katherine st asaph

andyhutchins:

To determine if a thing on the internet is for real:

allimmaturityandallcaps:

1. Copy a selection of text that is unusual enough to get you a solid search result. Copying the dateline—probably no good. Copying generic who/what/when/where/why text—also probably no good. Copying specific details given three paragraphs down in the article—probably going to get some results for the thing you are trying to verify. When selecting text to copy, look for something that might stand out to a search engine.

2. Paste that selection of text into the search engine of your choice.

3. Look at your results: Does the thing you searched for appear somewhere besides Tumblr, Facebook, or Twitter? Is the next result Snopes? What does Snopes say? (Snopes probably says it’s false.) If there’s no Snopes result, can you source your text to something credible, or did you just find yourself on a $cient0logy or 9/11 Truther site?

4. Use your judgment. You’ve been blessed with it for a reason.

Solid.