encouraging people to fact check would involve:
- giving resources like websites that help fact checking,
- giving instructions on how to fact check information they see on tumblr themselves
- giving tips for spotting false information
- giving a list of unreliable sources and satiricle websites that make joke articles (like the onion)
- kindly pointing out false information without mocking people or calling them names
encouraging fact checking is not:
- “lol tumblr would believe it if you told them that someone wrote gullbile on the ceiling above their head”
- “lol this is what happens on a website that thinks school is oppressive”
- “lol tumblr is so *insert ableist term here*”
Snopes is probably your best source for internet rumors and here’s a list of fake news sites.
Most folks know that Fox News is not reliable despite, somehow, being a genuine news broadcaster but I’m always seeing The Daily Mail articles being passed around so keep in mind that TDM is just as bad as Fox News.
When it comes to science news try to avoid general news, they usually either get it completely wrong or are very misleading. Try to find the journal it was originally published in or, at least, somewhere with the abstract. Science Direct, the U.S. National Library of Medicine, and the Wiley Online Library are good databases.
When you see social media screencaps make sure a link is included, if there’s no link try to find the source for yourself and if you can’t find it than don’t put any stock in it. It’s incredibly easy to falsify facebook, twitter, and even tumblr posts.
I’ll admit to being occasionally frustrated with Tumblr’s penchant for taking a myth and running with it. But to be fair, this is hardly exclusive to this website.
All of these tips are sound, I just want to add a few more:
- Donation drives for bloggers in need: check to see if (1) the original blog post still exists, it might have been deleted because the OP voluntarily put an end to the drive, (2) the original blog still exists, (3) the original blog is just a couple days old, in which case err on the side of caution and either move along or investigate a little more (even if they give a reason)
- Missing person posts: check to see if the OP gives details such where and when was the person last seen, what clothes they were/might be wearing, whether they have access to a car, etc. Contact info for their relatives or Amber Alert details/police contact info is always a good sign that it is a legit cry for help. Also check to see if the original post/blog still exists, the person may already have been found or it may be a fake post. Double-checking on Google to see if it’s a legit or recent disappearance may also help Please remember that SOMETIMES ABUSERS TRACK DOWN THEIR VICTIMS RESORTING TO FAKE MISSING PERSONS POSTS and that there are people with legitimate reasons to want to not be found!!!!
- Lifehacks: Snopes it before you reblog – most of them are bullshit or ineffectual. Still, reblogging bogus lifehacks is not as serious as reblogging fake missing persons posts. Some lifehacks, however, are famously illegal or harmful to a person’s health (eg Oreo mascara)
- Rape prevention tips – DO NOT REBLOG. These are 99% of the time just CLICKBAITING SCARE TACTICS who won’t save ANYONE from harm and will only result in contributing to a culture of fear, chiefly among women.
- Crime reporting signal boosts – this includes: letters from a company that is purportedly a front for a human trafficking operation, needles infected with HIV scattered around public places, and other chainletter fare. These are most often than not bogus. In any case, Snopes is your best friend. Check to see if they give a date or a place for said crimes being committed – if they don’t, it’s the first sign it might be fake.
- Call-out posts with Twitter/Facebook
screengrabs – check to see if they provide a link to said postings.
If not, it might just mean that the person deleted them but BE AWARE
THAT INTERNET TROLLS OFTEN DOCTOR SCREENGRABS to make it look like
other people (usually women) have said hateful things that they NEVER
SAID. They do this to try and get them attacked by social
justice-conscious people.
Please remember that for every bogus missing persons post, fake donation drive and poorly fundamented problematic screengrab you reblog, you’re making it a little hard for people who are actually in need to get the visibility and help that they need. I don’t blame you for being trusting, but it would be in everybody’s best interests to exercise some caution in what you signal boost. <3
ED: someone mentioned this and it’s very much worth adding: also please be warned that the internet is full of assholes, and sometimes if you ask for assistance (especially technical assistance) in some less reputable forums and internet communities you might get people intentionally feeding you bad info that will damage your property, because they’re dickheads who get off on tricking gullible people into breaking their own stuff. Do NOT immerse your iPhone in water or put it in the microwave to “charge” it!!!!