Snopes (), also known as the Urban Legends Reference Pages, is a website that is the most widely-known resource for validating or debunking urban legends, Internet rumors, email forwards, and other such stories of uncertain or questionable origin in popular American culture. Snopes is run by Barbara and David Mikkelson, a couple from California who married after meeting on the newsgroup alt.folklore.urban. The couple also founded the San Fernando Valley Folklore Society, and 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.

History

David Mikkelson used the username "snopes" (the name of a family of often unpleasant people in the works of William Faulkner) in the Usenet newsgroup alt.folklore.urban.See Michele Tepper, "Usenet Communities and the Cultural Politics of Information" in David Porter, ed., Internet Culture (1997) at 48 ("1he two most notorious trollers in AFU, Ted Frank and snopes, are also two of the most consistent posters of serious research."). Barbara Hamel was also a prolific poster. The Mikkelsons created snopes.com in 1995. Hamel now works on the site full-time, while David, a programmer, works on the site part-time.

Main site

Snopes aims to debunk or confirm widely spread urban legends. The site is often referenced by news media and other sites, including CNN, FOX news, and MSNBC. The site is so comprehensive that leading folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand has cited it as a reason why he has never created a website of his own. Its popular standing is such that some chain e-mail hoaxes claim to have been "checked out on 'Snopes.com'" in an attempt to discourage readers from seeking verification.

Snopes directs 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. 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. (The name was chosen for its acronym, T.R.O.L.L., a reference to the early 1990s definition of the word troll to mean an Internet prank, of which David Mikkelson was a prominent practitioner.) 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 a Ring o' Roses"'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 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.