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Hoax-Slayer is there again!
Feb. 8th, 2006 11:12 amAnd they've got another thing I want to post.
Blogging is great! The expanding number of free blogging services mean that any interested individual with access to an Internet enabled computer can create their own, unique little website with a minimum of fuss, no expense, and little knowledge of web design. Once your blog is set up, you can write about anything you like. There are thousands of very interesting and informative articles posted on blogs every day. Unfortunately, however, a lot of what I can only describe as unmitigated garbage also makes its way into the Blogosphere, including a fair share of hoax messages.
When conducting article research, I increasingly come across blog posts that are exact copies of hoax messages that normally travel via email. In many cases, it seems that the blog owner has received a hoax via email, tidied it up a little and simply thrown it online without bothering to check its veracity in any way.
Thus, blogging is unintentionally becoming another quite powerful means of spreading misinformation. Because blog posts often have an attractive and professional appearance, the offending hoax message may attain a certain amount of undeserved credibility simply because of the medium it appears on. Also, blog posts often tend to get indexed by Internet search engines quite quickly. Therefore, someone searching for information about an email message they received may come across the same message posted on several blogs and wrongly conclude that the message is valid.
Of course, many non-blog websites can and do publish false or misleading information as well. However, the peculiar characteristics of blogging mean that a blog owner, with the best of intentions, can upload false information for the entire world to see with just a few mouse clicks.
So, keep your sceptic's hat on while surfing or researching. If something you read online seems a little dubious, try to verify it via other sources before you count it as true. The criteria for recognizing a hoax message in email holds true for blog posts as well. You can read my suggested guidelines for spotting hoaxes via the link below:
How to Spot an Email Hoax
Blogging is great! The expanding number of free blogging services mean that any interested individual with access to an Internet enabled computer can create their own, unique little website with a minimum of fuss, no expense, and little knowledge of web design. Once your blog is set up, you can write about anything you like. There are thousands of very interesting and informative articles posted on blogs every day. Unfortunately, however, a lot of what I can only describe as unmitigated garbage also makes its way into the Blogosphere, including a fair share of hoax messages.
When conducting article research, I increasingly come across blog posts that are exact copies of hoax messages that normally travel via email. In many cases, it seems that the blog owner has received a hoax via email, tidied it up a little and simply thrown it online without bothering to check its veracity in any way.
Thus, blogging is unintentionally becoming another quite powerful means of spreading misinformation. Because blog posts often have an attractive and professional appearance, the offending hoax message may attain a certain amount of undeserved credibility simply because of the medium it appears on. Also, blog posts often tend to get indexed by Internet search engines quite quickly. Therefore, someone searching for information about an email message they received may come across the same message posted on several blogs and wrongly conclude that the message is valid.
Of course, many non-blog websites can and do publish false or misleading information as well. However, the peculiar characteristics of blogging mean that a blog owner, with the best of intentions, can upload false information for the entire world to see with just a few mouse clicks.
So, keep your sceptic's hat on while surfing or researching. If something you read online seems a little dubious, try to verify it via other sources before you count it as true. The criteria for recognizing a hoax message in email holds true for blog posts as well. You can read my suggested guidelines for spotting hoaxes via the link below:
