General awareness message about social media sites and PROC

[Oniya]

This is your periodic reminder that X/Twitter and Facebook are flaming dumpsters as far as reliability.  Elon has gutted the 'Trust and Safety' department at X/Twitter, and the blue check-mark only means that someone is forking over a monthly fee to make their posts look more legit.  Facebook really isn't much better.

As a result, using a tweet or a Facebook post as a source can be very risky.  Bad actors will re-caption videos and images, present clips out of context, or pretend to be 'journalists'.  The posts they make will tug at all of your preconceived ideas about what's going on, enrage you, and urge you to spread their message.

Don't fall for it.  Especially if the post you're about to quote confirms all the terrible things, and especially if 'no one else dares to show this'.  Many news sites include Fact Checking pages these days.  Reuters has one.  So do CNN and AP News.  You can also take matters into your own hands.  If someone claims to be a journalist, Google their names.  Look for their byline.  Check the news outlet they claim to work for to see if they even show up there.  Use TinEye to verify stills (something uploaded in 2021 can't be something that happened this week.)

The rules around Elliquiy cover all the forums. This means - being civil, polite and respectful of participants is just as important in discourses as it would be in a social thread.  Be aware of what you post and how it is phrased so that it is less likely to seem confrontational.  If you spot a false claim, feel free to notify Staff of the specific claim (especially if multiple points are raised in the post you are reporting).  If you have a link to a fact-check site, that's also awesome - it saves us having to search through the proliferating B.S.

Please do not take the bait and rather let staff handle the matter in order to keep the threads civil and respectful towards everyone.  This message is not intended as a 'gotcha' moment.  It should not be used as a 'gotcha' moment.  This is a reminder that we are all human, and all fallible.