Talk:Snake oil/Archives/2013

What's the consensus?

There's a lot citations missing so I can't make a heads or tails on what's agreed in tise article. So is snake oil truly a hoax or is it ironically a valid medicine that has its name dragged in the mud by scam artists? --68.123.154.173 (talk) 09:21, 21 September 2011 (UTC)

Those are two separate phenomena. Yes, there are health benefits of the oil from a snake, just as there are benefits from the oil of sardine or crill. The article, however, is about the phenomena of "Snake Oil" as a bogus cure-all . This is a distinctly American cultural reference, so mixing it with ideas of the potential benefits of fatty acids or with Asian or African products using snakes is an inappropriate mixing of different subjects.Herbxue (talk) 20:37, 21 September 2011 (UTC)

I am not sure that any consensus is represented here. I definitely agree that there are two distinct topics in this article - Snake oil as (for one) a traditional medicine, and 'snake oil' as a historical scam/trope. Perhaps it would be wise to separate them into different articles? - 67.177.224.121 (talk) 07:48, 29 October 2011 (UTC)

There are a few other candidates for historical medicines, such as Seneca Snake Root. Kortoso (talk) 16:34, 20 August 2013 (UTC)