The four color theorem has been notorious for attracting a large number of false proofs and disproofs in its long history. At first, "The New York Times" refused as a matter of policy to report on the Appel–Haken proof, fearing that the proof would be shown false like the ones before it . Some alleged proofs, like Kempe's and Tait's mentioned above, stood under public scrutiny for over a decade before they were refuted. But many more, authored by amateurs, were never published at all.