Re:Co-founder of Snopes was writing plagiarized articles und...
by dragonwriter on Friday August 13, 2021 @05:51PM
(#28175020)
> But that doesn't matter, does it?
Yes, it does.
> Anyone familiar with the topic will already know what’s up, and anyone interested enough to research the topic will be able to do so as well.
They will be able to do so…by reviewing and evaluating information from sources that provide the evidence and logic on which they rest conclusions. That a “fact checker” is such a source is…clearly something that matters.
> The point of declaring true/false is to have the final word for most readers.
And the point of providing support is to provide the ability for the readers that are willing to do more legwork to evaluate the claims, which is also how a fact checker gets (or loses, either because it fails to do this or because following back doesn’t support their claims) the reputation which allows them to be trusted by the users that don’t do the extra legwork. Same as any other source, because all a fact checker is is another research source that happens to be focussed on claims of current salience and controversy.
> “No need to look further, Snopes said it’s true”.
Which only holds up as a long as Snopes reputation holds up.
> Sure, anyone can provide evidence to say you’re wrong, but they’re just some random blogger and nobody reads them.
That would be a problem in a world where Snopes was the sole and universally accepted “fact checker” and every other source of information was regarded as “just a random blogger”. But there are lots of fact checkers (both standalone and as part of media organizations), and a lot of focus by interested parties with very influential platforms on the reliability of various entities that hold themselves out as fact checkers or other fact sources.
Yes, it does.
> Anyone familiar with the topic will already know what’s up, and anyone interested enough to research the topic will be able to do so as well.
They will be able to do so…by reviewing and evaluating information from sources that provide the evidence and logic on which they rest conclusions. That a “fact checker” is such a source is…clearly something that matters.
> The point of declaring true/false is to have the final word for most readers.
And the point of providing support is to provide the ability for the readers that are willing to do more legwork to evaluate the claims, which is also how a fact checker gets (or loses, either because it fails to do this or because following back doesn’t support their claims) the reputation which allows them to be trusted by the users that don’t do the extra legwork. Same as any other source, because all a fact checker is is another research source that happens to be focussed on claims of current salience and controversy.
> “No need to look further, Snopes said it’s true”.
Which only holds up as a long as Snopes reputation holds up.
> Sure, anyone can provide evidence to say you’re wrong, but they’re just some random blogger and nobody reads them.
That would be a problem in a world where Snopes was the sole and universally accepted “fact checker” and every other source of information was regarded as “just a random blogger”. But there are lots of fact checkers (both standalone and as part of media organizations), and a lot of focus by interested parties with very influential platforms on the reliability of various entities that hold themselves out as fact checkers or other fact sources.