Sounds like a cop out, imo. Aren't we supposed to verify before we share? Who cares if it's 30 minutes later because you had to verify it.
Sad thing is, it usually doesn't take but a minute or two to fact check a post. If it's a questionable photo, do a reverse photo search.
Questionable Twitter comment? Check the user's official Twitter account for the comment to show up in their feed.
Some warning signs posts might be fake and need more research:
Does it seem "too good to be true"? Also, do you want it to be true? If you see a post where some leftist is blatantly admitting they did something illegal, after years of claiming innocence? Yeah, you need to check it. Read some Twitter post saying someone you hate has been arrested? Yeah, you need to check it.
People tend to more easily believe things that confirms opinions they already have.
Does the post make you extremely angry, happy, or scared? Chances are that it's counting on a sensationalist headline to get clicks. Provoking outrage and anger toward a particular person is one of the most common fake posts that I see, personally. If it makes you feel very strongly about it, check it.
READ BEYOND THE HEADLINE. This is something that just boggles my mind that people need to be told. Don't form opinions based on headlines only. That's just STUPID. And I see it done all day, every day.
Not on this forum, but on a Facebook group I was once a part of, there was a huge problem with people sharing posts from satirical websites, thinking they were real. Not the Onion, or the Bee, it was a leftist that had several websites. "America's Frontline of Defense" was one of them, I think. I'll have to go check. Anyway, people were constantly sharing headlines from there, because they never bothered to read the articles, which were clearly satire. 🙄
If a photo seems dubious, do a reverse image search. Also, if a post seems dubious, and it includes a photo important to the article, do a reverse image search. It will sometimes lead to the original article that was changed.
Look at where you find the info you want to share. Look for the "About Us" section. Do they even have one? Look for the byline on articles. Does it not have a name, instead saying it was written by "staff"? That should be a red flag. If you can't find info on anyone who founded, funds, or writes for a website, it shouldn't be trusted. Especially if the screen is covered in ads. Or they're trying to sell you some miracle vitamins or magic water or such. "Follow the money" shouldn't be something reserved only for leftists.
Can you find the story you want to re-post on more than one site? If not, you need to look into it more. Can you find more than one article for the story? As in, is it just the same article reposted over and over with nothing else written about it? If not, you need to check it.
Try copy-pasting blocks of text to see where else it can be found online. Quotes are particularly good to find this way. Compare the articles to see if anything has been changed or added.
Beware Twitter or other social media posts where the time/date stamp has been cut off. It's gotten to the point where if a Tweet has a missing time/date stamp, I automatically think it's bullshit. But I check anyway. And I honestly can't remember the last time it wasn't bullshit.
Don't automatically believe something is true just because you like/admire the person who said it. Last I checked, the only perfect person was Jesus Christ, and he's not giving press conferences or tweeting right now. Humans are imperfect and make mistakes. Some even knowingly lie, sometimes. 😲
I'm going to leave this list at 9, just for the autists and OCD who fixate on lists being made into 5 and 10 number intervals. 😁
You ain't getting many upvotes from folks that pride themselves on being The Connoisseurs of Truth The Whole Truth And Nothing But The Truth they bill themselves as.
Sad thing is, it usually doesn't take but a minute or two to fact check a post. If it's a questionable photo, do a reverse photo search.
Questionable Twitter comment? Check the user's official Twitter account for the comment to show up in their feed.
Some warning signs posts might be fake and need more research:
People tend to more easily believe things that confirms opinions they already have.
Does the post make you extremely angry, happy, or scared? Chances are that it's counting on a sensationalist headline to get clicks. Provoking outrage and anger toward a particular person is one of the most common fake posts that I see, personally. If it makes you feel very strongly about it, check it.
READ BEYOND THE HEADLINE. This is something that just boggles my mind that people need to be told. Don't form opinions based on headlines only. That's just STUPID. And I see it done all day, every day.
Not on this forum, but on a Facebook group I was once a part of, there was a huge problem with people sharing posts from satirical websites, thinking they were real. Not the Onion, or the Bee, it was a leftist that had several websites. "America's Frontline of Defense" was one of them, I think. I'll have to go check. Anyway, people were constantly sharing headlines from there, because they never bothered to read the articles, which were clearly satire. 🙄
If a photo seems dubious, do a reverse image search. Also, if a post seems dubious, and it includes a photo important to the article, do a reverse image search. It will sometimes lead to the original article that was changed.
Look at where you find the info you want to share. Look for the "About Us" section. Do they even have one? Look for the byline on articles. Does it not have a name, instead saying it was written by "staff"? That should be a red flag. If you can't find info on anyone who founded, funds, or writes for a website, it shouldn't be trusted. Especially if the screen is covered in ads. Or they're trying to sell you some miracle vitamins or magic water or such. "Follow the money" shouldn't be something reserved only for leftists.
Can you find the story you want to re-post on more than one site? If not, you need to look into it more. Can you find more than one article for the story? As in, is it just the same article reposted over and over with nothing else written about it? If not, you need to check it.
Try copy-pasting blocks of text to see where else it can be found online. Quotes are particularly good to find this way. Compare the articles to see if anything has been changed or added.
Beware Twitter or other social media posts where the time/date stamp has been cut off. It's gotten to the point where if a Tweet has a missing time/date stamp, I automatically think it's bullshit. But I check anyway. And I honestly can't remember the last time it wasn't bullshit.
Don't automatically believe something is true just because you like/admire the person who said it. Last I checked, the only perfect person was Jesus Christ, and he's not giving press conferences or tweeting right now. Humans are imperfect and make mistakes. Some even knowingly lie, sometimes. 😲
I'm going to leave this list at 9, just for the autists and OCD who fixate on lists being made into 5 and 10 number intervals. 😁
You ain't getting many upvotes from folks that pride themselves on being The Connoisseurs of Truth The Whole Truth And Nothing But The Truth they bill themselves as.
But I'll diiiiiieeeeeee without my updoots! I live for them! Almost 60% of my self confidence comes from my updoots. 😪😪
At first I thought it might be because they already knew all that stuff and I was boring them by singing to the choir.
And then I went and read some other threads here and realized that couldn't be it.
So, it's a mystery, I suppose. 🤷♀️
The not reading articles beyond the headline was really shocking to me, all kidding aside. Seriously, people. 🤦♀️