[mrmaddog]

This is a prime example of how to not write a correction piece.

The gist of the story is that they used a screenshot to verify somebody's identity, and it turns out the person faked it. However, instead of saying "we made a mistake and didn't verify our sources properly," they go on to spin stories like "But is Steve a prankster, or is he a spammer having second thoughts" and "Regardless of its validity, Steve’s story helped expose a very real issue for Pinterest." Both could possibly be true, but they are just speculating to save face.

The part that annoyed me to make me comment was this paragraph:

"So who is this spammer? Unfortunately, there’s no way to tell right now. Even if another person claiming to be final-fantas07 came forward, the only way that individual could prove his or her identity—a screenshot—could be faked (again)."

Really? A little bit of critical thinking and you could have him make a post using one of his bots' account, or delete a post, or use any other more reliable, actually verifiable source.

[igorgue]

I wish I could make them read this: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/blog/2012/03/retracting-mr-d...

So they can learn something about journalism.

[smashing]

OR you could just link here: http://www.dailydot.com/ethics-policy/