Leave The Investigations To The Professionals

Almost as quickly as the heroes react to a tragedy, so do the couch potato investigators. In the minutes to follow the bombings in Boston yesterday, social media was ablaze with conspiracy theories and inaccurate information. If these people were so good at figuring out everything, why are they not working as FBI agents? These people are no better than a celebrity tabloid using a situation as tragic as this to gain attention for themselves. Almost as shameful as these opportunists of sensationalism, are the sheep who blindly re-post their mutterings of falsehoods and inaccuracies. If the information you read does not come from a credible source, do yourself and those around you a favor and just leave it. How can you tell if a source is credible? Here is the method used by my University.

(CARS = Credibility, Accuracy, Reasonableness, Support)

Credibility	Is an author listed?  What are the author's credentials?  Can the author be reached for questions or comments? Is there evidence of positive peer evaluation? Has the author taken care to check for misspelling, poor grammar, etc.?
Accuracy	Is the date of the site current? Is the information complete and not too vague? Does the author acknowledge all views?
Reasonableness	Is the author fair and objective? Is the author concerned with the truth?
Support	Does the author provide support for the information? Are the sources listed? Are there other resources with similar information?

So yes, it is important to pass on viable information, but it is also important to make sure what you are passing on is the truth. Love to all.
Burly Bear Chris