LDS Snopes

So you have the BIG idea that the Church or community needs to develop. Discuss that idea here. Maybe you just want to make a suggestion on a new forum topic. Let us know.
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hawkmoonsundown-p40
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LDS Snopes

#1

Post by hawkmoonsundown-p40 »

My apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere. I searched for "lds urban legends" and "lds snopes" and didn't find anything in the forums, but that doesn't mean this hasn't been addressed already.

My intent is not to draw any discussion regarding recent or previous email's, stories, or other unsubstantiated claims in the LDS community. I would like to discuss the technical feasibility of having a site where people may go and see if something they were told is real or not real - the scope would probably have to be bounded.

I'd be interested in people's thoughts on the matter.

Thanks,

Dave
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#2

Post by techgy »

Although your suggestion is interesting, I don't believe it would be appropriate to support it on the forum. As you indicated there's ample web sites available to dispel most rumors and they are doing a good job for the most part.

An LDS rumor site would tend to get out of hand very quickly. Personally, I'd suggest that if someone heard something that they wanted to know more about, then it can be discussed with a local Priesthood leader or a full-time missionary.

The Church also has http://www.mormon.org where someone interested can go and submit a question and have it responded to. I think we're covered, but thanks for your suggestion.
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#3

Post by lajackson »

Techgy wrote:I'd suggest that if someone heard something that they wanted to know more about, then it can be discussed with a local Priesthood leader or a full-time missionary.

Generally excellent advice, but I would recommend just the local priesthood leaders, which would include home teachers and quorum presidents or group leaders, before going to the bishop.
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garysturn
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#4

Post by garysturn »

Techgy wrote:Although your suggestion is interesting, I don't believe it would be appropriate to support it on the forum. As you indicated there's ample web sites available to dispel most rumors and they are doing a good job for the most part.
I don't think the request was to discuss LDS legends here in the forums. The post was wondering about the possibility of hosting a LDS legends web site.

I think a site like that would be very interesting. I think it would have to be developed by a member who was interested in that type of site. I don't think it would be very high up on the priority list for the Church to host such a site.

There is a new book that has just come out that discusses LDS legends. Maybe someone could work with the author of that book to put together a web site.

There is also a site that lists some of these legends. Shields-Research
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hawkmoonsundown-p40
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#5

Post by hawkmoonsundown-p40 »

You are correct. I am only interested in the idea of a web-site to address LDS Legends and the like. The thought was spurred by a recent email flurry that went out (no need to mention details here).

The idea is that many people in the church forward information before they think of the validity of the source. I can't imagine how many phone calls might be generated to the Church Offices when something like that happens, or worse, how few people call.

The burden of addressing this kind of thing could be alleviated through a web interface, and maybe the interface is through the ward or stake sites directly from the church offices? But then again, how often do events like this occur? Probably not enough to warrant a new interface.

Thanks for your thoughts.
qingwa-p40
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Hope for Snopes-esque Tool

#6

Post by qingwa-p40 »

I was actually searching for such a tool yesterday. So many rumors circulate among members of the church - many of these based on partial truths. A factchecking resource would have great utility. Though such a project may not be within the scope of things that Church IT should take on, it would definately need to handled by a reliable source. I look forward to the time when someone tackles this challenge!
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#7

Post by cdn_kellym-p40 »

qingwa wrote:I was actually searching for such a tool yesterday. So many rumors circulate among members of the church - many of these based on partial truths. A factchecking resource would have great utility. Though such a project may not be within the scope of things that Church IT should take on, it would definately need to handled by a reliable source. I look forward to the time when someone tackles this challenge!
What about fairlds.org? I have seen it suggested on many an occasion when bringing up certain "understandings" that people have, including ones I hadn't even heard of. They tend to provide comprehensive and well-worded answers. It's not in "snopes" format but is easily searchable.
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#8

Post by mrcolj-p40 »

If you want to launch one that isn't too unnecessarily redundant with existing sites that do such (fairlds, mormon wikis, various proselyting blogs) and is designed in such a way that it can be pretty doctrinally sound, I'm in to donate my time and resources.

I used to have a forum that had nothing to do with the church, but people kept googling onto it and posting all kinds of trolling anti, etc. I solved it eventually by building the predecessor of scriptureforum.net--I turned off the "religion" category and replaced it with the entire quad in discussion board format--so people could harp on polygamy all they wanted, but the only place to put it was as a response to a chapter, i.e. D&C 132 or Jacob 4(?). That worked great until I had a server crash and lost it all.

If you think that fulfills your vision, I'd love some help designing and launching my new incarnation of scriptureforum.net...
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marianomarini
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#9

Post by marianomarini »

I suppose that a personal site could have the same authority of the rumor itself!
But official site, I think, will increase very soon!
How many mormon's legends are going around the world?
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