[Tom Bishop]

This is a pleasant surprise. Snopes has debunked the meme that the Flat Earth Society "has members all around the globe".

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/flat-earth-society-facebook/

It uses some pretty good evidence to discredit it, and provides some research of their own as well.

The article is also cross-posted and is ranking as an authoritative source on Yahoo News. Maybe this will help to finally put that meme to bed. At the bottom of the article Snopes also says that they reached out to TFES for comment, although I'm not sure if they reached out to this site or the other one.

[Tom Bishop]

I can see from a few web proxies that the Yahoo article is clearly prominent and at the top #1 or #2 spot now. I suspect that the meme is done and will finally disappear from popular memeology. That TFES Wiki article I made that Snopes is citing in their article paid off. You're welcome.

[AATW]

Does this really matter?
You understand that most jokes contain something which isn’t true, which is the bit that makes them funny.
I get it’s irritating I guess, but I’m not sure it should be a hill to die on.

[Pete Svarrior]

Does this really matter?
You understand that most jokes contain something which isn’t true, which is the bit that makes them funny.

You and I understand that. Unfortunately, a large proportion of RE'ers is much stupider than that. The number of people who were dead serious about it being real has been astonishing, which is probably what pushed Snopes to create the article.

Is it important? It's a small piece of the puzzle in a much larger battle for the adherence to basic truth, but a small step is a step nonetheless.

[Tom Bishop]

Yes, it matters. If this is the first thing that the general population sees about FES then they think it's a parody group akin to the "Man Will Never Fly Memorial Society". People who would be otherwise interested in how people could believe that the earth is flat are deterred from investigating further. It implies that people do not believe this and it is a joke.

Unfortunately humor and a genuine Flat Earth Society doesn't really mix, and this is was Leo Ferarri's problem with his society. I believe that he intended it to be a genuine Flat Earth Society with elements of humor, but he was an intellectual on too high of a philosophical plane for most people to understand. People thought it was purely a parody organization, when it was not. Some time ago I expanded his page a bit and documented that serious vs. satire controversy further - https://wiki.tfes.org/Leo_Ferrari

[Pete Svarrior]

Unfortunately humor and a genuine Flat Earth Society doesn't really mix, and this is was Leo Ferarri's problem with his society.

This is an unfortunate problem that I've also personally encountered. Oftentimes, if I made a joke mid-discussion, some idiot would decide that it's impossible to simultaneously be serious about core arguments and have a sense of humour.

Ultimately, the RE mindset is at fault - it is in their best interest to discard controversial thoughts the moment they find an excuse - but it's still prudent to work around it to some extent.

[EdwardWheeler]

This is really interesting information. If an article on Snopes provides solid evidence and links to research that refutes the meme that the Flat Earth Society "has members all over the world," it can help debunk this myth. Often a link to a resource such as Snopes will reinforce the credibility of the information. But it is always important to evaluate information from different sources to gain a more complete understanding.

[mahogany]

I think most all people (on both sides of the aisle) know the Meme in question to just be a silly catch-phrase that Round Earthers made up.

Don't really think it deters people from wanting to learn more about flat earth theory any more than I don't think flat earth meme's deter people from wanting to learn more about round earth theory or pursue their dreams of being an astronaut or working at SpaceX or NASA.