Ladies and Gents, I want to raise some awareness here in co-ed about an issue that seems to creep into many situations on ECCIE.
Last night, a user logged in and posted a thread
regarding the death of a provider. It took us about 4 hours to be notified/figure out that this user was a troll, with previously banned handles and a track record of malicious behavior. They came here, posting such a story, in order to toy with ECCIE. Or possibly to hurt that provider's business.
Whatever the motive, their tactic would have been easily thwarted by a little patience and skepticism on the part of our user base.
I know the death of a fellow hobbyiest, provider, or even friend can be an emotional experience. But that's EXACTLY what this troll wanted. To see how people react.
Especially in cases such as a reported death, please RTM the post and let the moderators look into it. This isn't the first "mistaken early demise" we have had this year.
Please learn to take
EVERYTHING you read on ECCIE with a grain of salt. Just because it's written here, doesn't make it true. Chances are, if it sounds too good to be true, or too bad to be true, or even sounds moderately out of the ordinary...it's very likely NOT true. Find other sources. Look for the best "facts" (for what they are worth on the Internet) that you can. But don't believe everything you read. It's just common Internet sense.
I fully understand that in the event of a real tragedy, people want to express their condolences. I just hope we can avoid being taken advantage of by fake members who prey on whatever "trust" they have by reporting an emotional event.
"Trust, but verify."
Hobby safe, all.
A Word on Skepticism
