Proposal To Expand USPAP To Include A New Service Type: Valuation Of Information

[RCA]

I never looked at Snopes.com until now, so thanks!

Snopes.com looks much less biased than FactCheck.org. I will take a closer look at it.

I see it is based in Austin, run by a David Mikkelson, who says on one of their pages that they get insults for being biased in every direction. - Good indication, I suppose.

But if you ask me, they would get a lot further with appraisers and certifications in the mix. I think a lot of people don't know what Snopes is, and the fact that the name sounds like "Sneak..." probably doesn't lend to its credibility. They could make a much larger business out of this.

 

[George Hatch]

Snopes has a political bias and they sometimes get their facts wrong.

 

[timd354]

.

But if you ask me, they would get a lot further with appraisers and certifications in the mix. .

Outside of appraisers, nobody cares about what appraisers think and I don't see the general public trusting someone more as a fact checker just because they have some sort of certification.

 

[Mr Rex]

You mean twitter and facebook aren't truthworthy?

 

[RCA]

Outside of appraisers, nobody cares about what appraisers think and I don't see the general public trusting someone more as a fact checker just because they have some sort of certification.

In terms of certifying the truthfulness of information, appraisers don't have any competition. Can you imagine Trump saying that CNN's statement about such and such has been certified as a lie or having no foundation? Saying this on Twitter or TV? How fast do you think this all changes? - Very fast.

 

[RCA]

You mean twitter and facebook aren't truthworthy?

Of course this is a documented fact. In fact, today, my issue of Science just came in the mail (9 March 1998) with the title article "How Lies Spread - On Social Media, false news beats the truth". It has two major articles the "The Science of Fake News" and "The Spread of True and False News Online", both focused on Facebook and Twitter.

 

[RCA]

Snopes has a political bias and they sometimes get their facts wrong.

From what I see, Snopes looks like a very good attempt to get at the truth. I would have to praise the people working for it.

-But their whole business model is defective. It is a non-profit pulling in $700,000/year from advertising and they have been in business since the late 90's. That is peanuts. It's the "living dead", as investors would say.

"Snopes" sounds untrustworthy, without a widely established reputation to back it up. If Trump gets up before the TV and says "Snopes" says CNN's statement about him having said "Mexicans are rapists" is false, it doesn't mean anything. Really. Certifying statements under USPAP, is a whole different matter.

They need to charge for certifying news, facts and other information on a per-client basis. Different business model. They can do some of the unimportant Snopes fact finding in the non-profit; but they need a for-profit partner to do the serious high-profit work for political organizations, and the like. They need to become their own CIA. They need to become a "Certified Information Service". Their primary target - and possibly client base - would likely be the major news organizations.

 

[timd354]

In terms of certifying the truthfulness of information, appraisers don't have any competition. Can you imagine Trump saying that CNN's statement about such and such has been certified as a lie or having no foundation? Saying this on Twitter or TV? How fast do you think this all changes? - Very fast.

I really don't think most people would care

 

[Carnivore]

I really don't think most people would care

Journalism has its own set of ethics and standards. I think many of the Journalist either missed most of the class or were asleep. What i know about journalist is they are masters at writing. They excel at writing half truths, taking quotes out of context, using supposed legitimate sources etc When they make a mistake(get caught) they bury the correction or retraction in the back of the publication or in the middle of the night when it comes to TV. They have managed to mix or confuse the boundary between news and opinion. The everyday stuff we hear or read is all one big OP/ED Page/Broadcast. They have managed to blur the lines on everything.

So Snopes has revealed something about "Toys R Us" when It comes to existing Gift Cards. Will they honor them or not? If you read all the way through the Snopes on this issue you learn one thing about Toys R Us in regards to honoring the Card! It's not Yes or No! The answer is 'Maybe'.

Where I have found Snopes to be of little help is when a Question to an answer is Maybe.

Snopes was started by I believe a Husband/wife team out of their Home. I don't have any idea on how they are structured now.

 

[glenn walker]

It's not fake news or factual news it's propaganda.