He Said-She Said: Blogs Making Things Up!?

November 20, 2007 by guestauthor in News,Tech with 7 Comments

This is surprising. It seems a recent story that made the rounds among the popular tech blogs may not have been anything to write about in the first place.

As I tried to search for where the story originated, I stumbled into the blogging equivalent of a childhood game of telephone. How exactly did this rumor spread in 3 days from a small energy news site to some of the highest trafficked auto & technology blogs on the web? Could Wired, GizModo, Engadget, Jalopnik, etc. really have been part of such a badly spun web of news?

Someone actually went to the source to get the facts for a story and discovered all the blogs were going on and on about nothing. Crazy, I know. It’s an interesting read, but it begs the question: do you treat blogs as a legitimate news source? Do you take what you read on UNEASY, or Engadget or Gizmodo as gospel, or do you accept that you should take things with a grain, nay, big old bag of salt?

Ian

No Dan, the majority of people I’ve read comments from on other sites have the general opinion of “huh, well that figures.” I guess it’s true that we are losing the expectation of privacy as a culture. Kudos on breaking it first though.

Now relating back to the actual story here, I do feel that I trust most postings on what I feel are reputable blogs. I read the usual: Engadget, Slashdot, Lifehacker, Macrumors, and of course UneasySilence. If something rolls past them that’s fake, well, then that’s a risk I take by reading their stories. In most cases, I’ll trust what I read from the blogs more than what I read in the papers.
http://www.uneasysilence.com Dan

Before anyone says anything, NOBODY has disproved that Apple is tracking IPhone users. The “Stocks” and “weather” widgets do not submit your phones IMEI, but they do submit an identifier.
chad

did you guys hear about the new wheels Nissan is developing?… they change colors!

check it out!
http://wemakestuffup.net/nissan/wheelz0fpwn4g3
Paul B

I’m a very skeptical person. Most rumors I hear, I don’t believe until I find out for sure. This blog seems to be one of the best for not starting, or spreading rumors (unless you want to :-P).

BTW Chad, you should register that domain. It’s a rather amusing one :D
(Do it before I do)
annon

“It seems a recent story that made the rounds among the popular tech blogs may not have been anything to write about in the first place.”

How is it surprising?
Uneasysilence lately has been suffering form the same problem, posting stories that range from fake, useless, repetitive, re spewing out what other sites post and some times just boring.

It used to be 10 out of 10 posts here were entertaining, informative and funny, but now I would have to say its 6 out of 10
http://scopetech.net Evan

Annon, I was being sarcastic in saying it’s surprising. I’d love to get feedback on what you like and don’t like, contact me! Tell me! samureye at [nospam] gmail.com
chad

Sorry Annon, but some of the old school contributors are very busy, hence the possible change in reporting styles … :(

He Said-She Said: Blogs Making Things Up!?

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