta strain, so the links in my history are recent preprints that have something to say about that: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.08.06.21261707v... , https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2108891 , and a UK Government analysis that you'll probably find less convincing so I won't bother linking it.

Re: Co-founder of Snopes was writing plagiarized articles under a fake name

#349

Post by jrgoff »

h_anna_h wrote: post #78
mjburgess wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that the first should be "YES" and the second "Mixed". The question is now whether you can find similar "right-friendly" stories that show a similar "hesitation" in the labelling. Probably you can.

Yes, I remember a site listing the most evil people that ever existed and decided to place Marx at the top. It is not exactly the same thing (as it was not a fact-checking site) but it was similar enough. Although, is it really that the question? We have known that "both sides" have been bullshitting their way for ages. It's not as if this is a secret. The only reason that people care about Snopes having a political…

I think you misunderstood the point you were responding to. I don't think they were suggested there are right leaning sites with similar type of bias, I think they were suggesting Snopes may have articles with similar right-friendly bias.

Re: Co-founder of Snopes was writing plagiarized articles under a fake name

#350

Post by kbutler »

qkqk wrote: post #247
dukeofdoom wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's an example Snopes article questioning the authenticity of the photos on Hunter's Biden Laptop. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/fox-hunter-biden-porn/ They have not updated the fact check. Here's a story with a video in which Hunter Biden himself claims Russian drug dealers stole another one of his laptops for blackmail. And 'The Russians have videos of me doing crazy f**ing sex! Source with the Video: https:…

Huh, the article where they say "Trump did not explicitly tell people to 'storm' or 'breach' or 'break into' the Capitol" and instead “peacefully and patriotically” march does't fit the mold of "pure, unadulterated bias." https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-tell-supporters-stor... I'm so confused!

Snopes rated that claim "Mixed"

Compare:

  It was a subjective call on whether ____'s use of phrases "you have to show strength" and "demand that ____ do the right thing" were meant to condone violence and crimes among ____ extremists without explicitly encouraging it.
With:

  ___ said they should “stay in the street,” “fight for justice,” and “get more confrontational.” But there was more context to ___ remarks, and ___ didn’t call for violence, nor did ___ words incite violence.
---

The first is from the article on Trump you cited (rated "Mixed").

Second quote is from an article about comments by Maxine Waters on George Floyd protests & LA riots (of which she explicitly said, "I call it a rebellion") https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/maxine-waters-comments/ (rated "False")

The pattern seems to be: If there's a way a favored speaker can be taken positively, that will be explained. If there's a way a non-favored speaker can be taken badly, it will be called out.

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