3 ms·

This has always made me wonder: could one make up fake quotes and “cite” them out of an old book?

ghaff 7y ago
Sure. And I assume that, at least so long as the claim/quote wasn't too outrageous, you'd probably get away with it.
Geimfari 7y ago
Absolutely. You could even add fake citations to online newspapers – the odds of someone checking are very low, and I continually stumble upon either blatant fabrications or misunderstandings that have stood there "sourced" for years on high-traffic articles.
- beckingz 7y ago
  Just create a citation loop and create facts from nowhere!
sobani 7y ago
Even better: I remember there being a Wikipedia edit on some German person's name, that was copied by a newspaper and then that name in the newspaper was cited as a justification to not fix the name back. It might be https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl-Theodor_zu_Guttenberg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl-Theodor_zu_Guttenberg, but I can't find any references about Wikipedia not correcting the name.
- shoeffner 7y ago
  Yes, it was him, someone added an additional "Wilhelm" [0] and it was copied by many newspapers [1]. The Bild wrote (translation mine): "Do we have to remember this name?" [2], and some anonymous guest author on the blog claims to be responsible [2]. In 2016 the name was edited in for about 2 minutes [3], referencing a source from 2012. However, I do not recall it being a big issue to remove that additional name again – but it was more than 10 years ago. It did, however, draw some criticism to German journalism. [0]: https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Karl-Theodor_Freiherr_von_und_zu_Guttenberg&diff=56419545&oldid=56418683 https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Karl-Theodor_Frei... [1]: https://bildblog.de/5731/wilhelm-ii/ https://bildblog.de/5731/wilhelm-ii/ lists a few of those newspapers [2]: https://bildblog.de/5704/wie-ich-freiherr-von-guttenberg-zu-wilhelm-machte/ https://bildblog.de/5704/wie-ich-freiherr-von-guttenberg-zu-... [3]: https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Karl-Theodor_zu_Guttenberg&oldid=155853227 https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Karl-Theodor_zu_G...
shoeffner 7y ago
Some people tried way more sophisticated hoaxes: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/05/how-the-professor-who-fooled-wikipedia-got-caught-by-reddit/257134/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/05/how-t...
falcor84 7y ago
Of course, this is the will known process of citogenesis[0] (coined by Randall Monroe on xkcd), itself well documented on Wikipedia[1]. [0] https://xkcd.com/978/ https://xkcd.com/978/ [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_reporting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_reporting

Sure. And I assume that, at least so long as the claim/quote wasn't too outrageous, you'd probably get away with it.

Absolutely. You could even add fake citations to online newspapers – the odds of someone checking are very low, and I continually stumble upon either blatant fabrications or misunderstandings that have stood there "sourced" for years on high-traffic articles.

beckingz 7y ago
Just create a citation loop and create facts from nowhere!

sobani 7y ago

Even better: I remember there being a Wikipedia edit on some German person's name, that was copied by a newspaper and then that name in the newspaper was cited as a justification to not fix the name back. It might be https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl-Theodor_zu_Guttenberg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl-Theodor_zu_Guttenberg, but I can't find any references about Wikipedia not correcting the name.

shoeffner 7y ago
Yes, it was him, someone added an additional "Wilhelm" [0] and it was copied by many newspapers [1]. The Bild wrote (translation mine): "Do we have to remember this name?" [2], and some anonymous guest author on the blog claims to be responsible [2]. In 2016 the name was edited in for about 2 minutes [3], referencing a source from 2012. However, I do not recall it being a big issue to remove that additional name again – but it was more than 10 years ago. It did, however, draw some criticism to German journalism. [0]: https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Karl-Theodor_Freiherr_von_und_zu_Guttenberg&diff=56419545&oldid=56418683 https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Karl-Theodor_Frei... [1]: https://bildblog.de/5731/wilhelm-ii/ https://bildblog.de/5731/wilhelm-ii/ lists a few of those newspapers [2]: https://bildblog.de/5704/wie-ich-freiherr-von-guttenberg-zu-wilhelm-machte/ https://bildblog.de/5704/wie-ich-freiherr-von-guttenberg-zu-... [3]: https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Karl-Theodor_zu_Guttenberg&oldid=155853227 https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Karl-Theodor_zu_G...

shoeffner 7y ago

Some people tried way more sophisticated hoaxes: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/05/how-the-professor-who-fooled-wikipedia-got-caught-by-reddit/257134/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/05/how-t...

falcor84 7y ago

Of course, this is the will known process of citogenesis[0] (coined by Randall Monroe on xkcd), itself well documented on Wikipedia[1]. [0] https://xkcd.com/978/ https://xkcd.com/978/ [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_reporting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_reporting