False Information

If you know me at all then you know I am pretty computer savvy.  Not to mention I am married to a man who knows a lot more about computers than I do, he is way techo.  Yah I made up the word techo, and I don't like the fact that the word savvy has two v's ... but anyway, we would be considered pretty knowledgable about computers and the internet.  If you are a person who uses the internet you should understand that things on the internet are not always true.  In fact there are people out there who make up false stories so that you will believe them.  Why?  I don't know and I don't care but when I read something that sounds iffy I go look it up.

My husband recently went on a Facebook de-friending spree because so many people were sharing stories about things that were false.  It is not hard to verify if something is real or not, you just have to do a quick "google" search.  In fact there are so many false stories on the internet that a web page was created specifically to let people find out if things you see on the internet are real or not - www.snopes.com.

Another thing, Huffington Post ... while I find it a rather interesting site, it is basically a blog, and the stories it post are not necessarily true either.

I like this article (source) about the reliability of the Huffington Post.

Q

Is huffington post a reliable source?

A

Answer: Most college instructors would say the quick answer is NO.  This does not mean that stories found on this site cannot be useful.  Like Wikipedia or other online sites, especially those which provide sources for the information they display, they can be used to lead you to solid, reliable sources, such as those published in scholarly journals.  To a large extent, what you read on the Huffington Post are opinion pieces, commonly called blogs.  These are, generally, not what your instructor wants to see in your college paper.

So if you want me to believe something is true and you try to quote an article from the Huffington Post ... ya it is not going to happen.  I am sorry but I am a sceptic, I rarely believe anything, but especially an article in the Huffington.

Oh, and another thing, peppers do not have genders, it does not matter if they have three or four bumps on the bottom, it has nothing to do with how sweet they are nor does it mean they have more seeds.  I know, you read about it on the internet and it has to be true right?

So just remember the internet contains a lot of false information, you have been given the ability to make sure something is true before you believe it and share it. If you read something and it seems like it is out to scare you, it might not be true!  If you read something you have never heard before and it sounds amazing, it might not be true!  If you read something you don't agree with - well it might not be true!  Do your part and stop spreading false information, look it up first!