![](http://www.messageboardchampion.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/gilz-1.jpg "the \\"proof\\"")
So, the other day cheapy and wombat on cheap ass gamer decided to highlight the fake news spread by blogs based entirely on message board posts by having a contest to post fake rumors and try to get it linked to on major blogs. We now have a winner.
Congrats desz!
Brian Crecente of Kotaku responds:
@JP05: It’s not funny at all. Cheapy and his crew asked his readers to promote a lie on the site. How do I know they wont do it again. I don’t have the time, or the inclination to listen to all of their podcasts to make sure that the stories that run on the site are valid.
This is called poisoning the well.
Brian Crecente at 09:36 AM Reply
@geminibros: So would it be credible for a newspaper to run a fake story and then point and laugh at all of the other newspapers that picked it up because they trusted them?
The issue with blogging, one of them, isn’t that sites link to other sites or their stories. That’s a good thing. The issue with blogging is that in many ways it still hasn’t grown up and often fails to act responsibly.
I could make up a story right now that everyone would link to, but the only thing that would prove is that they trusted me.
And on your point about fact checking. While we have reached out to Microsoft for comment, it’s doubtful their reply would in anyway help or hurt the story. Rumor are by definition often unprovable or disprovable early on.
My feathers aren’t ruffled. I am annoyed that I wasted your time, all of my readers time, with this story when we could have used that time to post something newsworthy. What annoys me most about this sort of thing though is that it sets back the credibility of all blogs.
From Xbox360 Fanboy
Xav de Matos said…
Wow. I guess I should feel bad that I reported something as a rumor, said it may not be true and questioned the legitimacy of the source.
Enjoy your free game, whoever. While I try to figure out what the point of this was.
