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Think. Again.

(15,599 posts)
Mon Jun 24, 2024, 06:16 AM Jun 24

Just an idea...

I hope this is the correct forum to share a possibly dumb idea I just had for DU to add a "Fact-Checking" forum.

With an all-important Presidential debate coming up between a good man (who I don't believe is even capable of intentional deception) and a person who has spent his entire adult life working as a con-man, there is going to be a lot of B.S. being spewed that could make this debate a big waste of time and turn our sincere discussions here on DU into frustating arguments that can have no true conclusions.

Basically, this would be a forum for those of us who enjoy doing research to be presented with random bits of info, or claims, that appear in DU posts, but may not necessarily be factual.

I have noticed many discussions devolving into puddles of nonsense and even caught some outright gaslighting at times, but unless a DU poster has a lot of time and skill at researching questionable statements, these sometimes-benign and sometimes-important mis-statements run the risk of melting into the overall noise and derailing an earnest discussion into the realm of speculative fiction.

I myself have simply dropped out of discussions only because I have no way to continue defending a point when faced with the diversions presented by mis- and dis-information.

I'll leave this here because I have no suggestions on how to structure such a forum, but I did want to bring the concept to the table and hope someone sees some kernel of sense in it.

Thanks.

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Just an idea... (Original Post) Think. Again. Jun 24 OP
There used to be a "Propaganda Debunking" forum, but it didn't survive the transition to DU4 progree Jun 24 #1
Thanks, it's good to see others have also been concerned... Think. Again. Jun 24 #2

progree

(11,449 posts)
1. There used to be a "Propaganda Debunking" forum, but it didn't survive the transition to DU4
Mon Jun 24, 2024, 11:45 AM
Jun 24

List of retired forums: https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1317

It didn't have much traffic.

One problem was that when someone posted some RW talking point and asked for help debunking it, and even if that person posted some counter-info to it, they were still on dangerous ground as alertable for posting RW material (and juries don't see what forum a post is posted in, so as far as they know, it could have been posted in GD or any of more than 100 other forums).

Good idea though.

More than a decade ago there was an effort to establish a Liberal Wiki here that would also debunk RW nonsense. That went nowhere.

In my "Economy Stats with links to original sources" in my signature line
http://www.democraticunderground.com/111622439

I have a section, "Beware the tricks of the economic pundits out there" which also includes a Myths section, but admittedly it's buried under all the other information on this page, and only covers a small subset of economic misinformation.  

Think. Again.

(15,599 posts)
2. Thanks, it's good to see others have also been concerned...
Mon Jun 24, 2024, 11:51 AM
Jun 24

....about falsehoods being taken as truths, but I guess that's the concern of any misinformation being shared anywhere.

What gave this idea a start in my head was snopes. com, and I guess I thinking of a mini-version of that living here at DU.

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