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According to SaveSnopes, the Snopes fact-checking web-site is in trouble because a service provider is refusing to hand-over advertising revenue for the site.

Snopes.com, ... is in danger of closing its doors. So, for the first time in our history, we are turning to you, our readership, for help.

Since our inception, we have always ... had ... no source of revenue other than that provided by online advertising. Unfortunately, we have been cut off from our historic source of advertising income.

We had previously contracted with an outside vendor to provide certain services for Snopes.com. That contractual relationship ended earlier this year, but the vendor will not acknowledge the change in contractual status and continues to essentially hold the Snopes.com web site hostage.

Is that what is going on? Or is this a hoax/scam?

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    It seems there is a legal dispute at the moment between the two parties that "own" Snopes.com. We shouldn't try to resolve which side is truthiest while there is a court-case going on. I am trying to work out how we can ask whether SaveSnopes is a hoax without getting mixed into an ongoing court case.
    – Oddthinking ♦
    Jul 25, 2017 at 13:07
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    I hear there's a website out there which handles this kind of thing and will tell us whether or not this is true... If only I could remember what the name of it was.
    – aslum
    Jul 25, 2017 at 13:11
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    @aslum: I think you are referring to Skeptics.StackExchange.com
    – Oddthinking ♦
    Jul 25, 2017 at 13:15
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    Well, we can be pretty sure of at least a few things based on some reading around. First, SaveSnopes and the associated Gofundme are linked directly off the Snopes page - if they contain falsehood, it's because the people currently in control of site content are lying. Second, there is an ugly legal battle brewing over the control of the company and associated website, following off of an earlier ugly divorce. The details of who exactly is at fault for what aren't anything we want to get into, but other than that, it looks pretty legit.
    – Ben Barden
    Jul 25, 2017 at 18:36
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    @BenBarden: I agree that if the OP just wants to know if SaveSnopes is run by Mikkelsen and Bardav, that's in our remit and it should be edited to that. I'm looking for some indication from the OP that's the case, because I think the OP had the bigger question of whether David Mikkelson is right with his claims. That interests me too, because I want Snopes to thrive, but we need be patient to find out.
    – Oddthinking ♦
    Jul 26, 2017 at 0:05

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