[cs702]

Originally meant to be aired on April Fool's day, this hoax documentary's broadcast had be moved to a different date, and, as a consequence, many naive viewers thought it was real.

Now, the hoax has taken a life of its own on the Web, with waves of naive people believing its silly made-up claims about scientists working in certain fields mysteriously disappearing.

The hoax has even made the HN front page.

Sigh.

[monooso]

In fairness to HN, the debunking made the front page.

[0xmattf]

This reminds me of a mermaid "documentary"* I watched as a gullible 15 (?) year old. It aired on Animal Planet, if I'm not mistaken. I thought it was absolutely real. _Mermaids are real_. I used to tell everyone to watch it...

Years later, I found out it was completely fake; the end credits even tell you it's fake (I missed that). I had a hard time believing anything after that realization.

* - Mermaids: The Body Found

[giantg2]

Similar thing for Discovery or History channel show about Dragons. It went on about how they could breath fire by eating platinum rich ore from their dens or something. I was very confused - why would an otherwise reputable channel show absolute fiction, and if it was true why wouldn't this be all over the news. Then at the end they said it was fictional. What garbage.

[snypher]

Did you think the documentary about dragons was real? Seems like it would have been obvious given the subject. Or maybe, does your perception of the channel's reputation change the lens you view the content with?

[giantg2]

Clearly I questioned it the whole time, hence the confusion.

"Seems like it would have been obvious given the subject."

Same thing for the mermaid show mentioned before.

"Or maybe, does your perception of the channel's reputation change the lens you view the content with?"

Channel reputation is the wrong word. Channel programming type would be more appropriate. This was back when those channels had educational programming and not the garbage shows they have today. It's more like finding a fiction book in the section that's supposed to be non-fiction.

[defrost]

* At least 10 people tied to sensitive US research have died or disappeared https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47909942

* Conspiracy about missing/dead scientists from online forums to the White House https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47898228

* Comer and Burlison Seek Information on Missing Nuclear and Rocket Scientists https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47877825

* FBI looks into dead or missing scientists tied to NASA, Blue Origin, SpaceX https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47858246

[micromacrofoot]

this certainly reinforces "waves of naive people"

[afpx]

As far as conspiracies go, the media seems to be working extra to bury this one.

[throawayonthe]

da dum tss