Difference between revisions of "250: Snopes"

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
{{w|Snopes}} is a popular website for checking the validity of {{w|Urban legend|urban legends}}. Snopes proves or disproves facts, but another urban legend is known that suggests Snopes runs a spam operations to create sources for their own benefit. The joke here is that Snopes disproves its own urban legend, creating a circular, invalid argument.
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{{w|Snopes}} is a popular website for checking the validity of {{w|Urban legend|urban legends}}. Here, one [[Cueball]] asks the other to check before sending him urban legends. Cueball replies with another urban legend saying that snopes, the website the first Cueball asks him to check, uses spam to keep their audience.  
  
The title text suggests that {{w|MythBusters}}, another group which debunks myths, also participate in the practice of spreading misinformation for the opportunity to test it.
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Naturally, it didn't take long for an urban legend to suggest that the proprietors of Snopes also direct a spam operation to create more urban legends and disseminate them, just so they'll continue to have an audience. One of the Cueballs tries to come to Snopes' defense, only to realize that the debunking was done by Snopes itself, creating a circular, invalid argument.
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The title text suggests that {{w|MythBusters}}, another group that debunks myths, also participate in the practice of spreading misinformation for the opportunity to test it. Indeed, the show has occasionally been accused of spending undue attention on unnecessary filler "myths" just for the sake of filling out the season.
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==Trivia==
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Snopes is also mentioned in the much later comic [[1081: Argument Victory]], in a much more positive light.
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
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{{comic discussion}}
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
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[[Category:Conspiracy theory]]
 
[[Category:Internet]]
 
[[Category:Internet]]

Revision as of 08:45, 13 April 2018

Snopes
The MythBusters are even more sinister.
Title text: The MythBusters are even more sinister.

Explanation

Snopes is a popular website for checking the validity of urban legends. Here, one Cueball asks the other to check before sending him urban legends. Cueball replies with another urban legend saying that snopes, the website the first Cueball asks him to check, uses spam to keep their audience.

Naturally, it didn't take long for an urban legend to suggest that the proprietors of Snopes also direct a spam operation to create more urban legends and disseminate them, just so they'll continue to have an audience. One of the Cueballs tries to come to Snopes' defense, only to realize that the debunking was done by Snopes itself, creating a circular, invalid argument.

The title text suggests that MythBusters, another group that debunks myths, also participate in the practice of spreading misinformation for the opportunity to test it. Indeed, the show has occasionally been accused of spending undue attention on unnecessary filler "myths" just for the sake of filling out the season.

Trivia

Snopes is also mentioned in the much later comic 1081: Argument Victory, in a much more positive light.

Transcript

Cueball: Another urban legend? You should check out Snopes before sending me this stuff.
Friend: Oops; yeah.
Cueball: Man, Snopes is really great--independent fact-checkers trawling our collective discourse, filtering out misinformation.
Friend: Yeah, but they have their dark side. The couple that runs snopes.com also runs a network of spam servers that start many of those forwarded stories in the first place, ensuring they'll always have business.
Cueball: That's absurd. Plus, it's definitely not true--it was debunked by...
Friend: Yes?
Cueball: ...Oh my God.


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Discussion

First!Unpopular Opinions (talk) 17:19, 23 January 2020 (UTC)

Should it be mentioned that 509: Induced Current is related to the title text? 162.158.62.28 16:42, 23 January 2021 (UTC)