Wikipedia
SpinSpotter was an online service, developed by Seattle-based SpinSpotter Inc., designed to surface specific instances of bias and inaccuracy in any news story online. The service focused mainly on these major news outlets: CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, The New York Times and Yahoo! News. Users of the service installed a browser toolbar called Spinoculars, which allowed them to see, share, and edit the spin out of any news story. When users noticed a subtle or egregious instance of spin, they would highlight the text within the news article, creating a "Spin Marker", and chose an appropriate "Rule of Spin" from a drop-down menu. The Seven Deadly Spins were: Reporter's Voice, Inaccurate Information, Passive Voice, Biased Source, Disregarded Context, Selective Disclosure, and Lack of Balance.
Users were able to interact in several ways including: adding a description to someone else's Spin Marker, joining a discussion on a Spin Marker, and voting on the significance of spin within a Spin Marker. Based on those votes, users then established a trust level within the community. Votes with a higher impact came from a panel of journalism students and media professionals called "Referees". The service launched in beta form on September 8, 2008. SpinSpotter Inc. was founded by Todd Herman and its chief executive officer was John Atcheson; the company identified them as politically conservative and liberal, respectively.
Epic Ventures was the main corporation supporting SpinSpotter.