One of the worst parts about being an admin on this group is how often we have to delete obvious fake news articles from the moderation queue. It's really disappointing, to be frank. So, I think it's time for another post about fake news.
FAKE NEWS IS NOT:

• Something you disagree with
• Something Donald Trump disagrees with
• Something whose source has a political alignment you disagree with

HOW TO IDENTIFY ACTUAL FAKE NEWS:

• No author, or an author who is obviously not a real person. If you Google the name and nothing comes up except for the site you're on, that's a huge red flag. Real journalists, even those who write pseudonymously, have much larger internet footprints than a single site. Remington Democratslayer is not a journalist. He is a fake person invented to string along gullible ideologues.
• Published by a non-transparent organization without an editorial review board. Real news does not hide from scrutiny. The fact that the only "news" organizations claiming that the government is guarding the skeletons of the Nephilim in a secret compound underneath the Smithsonian Institute have absolutely no transparency, no editorial review, and make claims that cannot possibly be verified is a pretty good sign that you're being lied to.
• No date. This tactic serves two purposes. First, it prevents people from dismissing it as "old news" so that it can be circulated again in the future. Second, it prevents people from checking it against other sources publishing on the same topic at around the same time.
• No sources cited (or circular citations to other articles from the same or similar sources). This shouldn't even need to be said, but apparently it does. If your article about the UN admitting that it is hiding Osama Bin Laden from the US military doesn't even have a link to where a UN spokesperson supposedly makes that admission, it isn't real. It didn't happen. It is a lie. It. Is. Fake. News. SERIOUSLY WHY ARE YOU PEOPLE SHARING THIS STUFF. |
• Poor writing. Yeah I know the standards for writing in journalism have gone downhill lately, but if the site you're reading clearly doesn't even have a copy editor capable of catching. Sentence fragments, misppelings, and ovbious typos. And frequent misuse's, of apostrophe's, and comma's, you know something is horribly wrong with that site. Or at least, you should.
• Finally, if the article says something that you really, really want to be true—be skeptical. In fact, the more you want it to be true, the more skeptical you should be.

And now back to your regularly scheduled sharing of articles that are OBVIOUSLY true, and the only reason there is absolutely no evidence that they are true is because of a huge conspiracy to hide all the evidence, of which conspiracy there is also no evidence because that is also being suppressed, but if only we'd do the work of reading dozens of long, rambling rants from websites like realtrueconservativefacts.com and watching hours of videos by obscure YouTubers with names like IlluminatiKilledJFK, we'd TOTALLY be on your side.

O-Trap;1862201 wrote:While the examples he gave certainly don't apply to every political ideology, this seems like a pretty good list.

CenterBHSFan;1862215 wrote:I was going to mention that it only applies to one lol

O-Trap;1862232 wrote:I don't know too many Republicans who admit to believing that the "government is guarding the skeletons of the Nephilim in a secret compound underneath the Smithsonian Institute." That sounds mostly like what you'd hear from either a Libertarian, one of the varieties of anarchism, or just a plain whackadoo.

O-Trap;1862201 wrote: While the examples he gave certainly don't apply to every political ideology, this seems like a pretty good list.

gut;1862471 wrote:Especially the "if it's something you really want to be true, be extra skeptical". I see so much stuff people re-post from Facebook, particular memes, that immediately set-off the "BS meter" and can usually be disproven with about 30 seconds in a google search.

It all makes it pretty clear that the news sucks because people don't demand better of it.

Although I'd take issue about the "lack of dates" on the list referenced - I find a lot of articles, usually when looking for tech how-to's, that don't have dates. And it's very frustrating to know if the tips are current for hardware and software.

O-Trap;1862474 wrote: That's far less likely if the date is listed. This is all not to mention the fact that most news sources that are at least attempting to be credible do include dates in actual news stories.

gut;1862486 wrote:I agree, and I'm sure those blogs/support sites omit the date for the same reason. I realize a news article is something a bit different, I just don't think a date is particularly telling, especially when a date can be edited and resubmitted.

ppaw1999;1865522 wrote:https://www.yahoo.com/news/not-real-news-look-didnt-happen-week-162427280.html

Maybe we could have a weekly update?

gut;1866040 wrote:Headline on my news feed just came along that "FBI raids Manaforte home". It was Reuters regurgitating a WaPo article. The link/article itself correctly said "raided", but I thought this was pretty ridiculous.

ppaw1999;1866469 wrote:http://www.thedailybeast.com/alt-right-media-framed-wrong-person-in-car-attack-labeled-him-anti-trump-druggie

Scary how easily some people can be duped. Too many people want to believe what fits their narrative instead of waiting for the facts.

ppaw1999;1866469 wrote:http://www.thedailybeast.com/alt-right-media-framed-wrong-person-in-car-attack-labeled-him-anti-trump-druggie

Scary how easily some people can be duped. Too many people want to believe what fits their narrative instead of waiting for the facts.

isadore;1866491 wrote:Alt right for racism and Trump



James Alex Fields Jr., left, in a crowd of white nationalists in Charlottesville, Va., on Saturday. Hours later, the police say, he killed a 32-year-old woman and injured 19 other people by driving a car into a line of other cars.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/13/us/james-alex-fields-charlottesville-driver-.html

QuakerOats;1866963 wrote:I heard Trump is going to pardon him.