Lies I Was Told on The Internet

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Is credibility on the Internet becoming obsolete? As a reader are you having a hard time separating the fact from fiction on Internet articles? If your answer to either of these questions is yes, perhaps you should examine the cause…

As has been pointed out to me repeatedly over the last several months, the main goal of content-writers is to get views on their articles. This in turn earns them their pay. You don’t read, we don’t get paid.

One of the ugly “facts” of this business, is that, here on the world wide web, literally billions of contributors world wide vie for your attention. On any given day, there are literally hundreds if not thousands of thousands of articles, reports, news stories and submitted works send into the Internet. Very few if any are checked for fact, or even edited.

I am an idealist. I prefer to believe that the majority of us, try to do it right. By that I mean if we write a “News” piece, we try to check our information sources, verify the correctness of the content and disperse it where it will be the most valuable to our intended audience. We do this for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is credibility. If I write an article that is compelling, well-written and accurate, you are more likely to read me again in the future.

There are however, some who, for whatever their reason or justification; simply cannot and will not be bothered with such a professional ethical standard. They simply are creating something that will peak your interest and the interest of others above and beyond, and often, exclusive of the facts. It’s a dog eat dog world here in the Internet content-writers market and we are all wearing Milk Bone boxers. They simply want hits and they want lots of them.

In the “real” world news happens rapidly, in cyber-space it changes in milliseconds. We race to get the jump on articles, stories and the latest tidbits and gossip, get it written and get it out to you rapidly. That’s our job. Fact checking, sources and editorial precision take a backseat to the need for speed. Why? Because, we make our livings off of what you read. If you read someone’s article because I was checking for facts, I lose money.

So, how do you, the reader ascertain the voracity of the article in question?

First, before you jump at the bait… approach it warily. Check using the little search box on your browser for related articles; see if there is more than this one slant on a particular topic. If you have someone telling you they have scooped the entire Internet, chances are you are reading a hoax, or a flat out fabrication. It just isn’t possible. Again, remember – billions of words everyday on subjects spanning the globe and some guy calling himself, “Cyber Man” is the only one getting it right? Are you for real? How gullible are you and would you like to buy land in Florida that never gets rained on?

Don’t be naive; look before you leap. These axioms are more important now than ever. Let’s face it, your time is valuable, so is mine. Reading something that does nothing but waste several minutes of your busy day is non-productive. Ol’ Cyber Man is counting on you being in a hurry and not bothering to look for the tell-tale signs of a bogus story. He uses things like metatags, SEO results to get him something close to a story and then runs with it. Be wary of things that seem too outlandish, too earthshattering and too important that would not have been missed by the normal radio, televison and newspaper reporters.

I very seldom write News articles for this reason. I tend to keep my little creative writing in the land where it belongs, pure fiction. I tentatively will pop out to do a piece on college or professional sports if it is something I am extremely interested in, but, for the most part I would rather let the others squabble over the few crumbs they can glean and let them do their thing.

Just remember this though. When you read an article that, proclaims that “Obama is Caught in Love Triangle with Beyonce and Oprah” and you didn’t see it on Springer first, it probably should be taken as an amusement or a flat out hoax and dealt with accordingly. Don’t blame every online writer, because you got duped by some guy named Cyber Man.

Just a thought