Are You Buying All These Half-ton Claims?

Is it just me or has this board gone a little crazy lately? It used to be someone had a question about towing limits they would be educated on how to determine for their specific vehicle. Usually the first question by the board would be; what is your gvwr, payload, sticker on the door etc. They would then be shown the nice diagrams on how to calculate if they are under those weights. Even some nice threads on how to get weighed. But now it seems the tide has shifted and this is no longer the case. But, if we cannot use the mfg's ratings who are we supposed to trust to let us know what what those ratings should be?