If there is no barrier to posting fiction pretending to be factual, then large numbers of people will do it just for shits and giggles. Add dopamine inducing upvotes to the mix, and you’ve added an extra incentive on top of that for people to produce compelling fiction.
The only prudent default position is to take every single firsthand account you encounter online with a grain of salt. In truth, this should be done irl as well. “The fish was thiiiiis big!” was a meme before internet memes existed, for good reason. Firsthand accounts are naturally highly, highly problematic, with numerous subtle incentives to lie and exaggerate, and that’s before we add anonymity to the mix.
People are entirely too gullible.
If there is no barrier to posting fiction pretending to be factual, then large numbers of people will do it just for shits and giggles. Add dopamine inducing upvotes to the mix, and you’ve added an extra incentive on top of that for people to produce compelling fiction.
The only prudent default position is to take every single firsthand account you encounter online with a grain of salt. In truth, this should be done irl as well. “The fish was thiiiiis big!” was a meme before internet memes existed, for good reason. Firsthand accounts are naturally highly, highly problematic, with numerous subtle incentives to lie and exaggerate, and that’s before we add anonymity to the mix.
A reporter should know better.