The Internet Is Not Always True
Yoshi pointed out a news article about someone posting a fake ad on Craigslist essentially saying “I have to leave the state – come get my stuff for free” and then people went to the listed address and started taking stuff… including the horse. When the owner came home and started telling the people it was his stuff and not to take it, they waved the Craigslist printout in his face and said they had a right to take the stuff and just continued stealing his stuff. Luckily for these people he wasn’t the type to start shooting for trespassing and stealing.
Let me just say a few things here about this situation as it provides some good examples of how what happens on the internet can affect people in real life (IRL).
Craigslist is not at fault. The site clearly states that the postings are from the general public and to always be wary of the validity of listed items. Craigslist does provide links to report posts that seem fake or inappropriate and the reported posts usually come down in about a day. I also wouldn’t blame the person who posted it beyond misrepresentation – and bad judgement. All fault for this really falls on the people who used it as an excuse to steal.
A printout from a website does not give anybody the right to do anything no matter what the printout says or where it came from online. It cannot convey any more right than me writing on a Post-It “Mine” and affixing it to stuff I like and saying that makes me the owner. I don’t know how to make it any more clear.
Lastly, and most importantly is that just because it’s on the internet that doesn’t make it true. I know this is hard for some people to fully grasp, but the internet has just as many (if not more) liars and scam artists as IRL. If something seems too good to be true, it probably isn’t true no matter how much you wish it. If you drove by a house that looked lived in and it had a sign out front that said ‘Free – take what you want’, would you actually do it? I would like to think you would think twice – maybe verify it – before acting on it. Apply the same logic to things online.
There is a site called Snopes that can help you pin down many scams and internet urban legends. Just go to the site and do a search for some of the contents of the questionable material and you’ll likely find if it is true or false. Here’s an example that explains and details that you cannot get anything free by forwarding an email – no $5 from Microsoft, no cell phones, no Playstations – but every few months someone forwards them to me in hopes that they’ll get something for free. This stuff clogs up email inboxes with useless junk and it also can make the person forwarding the email look bad (seeing these float around work just make me cringe).
That cute girl you think you are chatting with? Probably a 42 year old guy. The $10 you can generate for a worthwhile charity by forwarding an email? Just spam. Joe Shmo posts a blog about Company A putting chemicals in Location B’s high school lunches? You might want to double check that fact.
Just remember, you can’t believe everything you see on the internet.
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Yeah, I don’t think i’d say the person who originally posted it blameless. Misreprenstation and bad judment? i doubt it. I would consider it a malicious attack on someone. Obviously the guy pissed somebody off, or perhaps the person who made the post had a personal vendetta against him, who knows.
Regardless, making a post like this to me is malicious. Even if it was flagged as inappropriate or false, the damage would already be done in less than 24 hours. by the time it was taken down, it might have been seen by 100’s of people.
and yes, the people who went there should be a bit more intelligent or not hiding behind a piece of paper that says they have the right. But the original poster I feel is most at fault.
Yeah. The person who posted the hoax ad was definitely being malicious and should be charged with something – I just don’t know what as they didn’t actually do any stealing and can’t really be held responsible for other people’s actions in this situation. If I did the same thing in the local paper’s classifieds what would have happened? Probably nothing – or maybe a few phone calls asking if it was real. This is where internet vs IRL makes things tricky and where we as a society will have to decide how to handle these types of situations.
I still think people need to be responsible for their own actions and I would rather they take responsibility for the theft instead of a copout like “but the post said it was okay” letting them off the hook. That’s why I think the people who actually did the stealing should take full responsibility for the actual thefts.
The owner is actually saying “please return the stuff – no questions asked” which hopefully will get his stuff back. It would be harder to get back if people thought they’d get in trouble for fessing up. I really do hope people will feel ashamed for not only stealing the stuff but also for falling for such a stupid hoax that they’ll return the owner’s property.
What about the email that says it’s a school project and wants you to read through a list of names, * your name if you find it, and add your name if you don’t. Then forward to 10 people and the person who sent it to you. How does that work as a school project? I’m not understanding. I don’t see how any useful info/data gets back to the “student” that started the email. There’s no way for the “student” to track it, right?
That’s exactly right. Unless the student’s email address is part of the emailing chain – then there is no way to track it. It’s pointless. Some of those emails started off with harmful attachments that got stripped by antivirus software along the way but the email still gets forwarded around.
My comment is that i go to the internet for everything. and i do agree that it is not always true but that is only because my parents are always saying it. but actually i do think it is true but not all the time. but for whoever invented interent I LOVE YOU!!!