Comments on: The most beautiful woman in France? She's actually a guy!

The most beautiful woman in France? She's actually a guy!

matteo — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 15:05:58 -0800

The most beautiful woman in France? She's actually a guy! Well, not exactly, but...

By: nyukid

nyukid — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 15:19:06 -0800

Hrm... rumors can spread on the Internet? Who would have thunk it?

By: johnb

johnb — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 15:51:56 -0800

>>"As soon as something is placed on an internet site, people take it at face value, without asking themselves any questions" uh...in contrast to television (or other medium)? Sounds as if it has more to do with general human gullibility than with TCP/IP.

By: gyc

gyc — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 16:01:21 -0800

Well, anything appearing on reputable channels such as CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, tend to have been fact-checked before airing. Of course, that doesn't mean the fact-checkers did their job, but at least they make an effort.

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Sat, 28 Apr 2001 02:32:11 -0800

Yeah I keep telling myself those lies too, gyc. Recently I've seen some major retractions in the press. The news reports about black mold which allegedly infiltrate corporate business ventilation systems and slowly poison everyone? "A mild exagerration." That's just one example. The media goofs up a lot. Always has. Seems almost like it's gettting moreso now.

By: wackybrit

wackybrit — Sat, 28 Apr 2001 14:11:49 -0800

A few months ago a trick was pulled which made it look like CNN had reported that 'Eminem was dead'. It was a CNN page, the URL looked like a CNN URL, and the news spread like wildfire, especially after it was covered by Norwegian TV. Of course, the trickster had simply made a CNN page, put in his own text, and used a simple URL formatting trick to make it look like a CNN page.. For example, a URL like: http://www.cnn.com/stories@0128272/story.htm would actually go to 'long IP' 0128272/story.htm instead of the CNN site. All techie crap. Worked well though!

By: youhas

youhas — Sun, 29 Apr 2001 00:55:51 -0800

Heh - I did the CNN page fandango myself. Got a nifty cease-and-desist letter for my troubles, too... and a lot of email from some very, very confused individuals. :-)