Once again, someone on Facebook put a rumor as their status update. This one is about Facebook beginning to charge a fee for anyone who wants to continue using it, etc, etc, etc. This rumor has been going around for quite a few years and is completely false. (However, that being said, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if it became a pay-for-use site in the future. Just my opinion.) Every couple of weeks or so, one of my 'friends' will post something like this--something that is 100% false and can be proved as such by taking a quick trip to snopes.com for verification. This type of activity used to be done by email and I would get them in my inbox regularly. I would then point the one who sent the rumor to the proper site on the internet and let them know they were spreading false rumors. I don't get very many of those emails anymore--I think I got my message across. With email, I was able to keep my 'chastisement' as a private affair--and the only people subjected to these rumors were the ones who got emails from the sender. However, Facebook is much more public and I would hesitate to embarrass someone by telling them they were wrong in front of the whole world. I realize I could just send a private message, but I don't want to embarrass anyone, even privately.
So, the questions come: What do YOU do in a situation such as this? Do you correct the person or wait to see if someone else does it first? Does it matter if the person is close to you or merely an acquaintance? I wouldn't hesitate to take one of my kids 'to the woodshed,' because they both know enough to check these things out first. However, if a 'friend' that I have never even seen or talked to in real life does this, I don't have the nerve to correct them. I KNOW that several people (those who sent emails in the past) have felt as if I was trying to prove my 'superior' intelligence or trying to belittle them in some way--which is/was NEVER my intent! I don't know how to broach this subject without having it seem as if I think the other person isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. Suggestions?
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I've seen that post on FB, right after the changes. A friend posted it but didn't say it was a joke until someone else commented that it was a hoax.
ReplyDeleteI'm of two minds-one is that if you ignore such behavior, the person might stop-give them too much attention and they'll just keep on posting crap just to get a rise out of people.
On the other hand, there are a lot of gullible people out there and I'd hate to watch them get worked up because they believe everything they read-especially if a friend posts it.
So, I'd jump right in and say it's bull pucky, and message the post-er to please remove it. There's a chance the post-er might not realize that it's a hoax. I wouldn't worry about embarrassing them if it's done via message-personally I'd rather someone told me quietly that I was wrong than have someone tell the world I'm an idiot.
I would want someone to correct me if I was wrong, via private message. Therefore, I would tell someone else if they were spreading false information.
ReplyDeleteI'm always a fan of the statement: "Ah, that'sa buncha crap." Pretty much gets my point across.
ReplyDeleteOk, not really, I usually ignore the bunk and let them find out for themselves.