[jstarfish]

> If I was intentionally lying, it seems unlikely that I’d have chosen to link to a page which clearly shows that my statement was false.

Not saying you're doing it but these rules of thumb don't scale. This is totally a valid tactic in internet fuckary.

Making shit up and attributing it to a source anybody could but nobody will verify is high-school Essaywriting 101.

[foldr]

Rules of thumb by definition don't 'scale' (is this the right word?): they're true on the whole most of the time.

The point of 'assume good faith' is that it's very easy to convince yourself that semi-anonymous people on the internet are liars. Most of the time they're not. It's very easy to inadvertently make factual errors. Published books that have been carefully reviewed are full of them. What chance do random morons ranting on the internet stand?