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Damien Raptore ([info]damien) wrote in [info]fandom_lounge,
@ 2009-05-12 19:57:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
He did it for the lulz!
A student hoaxes several newspapers by posting a quotation in Wiki, then waiting for them to add to the guy's obituary. Why? Because of "one of his University College Dublin classes was exploring how quickly information was transmitted around the globe". The story can be found here.

Can you imagine? An ACTUAL social experiment! They exist!

(Post a new comment)


[info]tachikoma01
2009-05-12 07:34 pm UTC (link)
I enjoy that newspapers are blaming the hoaxer for putting up false content that they blindly repeated without any vetting. Damn that War of the Worlds, they totes convinced me Martians were coming! *shakes fist*

But on the other hand, I'm extremely disturbed at how quickly false information can be taken as truth. It's no wonder we have people believing in invisible alien cult clone babies and secret English lizard-people royalty having tea with Elvis.

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[info]vzg
2009-05-13 07:40 am UTC (link)
Secret?

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[info]tachikoma01
2009-05-13 02:56 pm UTC (link)
Ssssh. They're convinced no one has found out about it, and you wouldn't want to break their little english lizard royal hearts, would you?

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]vzg
2009-05-13 06:04 pm UTC (link)
But... but they don't have hearts.

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[info]tachikoma01
2009-05-13 07:27 pm UTC (link)
Well... uh... you see... damn. Earth is screwed, huh?

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[info]the__ivorytower
2009-05-12 07:49 pm UTC (link)
*rubs eyes* And I'm sure this will absolutely help convince people that Wikipedia can be useful if used correctly.

*grumble*

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[info]sarracenia
2009-05-12 08:18 pm UTC (link)
I don't know, I'm somewhat impressed that Wikipedians caught that the quote was uncited when the journalists didn't. All it really says is "watch out for stuff that isn't cited" on Wikipedia.

...especially right now, since I will guarantee you that dozens of people just got the idea to see what kind of false information they can plant in the news.

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[info]cmdr_zoom
2009-05-12 08:48 pm UTC (link)
"The only secret worth keeping is that something is possible."

... not that this was secret, exactly, but it's now been raised above the level of awareness for some.

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[info]somnambulicious
2009-05-12 09:47 pm UTC (link)
...especially right now, since I will guarantee you that dozens of people just got the idea to see what kind of false information they can plant in the news.

Hasn't Stephen Colbert been doing that for years?

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]sparkysrevenge
2009-05-12 08:52 pm UTC (link)
I laughed to myself when I read this.

Yet another reason why I'm very, very glad I gave up having a degree in journalism, and why I'm glad I decided not to do news during said journalism class.

And WTF, only the Guardian admitted it? Dude, news sources, try to retain some teeny, tiny grain of dignity and admit you were wrong.

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]sparkysrevenge
2009-05-12 08:54 pm UTC (link)
Of course, now I'm having a flash of meta-meta, where I think, "What if this is a hoax? Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah."

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]damien
2009-05-12 09:27 pm UTC (link)
lol, I thought that too! I really wanted to see if anyone else had picked up on this story, but then where's the guarantee that we can trust THAT?

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[info]vzg
2009-05-13 07:50 am UTC (link)
Well, it's on Wikipedia.

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[info]silrana
2009-05-13 11:37 am UTC (link)
This reminds me of the time I looked up Lewis and Clark on Wiki and someone had inserted that the true reason they went west was because they were cannibals and figured it would be easier to kill and eat Indians than white people in the cities. This is why teachers tell kids Wiki is not a credible source for their papers.

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[info]inarticulate
2009-05-13 08:50 pm UTC (link)
I love Wiki. That sounds AMAZING. I bet people believed it, too.

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[info]rodo
2009-05-13 06:19 pm UTC (link)
And then there was the time when someone wanted to try how long it would take editors on wikipedia to edit out the extra given name of the new German minister of economics.

A few major newspapers printed the error and were cited so that some people had to make an effort to finally edit the wrong info out again.

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[info]zing_och
2009-05-13 06:39 pm UTC (link)
In my mind, his first name is still Nicht-Friedrich.

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