Wednesday August 03, 2005

Uncovered an Internet Hoax? Get in Line.

On Monday, Slate ran a story by Cyrus Farivar, in which the author describes how he foiled a hoax in the making about a fake sex phenomenon called “greenlighting.” Yawn. Been there, done that.

Farivar devotes a full paragraph to the toothing hoax and its methods—with several links to source material—but no link back here to the post that provoked the pranksters to come forward. What’s up with that? Is there no honor among debunkers of inconsequential faux trends? And what does this tell us about the current state of para-journalism? Jim? Jack? Anybody?

UPDATE: Cyrus Farivar, who is evidently some sort of mensch, writes in to say, “I did have your name and a link in previous versions of that piece, which were subsequently edited out—I tried man, I tried.” Try you did, Cyrus, and that’s good enough for me. I’ll remember you—and single you out by name—the next time someone tries to tell me it’s impossible to keep your nose clean and head up in this crazy, mixed up sphere we call blog.

Posted by jim at 04:31 PM ||