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Right -- it's ultimately a trust problem, and we're in an unfortunate negative feedback loop here. Bots aside, what we post on the internet (and believe in gen
by jmoss20 7y ago
Right -- it's ultimately a trust problem, and we're in an unfortunate negative feedback loop here.
Bots aside, what we post on the internet (and believe in general) is a function of the information we consume. That information is increasingly consumed through the internet, and the internet (as typically used) is feeding us increasingly poor quality information. (To be consumed, then shared. Recurse...)
We can (and I think do) cope by having different levels of trust for different sorts of internet information. I generally have higher trust in an HN post than an Amazon review, for example. This is useful, but has a dark side: some of the things I (and likely, you) take as a sign to "increase trust" happen to correlate with things that have nothing to do with trust. I trust Amazon reviews more if they have good grammar and spelling, largely because I trust general internet information more when it has good grammar and spelling. But perhaps I shouldn't when e.g. buying a screwdriver (what does writing ability -- and the things it correlates with -- have to do with evaluating a screwdriver?). Coming up with social/political-flavored-information examples is an interesting (and worrying) exercise.
- acid_burn 7y agoI find it interesting that when something uses proper grammar and spelling, it may appear more trustworthy. Consider this: a consumer that employs above average grammar and spelling skills to write product reviews may also be more skillful in forming and expressing valuable opinions and assessments of any product. I think that people are naturally inclined to pick up on those signals, whether the correlation is real or not.
- jmoss20 7y agoEven if the correlation is real, what I'm getting at is that it isn't causal. Good grammar probably makes for a good bet on more trustworthiness, but I'm wondering when/how that bet is going to be wrong (and it is, if it's not causal), and how that effects us (on the massive scale that is our info consumption across the entire internet). back to the Amazon example: an expert car mechanic may have worse spelling/grammar than a hobbyist, but I should probably trust their Amazon review of a car part more.
- 8bitchemistry 7y agoNot only that: the exact same written text will appear more trustworthy depending on the typeface [1] (eg Baskerville > Helvetica > Comic Sans) [1] https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/hear-all-ye-people-hearken-o-earth/ https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/hear-all-ye...
- jjwhitaker 7y agoThere is a component to terribly written phishing emails where the poor spelling and grammar becomes a filter for people who won't fall for it. People who will fall for either won't care or aren't paying attention anyway.