FAQ

Who writes your articles?

I have a suggestion for a topic, what should I do?

I would like to use some of the content on your site for personal or public use, is this OK?

I would like to link to your webpage, is this OK?

What happens when I vote on an article?

What am I voting on?

An article you wrote deals with a fictional character.  How can you be factual about fiction??

You have articles about Spider-man, Adam and Eve and Mike the Headless Chicken.  Are we supposed to take your website seriously?

You glossed over a topic and jumped to a conclusion without presenting all the evidence!  I believe you are spreading misinformation and I no longer trust your intentions.

You have advertising on your site.  Doesn’t that mean you can’t de-fact-o their products or claims? Don’t you have a conflict of interest? 

You have articles about way-out there ideas, conspiracy theories and fringe beliefs.  Doesn’t that invalidate your more serious articles?

I am the owner of De-Fact-o hosted content being used without my permission, what can I do?

Who writes your articles?

All De-Fact-o articles are either written by the creators of De-Fact-o or by registered members.  Members are encouraged compose articles and submit them, but there is a brief approval process before they are put up for display on the website.  This is primarily to ensure no

I have a suggestion for a topic, what should I do?

We love to get suggestions for new topics.  Just send them to: .  It is best if you can send any sources or links you know of about the topic and we will compose an article as soon as we have time.  However, if you think you would like to compose the article yourself, you can do so and submit it for approval by the creators of De-Fact-o. 

I would like to use some of the content on your site for personal or public use, is this OK?

All of the text in De-Fact-o, and most of the images and other content, is covered by the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL). Contributions remain the property of their creators, while the GFDL license ensures the content is freely distributable and reproducible:

**Reusers' rights and obligations

If you want to use De-fact-o materials in your own books/articles/web sites or other publications, you can do so, but you have to follow the GFDL.

If you create a derivative version by changing or adding content, this entails the following:

• your materials in turn have to be licensed under GFDL,
• you must acknowledge the authorship of the article (section 4B), and
• you must provide access to the "transparent copy" of the material (section 4J). (The "transparent copy" of a De-fact-o article is any of a number of formats available from us, including the text, the html web pages, etc.)

You may be able to partially fulfill the latter two obligations by providing a conspicuous direct link back to the De-fact-o article hosted on this website.

I would like to link to your webpage, is this OK?

Absolutely!

What happens when I vote on an article?

First your vote gets recorded and averaged with all the other member votes.  Then the average is reflected in the “thermometer” graphic, which is permanently affixed to the article.  This will let readers know if the article is recommended or disapproved by the members of De-Fact-o.

What am I voting on?

If you click on the voting icon, you are deeming the article in question a well written or poorly written.  You are NOT voting on the “truth of the topic”.  In other words, if you vote negatively on a topic “Most Muslims are Arabs” you are not saying the statement is false, you are saying the article that was written on this topic was poorly written.

An article you wrote deals with a fictional character.  How can you be factual about fiction??

De-Fact-o never treats characters like Spider-man or the Cookie Monster as real-life characters or factual beings. The FICTION-based sources (i.e. comic books, TV shows) where these characters are found are real and there are facts about the stories, shows or other media that are true or false. Those are the FACTS we are debunking.

You have articles about Spider-man, Adam and Eve and Mike the Headless Chicken.  Are we supposed to take your website seriously?

There is a pop-culture aspect to the site which is supposed to be fun *and* factual. That is how De-Fact-o hopes to still be "taken seriously" and discuss pop-culture and religion: by being factual.

You glossed over a topic and jumped to a conclusion without presenting all the evidence!  I believe you are spreading misinformation and I no longer trust your intentions.

De-Fact-o tries to be as objective as possible with all the subjects it covers.  However, no source is unimpeachable and that includes De-Fact-o and the sources we cite in our articles.  De-Fact-o acknowledges this fact and tries to account for it by adding a comment section to each article so that member users can present conflicting or additional information and sources that will help readers get closer to the truth.

Also, De-Facto has added a voting option to each article so member users can voice their approval or concern about each article they read.  The votes are prominently displayed at the top of each article so that readers can be warned if an article has been deemed dubious by a majority of interested members.  Anyone with Internet access can be a member of De-Fact-o.

De-Fact-o strongly believes in the power of democracy and user participation.  We only get closer to the truth when we all have a voice.

You have advertising on your site.  Doesn’t that mean you can’t de-fact-o their products or claims? Don’t you have a conflict of interest? 

No.  The ads are powered by Google and we have never been contacted or pressured by either Google or the advertisers they add to change any aspect of our content whatsoever.  The main reason for this site is myth busting, we only advertise to keep the website running.  Please visit our advertisers and support our cause.

You have articles about way-out there ideas, conspiracy theories and fringe beliefs.  Doesn’t that invalidate your more serious articles?

Myths by their very nature are dubious. In some people's minds, simply considering some topics as worthy of discussion invalidates the whole site. But if you think about it, this is a silly position to take.  If Popular Mechanics attempts to debunk 9/11 myths like bombs in the twin towers does it make the publication kooky?  No, exactly the opposite.

Everyone will have different opinions on what constitutes a topic worthy of discussion. Some might think the idea that recycling paper wastes energy and pollutes more "insults their intelligence".  That doesn't mean everyone does.  Some might think the idea of bombs in the twin towers insults their intelligence. But even those people might like to cite De-fact-o articles for someone who is trying to push these ideas on them.

The point of De-Fact-o is to dispel myths.  Myths are very abundant in tabloids, religion, newspapers, historical accounts and "conspiratorial" accounts of events. De-Fact-o does not exclude any topic that can be referenced with hard evidence. If an article in De-Fact-o handles the *facts* improperly, then yes, readers should not take it seriously and they should vote accordingly.  But if a De-Fact-o article touches on an "out there" idea, that should be expected, not looked down upon.

Everyone will have their own opinions on what myths they have already disregarded and which are ones they consider worthy of consideration. That is totally unavoidable.

De-Fact-o realizes that some readers will disregard the site because it deals with some kooky topics.  Those people obviously didn't take the time to read the articles and realize the myths that sound ridiculous to them were actually being considered true by some.  Those people will draw faulty conclusions about the seriousness of any article that debunks kooky ideas regardless.

De-Fact-o can't avoid that.

I am the owner of De-Fact-o hosted content being used without my permission, what can I do?

If you are the owner of content that is being used on De-Fact-o without your permission, then you may request the page be immediately removed from De-fact-o.  Send notification and a description of the content that is yours to: We will immediately remove it on request.  We will, of course, need some evidence to support your claim of ownership.

Disclaimer

De-fact-o contains many articles on a vast array of topics. A relatively small fraction of these topics could be censored by educational, governmental, corporate, parental and other filtering schemes.

• Some De-fact-o articles discuss words or language that are considered profane, vulgar or offensive by some readers.
• Some articles may contain names, images, artworks or descriptions of events that some cultures restrict access to.
• De-fact-o contains many different images, some of which are considered objectionable or offensive by some readers. For example, some articles contain graphical depictions of violence, or depictions of human anatomy.
• Many articles contain frank discussion of controversial topics. Some subjects that are discussed have criminal applications in some jurisdictions. Others contain information on dangerous or otherwise risky activities
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• It should be noted that as De-fact-o is open to contributions from the public, there may at any time be graffiti present on De-fact-o.
• There may be medical, legal or other information that is normally also the subject of professional opinions; De-fact-o is not a substitute for seeking the help of a professional. Please note: De-fact-o does not give legal advice or medical advice.

De-fact-o's current policy is to include such content, provided it breaches neither any of our existing policies (especially Neutral point of view) nor the laws of the state of Florida in the United States, where De-fact-o is hosted. See a list of controversial issues for some examples of articles that may contain such content. Some of these articles contain warnings, but many do not.

In any case, De-fact-o is a work in progress, and many articles contain errors, bias, duplication, or simply need tender loving care. We encourage readers to help us fix these problems. The great majority of articles are written primarily or solely by individuals who are not subject matter experts, and may lack academic or professional credentials in the area.

De-fact-o contains obscure information that would not be covered in a conventional encyclopedia. De-fact-o's coverage of subjects is patchy, based on the whims of its volunteer contributors (in particular, subjects of interest to young technical people are likely, but not certain, to receive heavier coverage than other subjects). Readers should not judge the importance of topics based on their coverage in De-fact-o, nor assume that a topic is important merely because it is the subject of a De-fact-o article.

DE-FACT-O MAKES NO GUARANTEE OF VALIDITY

De-fact-o is an online open-content collaborative encyclopedia, that is, a voluntary association of individuals and groups working to develop a common resource of human knowledge. The structure of the project allows anyone with an Internet connection to alter its content. Please be advised that nothing found here has necessarily been reviewed by people with the expertise required to provide you with complete, accurate or reliable information.

That is not to say that you will not find valuable and accurate information in De-fact-o; much of the time you will. However, De-fact-o cannot guarantee the validity of the information found here. The content of any given article may recently have been changed, vandalized or altered by someone whose opinion does not correspond with the state of knowledge in the relevant fields.

No formal peer review

We are working on ways to select and highlight reliable versions of articles. Our active community of editors uses tools such as the comment boards to monitor new and changing content. However, De-fact-o is not uniformly peer reviewed; while readers may correct errors or engage in casual peer review, they have no legal duty to do so and thus all information read here is without any implied warranty of fitness for any purpose or use whatsoever. Even articles that have been vetted by informal peer review or featured article processes may later have been edited inappropriately, just before you view them.

None of the contributors, sponsors, administrators, or anyone else connected with De-fact-o in any way whatsoever can be responsible for the appearance of any inaccurate or libelous information or for your use of the information contained in or linked from these web pages.

No contract; limited license

Please make sure that you understand that the information provided here is being provided freely, and that no kind of agreement or contract is created between you and the owners or users of this site, the owners of the servers upon which it is housed, the individual De-fact-o contributors, any project administrators, sysops or anyone else who is in any way connected with this project or sister projects subject to your claims against them directly. You are being granted a limited license to copy anything from this site; it does not create or imply any contractual or extracontractual liability on the part of De-fact-o or any of its agents, members, organizers or other users.

There is no agreement or understanding between you and De-fact-o regarding your use or modification of this information beyond the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL); neither is anyone at De-fact-o responsible should someone change, edit, modify or remove any information that you may post on De-fact-o or any of its associated projects.

Trademarks

Any of the trademarks, service marks, collective marks, design rights, personality rights or similar rights that are mentioned, used or cited in the articles of the De-fact-o website are the property of their respective owners. Their use here does not imply that you may use them for any other purpose other than for the same or a similar informational use as contemplated by the original authors of these De-fact-o articles under the GFDL licensing scheme. Unless otherwise stated De-fact-o and Wikimedia sites are neither endorsed nor affiliated with any of the holders of any such rights and as such De-fact-o cannot grant any rights to use any otherwise protected materials. Your use of any such or similar incorporeal property is at your own risk.

Not professional advice

If you need specific advice (for example, medical, legal, financial, or risk management) please seek a professional who is licensed or knowledgeable in that area.