Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by Fnord666 on Saturday March 10 2018, @04:52PM   Printer-friendly
from the struth-mate dept.

A study shows that misinformation spreads faster and farther than correct information:

An analysis of news stories tweeted by three million people between 2006 and 2017 shows that fake news spreads significantly more than the truth on social media.

[...] Truthful tweets took six times as long as fake ones to spread across Twitter to 1,500 people – in large part because falsehoods in the sample were 70 per cent more likely to be retweeted than the truth, even after accounting for account age, activity level and their number of followers. The most viral fake news was political in nature.

The study was carried out by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Laboratory for Social Machines.

From The Inquirer.net : False stories travel way faster than the truth, says study
and New Scientist : Fake news travels six times faster than the truth on Twitter
and The Economist : On Twitter, falsehood spreads faster than truth.


Original Submission

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1)
  • (Score: 4, Funny) by turgid on Saturday March 10 2018, @04:54PM (15 children)

    by turgid (4318) Subscriber Badge on Saturday March 10 2018, @04:54PM (#650557) Journal

    Nothing can travel faster than light except bad news. Or is it fake news now? Perhaps we might have a way of exploring Alpha Centauri after all.

    • (Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @05:03PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @05:03PM (#650559)

      ...except when we got to Alpha Centauri it would be overrun socialist sharia law death panels taking away your guns so you've got no way to fight off Obama's satanic chemtrails when they come to force you into a FEMA abortion factory.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @06:06PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @06:06PM (#650577)

        No, the Sharia law panel moved to Sweden as that was deemed to be a much easier conquest:

        http://thelocal.se/20180302/swedish-assault-case-thrown-out-because-man-seemed-to-come-from-a-good-family [thelocal.se]

        I happen to live in Sweden where this is currently doing the rounds.

        • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @06:45PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @06:45PM (#650592)

          She begged for mercy, but he had none to spare for a mere sow. The man grinned and did as he pleased.

          As for the conclusion, well, let's just say that the woman won't beg for anything ever again.

    • (Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @05:07PM (8 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @05:07PM (#650560)

      Doesn't violate special relativity though, because fake news doesn't contain any information.

      • (Score: 5, Insightful) by takyon on Saturday March 10 2018, @05:16PM (7 children)

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Saturday March 10 2018, @05:16PM (#650562) Journal

        It contains vital information about the gullibility of our planet's inhabitants.

        --
        [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
        • (Score: 5, Insightful) by fyngyrz on Saturday March 10 2018, @06:05PM (6 children)

          by fyngyrz (6567) on Saturday March 10 2018, @06:05PM (#650575) Journal

          It contains vital information about the gullibility of our planet's inhabitants.

          No, that information is the consequence of a law of physics: Peepul r Stoopid. Strictly meta. It is not carried by fake news. Nothing is carried by fake news.

          Fake news results in no effect as compared to real news; just as light powers a flower, real news powers sanity. Without light or real news, darkness and fake news result in zero energy input and stasis of the processing mechanisms. Too much of this, and the flower - and sanity - die.

          Once that happens, weeds and Trumps abound. And you know, it's always harder to weed a garden than it is to take care of a well-maintained one.

          • (Score: 2) by requerdanos on Saturday March 10 2018, @06:44PM (3 children)

            by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Saturday March 10 2018, @06:44PM (#650590) Journal

            weeds and Trumps abound. And you know, it's always harder to weed a garden

            Yeah, but there may be someone who could help. Quoting [politifact.com] U.S. President Donald Trump:

            nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people*, maybe there is, I don't know.

            Grab 'em right in the roots.

            ----------------------------
            * Coincidentally, I am a citizen of the country where he was elected, and speaking as such, I would hope that all of the people here, especially leaders, would be "second amendment people" just as they are all the other amendment people and indeed supporters of our constitution. But I digress with silly fantasies...

            • (Score: 2) by dry on Sunday March 11 2018, @04:00AM (2 children)

              by dry (223) on Sunday March 11 2018, @04:00AM (#650758) Journal

              I think you'll find that the vast majority of Americans don't agree with the simply written Bill of Rights excepting maybe the 3rd.
              Work your way through it.
              The 1st is plainly written, Congress will make no law, yet people and even the courts have changed that to Congress will only make laws limiting speech in the case of threats, including threats to children and the all encompassing national security card. And then there is the Christian, or at least some sects, exception, Congress will only promote Christianity.
              The 2nd is also plainly written, "The rights of the people to bear arms will not be infringed" with everyone agreeing on exceptions. Criminals, crazy people, people accused of being threatening, age related reasons, people with a history of torturing cats. All people that most people agree should have their rights infringed.
              Other examples include a reasonable search including people accused of a crime, people close to the border and so on.
              Cruel and unusual punishment, well to that cat torturer, nothing is cruel and it is usual to torture. Others agree that there are times that torture is called for.
              One problem is that Americans treat their Constitution like a religious document and even when it obviously needs some tuning, they instead appoint Judges to change the essentials. Only some speech is actually protected or only some people can bear arms and those arms are limited. Shit the average American can't even own arms of mass destruction. While understandable that the Founders didn't mention nukes, the revolutionary war included attempting to spread smallpox, or at least enough of a threat that the army was inoculating its members against smallpox. They could have limited it to personal arms or such.
              I won't even mention the 9th and 10th.

              • (Score: 2) by requerdanos on Sunday March 11 2018, @06:05AM (1 child)

                by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Sunday March 11 2018, @06:05AM (#650785) Journal

                I think you'll find that the vast majority of Americans don't agree with the simply written Bill of Rights excepting maybe the 3rd.
                Work your way through it.

                I've not only worked my way through it, I've done so by reading surviving copies of the handwritten proposal version, which had 12, not 10, proposed amendments listed (two of them didn't pass, and even a casual reading shows they don't belong with the other ten).

                Like you, I've noticed that that people don't seem to be very enamored with the U.S. Constitution en masse (I complained about that in the comment you replied to), and like you, I've noticed that many of the people who do come out in favor of it turn out to be worshipers of it in a religious sense, Surrounding Their Support In Falsely Patriotic-Sounding Language Of, By, And For Murrica.

                I don't think I'm one of those. I genuinely believe that the Constitution has what it takes to work not only as literature and history but a functioning document upon which a government composed of those governed, for the benefit of same, can operate. It isn't being used in such a fashion, of course, but it should be.

                It has terrible faults, sure, but it also has a built-in ability to grow and change not by misguided activist judicial fiat, but by legislative agreement. (That used to be a thing.) So, everything in the document is either a good thing, or is material upon which to base an amendment which can improve it into a good thing.

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @08:59AM

                  by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @08:59AM (#650857)

                  I've noticed that many of the people who do come out in favor of it turn out to be worshipers of it in a religious sense, Surrounding Their Support In Falsely Patriotic-Sounding Language Of, By, And For Murrica.

                  I would say that right there is the worst narrative I've seen driven by your account. What simplistic and divisive drivel.

          • (Score: 3, Informative) by turgid on Saturday March 10 2018, @09:12PM (1 child)

            by turgid (4318) Subscriber Badge on Saturday March 10 2018, @09:12PM (#650641) Journal

            Talking of insanity and Trumps, Steve Bannon [theguardian.com] has been addressing the French fascists.

            • (Score: 2, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday March 10 2018, @11:08PM

              by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Saturday March 10 2018, @11:08PM (#650672) Homepage Journal

              Steve Bannon has NOTHING to do with me or my presidency. He's going around the world to fight globalism. More proof that he's LOST HIS MIND!!!!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @06:01PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @06:01PM (#650573)

      Travel by bad news is a terrible technology - you won't like what's waiting for you wherever you go.

      • (Score: 2) by requerdanos on Saturday March 10 2018, @06:49PM

        by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Saturday March 10 2018, @06:49PM (#650596) Journal

        Travel by bad news is a terrible technology - you won't like what's waiting for you wherever you go.

        This statement right here is highlighted by its being the plot of a 90s PC game called "The Journeyman Project Turbo." Every word of this statement rings not just true, but temporally factual.

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Sunday March 11 2018, @02:01AM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Sunday March 11 2018, @02:01AM (#650734) Journal

      Nothing can travel faster than light except...

      Darkness was already at the destination.

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @05:10PM (20 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @05:10PM (#650561)

    It's very easy (and profitable) to spread bullshit.

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @05:23PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @05:23PM (#650565)

      In 15 years, all the professional fourth estate has done is disseminating innuendo, omissions and opinion as facts.

    • (Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @09:19PM (14 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @09:19PM (#650644)

      No it is because "left leaning" stuff is more inclusive and generally doesn't promote division between humanity. "Right leaning" stuff is generally xenophobic and fearful. Just like our natural fight or flight response, conservative values are very important and in reality we need a mix of both viewpoints for a successful society. Lean too far left and you'll have the system eat itself, lean too far right and you'll have humanity eat itself.

      Examples
      Left: Pure equality communism that destroys productive creation and inhibits creativity.
      Right: Xenophobic tribalism that inhibits sharing and violates freedoms to the point of genocide.

      But hey, don't let me stop your conspiracy train that takes extreme examples and applies them to everything. I guess I should be calling you literally Hitler?

      • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @10:09PM (13 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @10:09PM (#650659)

        Hitler called himself a socialist. Specifically the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei. Translated to National Socialist German Workers' Party. Shortened by its enemy's to Nazi. You have fallen into a trap of not verifying your sources and somehow magically 'conservative' = 'nazi'. Last I looked socialism is clearly clammed by the left. In fact Antifa is a communist construct. To fight Nazis. Not because Nazis were 'evil' (they were) but because they were not extreme enough in overthrowing 'the man'.

        Your view is almost a perfect example of 'fake news' travels far. Good job on your example.

        • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday March 10 2018, @11:08PM (11 children)

          by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Saturday March 10 2018, @11:08PM (#650673) Journal

          And North Korea is called the Democratic Peoples' Republic. You can call anything anything you want; doesn't make it so.

          --
          I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
          • (Score: 0, Troll) by jmorris on Sunday March 11 2018, @12:01AM (10 children)

            by jmorris (4844) on Sunday March 11 2018, @12:01AM (#650690)

            Oh STFU. You have the Internet, use a search engine to find the official platform of the Nazi Party. Drop the jew hating parts, for rather obvious reasons, and then explain how Bernie Sanders (who is not a member of the Democratic Party because he is an avowed Socialist) wouldn't either embrace every remaining plank or criticize it for being RIGHT of our current political times because past Democrats already went far farther toward the Sunny Uplands of History than Hitler felt safe in proposing in his time. Quote a plank and explain how Bernie (or any other brand name Progressive) rejects it as being too far Left.

            Put up or shut yer damned hole. That goes for everybody here who insist on equating anything the left doesn't like with Nazis. WWII was a fight between National Socialists (aka Fascists) and International Socialists. And yes, just to troll extra hard, the terms International Socialism, International Jewry, Globalists, International Community, Transnationalists, etc. are close enough to almost use them interchangeably. But not quite, there are important differences. However it does explain the anti-Jew planks in Hitler's platform. Saying WWI had nothing to do with the Jews is like the people who say the American War for Southern Independence had nothing to do with slavery. There was more to it in both cases but denying a major friction point is also either willful ignorance or an agenda.

            • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @12:39AM (1 child)

              by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @12:39AM (#650705)

              Thank goodness! We can finally admit that slavery was an important factor in the War for Southern Independence!

              • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday March 11 2018, @12:56AM

                by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Sunday March 11 2018, @12:56AM (#650709) Journal

                Shit, if Lincoln had known what the South was going to turn into he'd probably never have kept the in the Union. I know, hindsight is 20/20 and all that, but personally I'd have treated the South like the hostile foreign power it so desperately wished to be, razed it to the ground, and seized it as conquered territory.

                --
                I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
            • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday March 11 2018, @01:40AM (3 children)

              by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Sunday March 11 2018, @01:40AM (#650726) Journal

              Drop the jew hating parts, for rather obvious reasons, and then explain how Bernie Sanders (who is not a member of the Democratic Party because he is an avowed Socialist) wouldn't either embrace every remaining plank or criticize it for being RIGHT of our current political times because past Democrats already went far farther toward the Sunny Uplands of History than Hitler felt safe in proposing in his time. Quote a plank and explain how Bernie (or any other brand name Progressive) rejects it as being too far Left.

              Have you really done the "dropping the jew hating" part? Id so, post the list here, otherwise you start with an unsubstantiated claim.

              --
              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
              • (Score: 1, Troll) by jmorris on Sunday March 11 2018, @02:05AM (2 children)

                by jmorris (4844) on Sunday March 11 2018, @02:05AM (#650735)

                If you weren't a retard you could figure it out for yourself. It wasn't subtle. "Hence no Jew can be a countryman." is many things, subtle is not numbered among them. But points 4, 5 and 6 are generally accepted as primarily directed at the Jews. 23 and 24 aimed broader than just Jews but certainly was motivated by the same impulse to remove the encroaching Soviet / Jewish influence.

                But since I already pulled the list, I'll specifically issue the challenge to argue against the assertion that Progs are fully on board or already generally to the Left of part one of point 7, and points 9-18, 20-25. Points 1-3 are just butthurt over the Treaty of Versailles and unimportant outside their point in time and 19 is a similar historical oddity. While anti-military feelings dominate the Left, they might not want the specific solution in 22, hard to figure out what the Left wants on that issue currently. They loved the military when Obama was droning people but seem to have flipped again with Trump's election.

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @04:59AM (1 child)

                  by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @04:59AM (#650774)

                  Jmorris is unhinging! Must be trumps huuuge win in the polls. The real polls, no the fake ones!

                  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @10:22AM

                    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @10:22AM (#650876)

                    He's just pining for the Reich fiords! And all shagged out. Wonderful plummage!

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @02:12AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @02:12AM (#650736)

              Now spin in a little vortex while spraying slobber all over and you'll have Taz [wikipedia.org] down pat.

            • (Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Sunday March 11 2018, @07:54AM (2 children)

              by hemocyanin (186) on Sunday March 11 2018, @07:54AM (#650829) Journal

              Suggested reading: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/11655230/Hitler-was-not-a-socialist-even-if-he-did-stash-champagne.html [telegraph.co.uk]

              And yeah, while Hitler misappropriated the word "socialist" to appeal to a broad range of people, he wasn't a socialist by any honest measure.

              • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday March 11 2018, @08:40AM

                by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Sunday March 11 2018, @08:40AM (#650848) Journal

                And if you think people like J-Mo are using any honest measures, well, there's your issue. He's one of the few people on this board whom I genuinely think is a mass-shooting risk, or would be if he could get his fat cheetos-encrusted ass out of the armchair in mom's basement.

                --
                I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
              • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @09:07AM

                by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @09:07AM (#650858)

                It's always "not real socialism" or "not real communism" when the results get ugly.

                Both on reddit and in person, people have been having fun with Antifa and other extreme leftist/liberal/democrat types. What is done is to get Antifa agreeing with what are essentially Hitler quotes, obviously translated to English. Antifa eats it up. They LOVE LOVE LOVE the Hitler message. It really resonates with them.

                At the end, you reveal the source to them or post a video to youtube. It's great fun when they realize that they were essentially supporting Hitler.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @04:56AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @04:56AM (#650772)

          It is always amusing to see trolls so triggered they can't even muster up some basic reading comprehension. I called for a reasonable approach then made a joke about extreme positions by referencing the common "Hitler" phrase that some liberals throw around. Good job missing the joke.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by meustrus on Sunday March 11 2018, @12:21AM (1 child)

      by meustrus (4961) on Sunday March 11 2018, @12:21AM (#650698)

      The fuck are you talking about? Pop culture is all about he-said-she-said, mainly about sex scandals. When it's not about sex, it's about the largesse of the nouvou riche. Even if the paparazzi were liberal, they'd never get nearly as much traction on a story about i.e. celebrity-is-homophobic than a story about celebrity-broke-someone's-heart.

      --
      If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
      • (Score: 2) by ants_in_pants on Sunday March 11 2018, @03:12AM

        by ants_in_pants (6665) on Sunday March 11 2018, @03:12AM (#650748)

        The thing is that a lot of stuff that would previously be relegated to intelligentsia is making its way somewhat into the mainstream these days. So people are of course up in arms that the intelligentsia are so left-leaning, when in fact if anything they're less so than at any other point in the past 300 years.

        --
        -Love, ants_in_pants
    • (Score: 2) by sjames on Sunday March 11 2018, @01:08AM (1 child)

      by sjames (2882) on Sunday March 11 2018, @01:08AM (#650715) Journal

      Because people see rising prices and not rising wages while the "captains of industry" take brief breaks from their golfing to talk about how people need to work harder?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @04:16AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @04:16AM (#650761)

        "Too big to fail" bailouts are a governmental policy.

  • (Score: 5, Touché) by deimtee on Saturday March 10 2018, @05:37PM (5 children)

    by deimtee (3272) on Saturday March 10 2018, @05:37PM (#650567) Journal

    I don't believe this article. If it was true we wouldn't have heard about it yet.

    --
    If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
    • (Score: 4, Informative) by captain normal on Saturday March 10 2018, @06:13PM (1 child)

      by captain normal (2205) on Saturday March 10 2018, @06:13PM (#650579)

      I don't know why MIT thought they had to fund a study on this. "A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on".Has been noted for over 300 years. and has been attributed to Mark Twain, Jonathan Swift, Thomas Jefferson, Winston Churchill among others. It's probably been in common thinking as long as people started using language.

      https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/07/13/truth/ [quoteinvestigator.com]

      --
      When life isn't going right, go left.
      • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Saturday March 10 2018, @08:32PM

        by bob_super (1357) on Saturday March 10 2018, @08:32PM (#650626)

        A bit like Hollywood always rehashing old stories, universities like to conduct "is this common-sense statement true?" studies.
        It's a lot easier to get people's money, and press coverage, if you stay in familiar territory.

    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @06:29PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @06:29PM (#650588)

      I don't believe this article. If it was true we wouldn't have heard about it yet.

      Russian collusion detected?

    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday March 11 2018, @01:42AM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Sunday March 11 2018, @01:42AM (#650727) Journal

      Yes, you would. Some fake news [soylentnews.org] preceded it

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
  • (Score: 5, Informative) by wonkey_monkey on Saturday March 10 2018, @06:44PM (2 children)

    by wonkey_monkey (279) on Saturday March 10 2018, @06:44PM (#650591) Homepage

    It doesn't spread faster because it's false. It spreads faster because it tends to be engineered to be exactly the sort of news that, if true, would spread quickly.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk
    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Saturday March 10 2018, @07:28PM (1 child)

      by bzipitidoo (4388) on Saturday March 10 2018, @07:28PM (#650610) Journal

      IOW, because it pushes buttons. Particularly fear.

  • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @07:02PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @07:02PM (#650602)

    This is from the abstract:
    "We classified news as true or false using information from six independent fact-checking organizations that exhibited 95 to 98% agreement on the classifications."
    "snopes.com, politifact.com, factcheck.org, truthorfiction.com, hoax-slayer.com, and urbanlegends.about.com"

    Oh dear my. All the supposed "fact-checking organizations" are staffed by liberals and seem to be funded by liberals. Trump could say he likes burgers, and they would rate it "Pants on Fire" or "100% false" because there was one time he was seen eating meatloaf.

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by legont on Saturday March 10 2018, @07:18PM

      by legont (4179) on Saturday March 10 2018, @07:18PM (#650608)

      Perhaps, a better title would be "The People's news travel faster than politically correct news"?

      --
      "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by krishnoid on Saturday March 10 2018, @07:09PM (2 children)

    by krishnoid (1156) on Saturday March 10 2018, @07:09PM (#650604)

    "A fake story can make it to all leaf nodes while a true one is still getting encapsulated in layer 3." -- Mark Twain

    Please make sure you spread that one around, with attribution to its original source :-)

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by requerdanos on Saturday March 10 2018, @07:14PM (1 child)

      by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Saturday March 10 2018, @07:14PM (#650606) Journal

      Thanks. I have added this to my quotations database with the "attribution" link pointing to your comment.

      • (Score: 4, Funny) by captain normal on Saturday March 10 2018, @08:35PM

        by captain normal (2205) on Saturday March 10 2018, @08:35PM (#650628)

        Now that's the kind of verification the white house likes. Here it is...it's on the interwebby....it must be true!

        --
        When life isn't going right, go left.
  • (Score: 3, Funny) by requerdanos on Saturday March 10 2018, @07:12PM (1 child)

    by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Saturday March 10 2018, @07:12PM (#650605) Journal

    False Stories Travel Online Way Faster Than the Truth

    This may be due to confirmation bias. Major recent double-blind university and government studies show that data packets (analgous to the "twit tweetrs" or whatever in TFA) travel at the same average speed over a given network if they are sent encrypted, such that their truth or falsity can be neither known nor represented. This was confirmed by the FBI, Microsoft, and the Greater Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, and it was on Mythbusters. So it is known to be the truth and not fake news.

    I don't know why this effect breaks down when the contents are known and people post on social media. Total head-scratcher.

    By the way, forward this major recent study to everyone in your address book unless you hate Jesus and want him to kill twenty kittens and a puppy.

    Like = One of the elite smart people who know where that +1 button is and how to use it
    Share = Smart person who recognizes the truth and fights fake news #PowerToUsMorons.
    Ignore = Person who hates the truth and hates kittens and puppies and Jesus

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @08:46PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 10 2018, @08:46PM (#650632)

      This may be due to confirmation bias.

      That was my guess too. But that would also have to be studied.

      Our news organizations even follow the method to tweak us. They use inflammatory headlines to draw us in.

      "Fake News" is an amazing loaded term. Whoever invented it, my tip of the hat to them. It allows people to use their own cognitive bias to disregard what they do not like and forward along what they do. Pity it blew back on them.

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by aristarchus on Saturday March 10 2018, @10:39PM (5 children)

    by aristarchus (2645) on Saturday March 10 2018, @10:39PM (#650665) Journal

    What happens is that true stories get submitted to SoylentNews by aristarchus, and they get stuck in the queue, shadow rejected, and finally rejected because of "reasons", all of which slows true stories down. "Anti-rape" pants or Swedish Islamophobia stories, on the other hand, . . .

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @02:39AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @02:39AM (#650741)

      Maybe if you got some anti-rape pants you wouldn't be so butt-hurt all the time.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @04:24AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @04:24AM (#650764)

        You seem to assume that Aristarchus is the rapee, and not the rapist. Aristarchus doesn't suffer from butt hurt, so much as ego hurt when he is denied a young boy's ass.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @06:14AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @06:14AM (#650790)

        Now you see, this is what is wrong with Millennials like Runaway, they have that there Attention Deficit Disorder, or Early Onset Alzheimer's, so they do not get the reference to a Fine Front Page Story we had right 'chere on the SN, not that long ago. https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/02/06/0213215 [soylentnews.org] Somehow this fake news story got on the front page even before the true story about it being a fake news story did! Amazing!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @05:38PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @05:38PM (#650974)

      http://shop.safeshorts.eu/index.php?route=common/home [safeshorts.eu]

      Australians are now among women from tens of countries worldwide who are wearing anti-rape shorts and underwear to protect themselves against sexual assault. 'Safe Shorts' are made out of slash and tear resistant material, and feature an alarm system that activates when someone tries to tamper with them.

      https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/j5vyxb/australians-have-started-ordering-anti-rape-shorts [vice.com]

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @09:16PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @09:16PM (#651077)

        "Rattle your dags, Mate! What about the shorts for the sheep?"

  • (Score: 2, Troll) by jmorris on Sunday March 11 2018, @12:26AM (7 children)

    by jmorris (4844) on Sunday March 11 2018, @12:26AM (#650701)

    If only we had an institution with members who were widely trusted to accurately collect and disseminate information in a timely way. There is a word that used to mean exactly that, journalism, but now it it generally refers to incompetent lying political hacks who work for the Democratic Party but get paid by some huge corporation as a contribution in kind to the Party, for which they expect political influence and favors in return.

    We need a return to actual journalism. Where moderately paid ink stained wretches go out and see the things we don't have time to, then accurately report the details in an easy to digest way to the masses. They just report the who, what, when, why, where, etc. Being the 21st Century they shoot video where appropriate. But the don't spin or offer analysis because everybody knows these aren't major thinkers with an opinion that matters, they are lowly journalists. Journalism is a low paid but steady job for those with English majors and such who are otherwise unemployable in better paying fields. Doesn't take a genius to go out and witness what other people are saying and doing. The sites who hire these journalists would maintain a reputation for accuracy and completeness within the areas they cover. They would probably end up with paywalls, but we can hope enough people would pay a little for accurate, timely and unbiased information.

    Think of CSPAN as exemplar. Brian Lamb is probably the only recognizable name at the place and he founded it. Yet anyone would be hard pressed to even guess his political leanings based on his work product. Their field of coverage is Congress and U.S. politics and most of what they they do is just carry their cameras around and put up unfiltered accounts of events. They are funded entirely by carriage fees paid by cable and sat providers because customers like it.

    Then once we restored widely trusted repositories of raw information, once we could all agree on what happened today, we could support as much punditry and social media as the market could bear as long as they all were expected to base their material with links back to the reliable stores of events.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @01:56AM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @01:56AM (#650731)

      You are such a boob.

      • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @06:32AM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @06:32AM (#650798)

        And it is so sad. With just a little effort, jmorris could have been two boobs, and so a decent rack. And that is just with the hormone treatment. After that, we could get some nihilists to cut off his Johnson. If he feels the need to go that way. (Note: none of this is true, so be sure to forward it to everyone you know.)

        • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday March 11 2018, @12:38PM (1 child)

          by maxwell demon (1608) on Sunday March 11 2018, @12:38PM (#650900) Journal

          Note: none of this is true

          Well, if none of this is true, then that also applies to that sentence, which in turn implies that some of it actually is true. ;-)

          --
          The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @09:17PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @09:17PM (#651078)

            Thus the single boob, per hypothesori.

    • (Score: 2) by deimtee on Sunday March 11 2018, @02:53AM

      by deimtee (3272) on Sunday March 11 2018, @02:53AM (#650743) Journal

      It's a nice idea, but journalism was never that pure. It has always been that only the occasional individual journalist had honesty and integrity. These few, over time could build up a reputation and credibility with the public.
      Where it has gone bad is that the corporate owners realised they could 'monetize' that credibility, and have spent it all. There are probably still honest journos out there, but they don't work for commercial big media, mostly they have a blog of some sort. There are a few still holding out in the BBC and Oz's ABC, but they are under fire too.

      The big problem is the sheer quantity of information. You can find twenty different stories about the same event, all internally consistent and apparently objective, but mutually contradictory. How the hell do you ever sort out the truth?

      --
      If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @02:55AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @02:55AM (#650744)

      The soviets had a word for the trusted repositories of raw information you speak of. That word was Pravda.

    • (Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Sunday March 11 2018, @08:01AM

      by hemocyanin (186) on Sunday March 11 2018, @08:01AM (#650833) Journal

      I don't know -- Yellow Journalism was a term coined over a century ago and it seems the press has often been nothing but a tool for pushing the agenda of the oligarchy. The Spanish-American war and WWI being older examples, Yellow Cake, poison gas, and Russian Troll Farms being the current incarnation. I don't think there is a golden age of journalism to hearken back to -- just a long stream of marketing by oligarchs who wish to rob, cheat, and kill their fellow countrypeople for personal profit.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @03:47AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 11 2018, @03:47AM (#650756)

    False stories: Have an interest in being spread.
    True stories: Are hidden behind paywalls or suewalls.

  • (Score: 2) by DutchUncle on Monday March 12 2018, @03:17AM

    by DutchUncle (5370) on Monday March 12 2018, @03:17AM (#651184)

    Jonathan Swift. Another version, attributed (paraphrased) to Mark Twain and many others, and used by Terry Pratchett:

    “A lie can run round the world before the truth has got its boots on.”

(1)