4 ms·
Originally meant to be aired on April Fool's day, this hoax documentary's broadcast had be moved to a different date, and, as a consequence, many naive viewers
by cs702 4mo ago
Originally meant to be aired on April Fool's day, this hoax documentary's broadcast had be moved to a different date, and, as a consequence, many naive viewers thought it was real.
Now, the hoax has taken a life of its own on the Web, with waves of naive people believing its silly made-up claims about scientists working in certain fields mysteriously disappearing.
The hoax has even made the HN front page.
Sigh.
- monooso 4mo agoIn fairness to HN, the debunking made the front page.
- defrost 4mo ago* At least 10 people tied to sensitive US research have died or disappeared https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47909942 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47909942 * Conspiracy about missing/dead scientists from online forums to the White House https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47898228 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47898228 * Comer and Burlison Seek Information on Missing Nuclear and Rocket Scientists https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47877825 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47877825 * FBI looks into dead or missing scientists tied to NASA, Blue Origin, SpaceX https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47858246 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47858246
- micromacrofoot 4mo agothis certainly reinforces "waves of naive people"
- afpx 4mo agoAs far as conspiracies go, the media seems to be working extra to bury this one.
- throawayonthe 4mo agoda dum tss
- 0xmattf 4mo agoThis reminds me of a mermaid "documentary"* I watched as a gullible 15 (?) year old. It aired on Animal Planet, if I'm not mistaken. I thought it was absolutely real. _Mermaids are real_. I used to tell everyone to watch it... Years later, I found out it was completely fake; the end credits even tell you it's fake (I missed that). I had a hard time believing anything after that realization. * - Mermaids: The Body Found
- giantg2 4mo agoSimilar thing for Discovery or History channel show about Dragons. It went on about how they could breath fire by eating platinum rich ore from their dens or something. I was very confused - why would an otherwise reputable channel show absolute fiction, and if it was true why wouldn't this be all over the news. Then at the end they said it was fictional. What garbage.
- snypher 4mo agoDid you think the documentary about dragons was real? Seems like it would have been obvious given the subject. Or maybe, does your perception of the channel's reputation change the lens you view the content with?
- giantg2 4mo agoClearly I questioned it the whole time, hence the confusion. "Seems like it would have been obvious given the subject." Same thing for the mermaid show mentioned before. "Or maybe, does your perception of the channel's reputation change the lens you view the content with?" Channel reputation is the wrong word. Channel programming type would be more appropriate. This was back when those channels had educational programming and not the garbage shows they have today. It's more like finding a fiction book in the section that's supposed to be non-fiction.