An impressive list regardless.

(The creator makes a brief stop at the authorship question at the end, but nothing of note there. See it for the original topic).

Unfortunately, lunatics like THIS GUY makes it easy for some to dismiss eveything that questions the authorship as conspiracy theories.

SB replied: I agree that it's daft to say that De Vere couldn't have been an author because of his high rank, but, at the same time, it's difficult to see how a man as educated as he would have been due to his rank could have written plays that violate the classical rules of unity of time, place and action, and make repeated mistakes over geography, history and - well, social rank, misunderstanding titles, the correct names of noble houses, etc.

SB replied: It's pretty much universally agreed that the target of Hall's Virgidemiarum was John Marston. 

Mark Haslett wrote: The "main argument" for doubt is that no record exists to unambiguously connect the works to the man from Stratford on Avon. 

SB replied: In 1603, William Shakespeare was named alongside John Heminges and Henry Condell in the royal patent confirming the creation of The King's Men.

In 1616, William Shakespeare (or Shakespere, or Shakespear - as is conventional for the time, the surname is spelt in a variety of ways) dies in Stratford-Upon-Avon, naming Heminges and Condell in his will.

In 1623, the First Folio is published. In it, Heminges and Condell named Shakespeare as the author of the plays contained within. Shakespeare is also described as being the "Sweet Swan of Avon" by Jonson in his commendatory poem.

Mark Haslett wrote: There is no basis to claim Stratford Will attended Grammar school.

SB replied: The King Edward VI Grammar School was about a quarter of a mile from Shakespeare's childhood home, and, as a boy, he would have been allowed to attend it for free.

No, there's no proof that he did, and biographers who categorically state it as a fact that he did are mistaken to do so. But it's not an unreasonable assumption.

Mark Haslett wrote: No contemporary writer said Shakespeare was from Stratford. 

SB replied: Why should they have done so? Did any contemporary refer to "Christopher Marlowe of Canterbury", or "Ben Jonson of London"?

Mark Haslett wrote: It has long been held by the entire body of Shakespeare scholarship that several of the plays were written in collaboration. 

SB replied: The more devout Stratfordians tend to resist the idea of collaboration, but yes, it is the more commonly held position that Shakespeare's plays - all plays written during the Elizabethan and Jacobean period - were written in collaboration. 

Which pretty much knackers the idea of a true, hidden author of the works that have been incorrectly ascribed to William Shakespeare. 

SB: Yes, given that I've studied the subject, I obviously can't know anything about it.

Mark Haslett wrote: So, "pretty much universally agreed" is a very high standard

SB replied: Other than Oxfordians/Alternative Authorship theorists, who says otherwise?

Mark Haslett wrote: Stratfordians like Dr. Brake here just don't want to look at the evidence and, apparently, would be happy to lie about it to discourage anyone else from looking at it too.

SB replied: No lie, and, while I don't agree with the Alternative Authorship theories, I'm not conceited enough to think my opinion holds enough weigh to discourage anyone else from exploring them.