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The contents of the Facebook and fake news page were merged into Fake news website on 20 November 2016. For the contribution history and old versions of the redirected page, please see its history; for the discussion at that location, see its talk page.

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This article has been mentioned by a media organization: Mike Pearl (25 November 2016). "A Wikipedian Explains How Misplaced Pages Stays Reliable in the Fake News Era". Vice magazine. Retrieved 25 November 2016. According to Misplaced Pages, "Fake news websites publish hoaxes and fraudulent misinformation to drive web traffic inflamed by social media." In the aftermath of an election season dominated by hyperbole and sometimes outright lies, the press has been more focused than ever on how falsehoods spread. But somehow, Misplaced Pages itself remains mostly free of utter nonsense.

Possible page move

Should this be called Fake news or Fake news article with content about the sites in a section within? Anna Frodesiak (talk) 05:17, 19 November 2016 (UTC)

Nah it's big enough for its own independent article. Sagecandor (talk) 13:02, 19 November 2016 (UTC)

Hi Sagecandor. Okay, fair enough. Cheers. :) Anna Frodesiak (talk) 21:42, 20 November 2016 (UTC)

Thanks Anna Frodesiak ! Sagecandor (talk) 21:42, 20 November 2016 (UTC)

And thank you for the feedback, my friend. :) Anna Frodesiak (talk) 21:44, 20 November 2016 (UTC)

No problem, Anna Frodesiak. Say, we're having trouble coming to a good compromise resolution down on this page at Talk:Fake_news_website#Paul_Horner_quote, maybe you could weigh in with your wisdom for us. Sagecandor (talk) 21:49, 20 November 2016 (UTC)

Hmmmmm, I don't know what to say about that. Well, you are all fine at that thread. I'm sure you'll work it out. Sorry I can't help. Best, Anna Frodesiak (talk) 22:04, 20 November 2016 (UTC)

@Anna Frodesiak:Do you want to revisit after the article has now been expanded and see if the title still fits of if there is a wider title that could work? Sagecandor (talk) 04:07, 25 November 2016 (UTC)

Hi Sagecandor. Well I'm pretty out of touch with this article. You and others who have been working on it should decide. Best wishes. :) Anna Frodesiak (talk) 05:32, 25 November 2016 (UTC)

Alright no problem. Sagecandor (talk) 05:54, 25 November 2016 (UTC)

Russia removal

I've removed the reference to Russia, as the claimed source on Buzzfeed claims to source that statement from another article (https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/how-macedonia-became-a-global-hub-for-pro-trump-misinfo?utm_term=.olllYk8vO#.teBLGAVYN) yet if you click that article, there is no mention of Russia. I assume this is anti-Russian rhetoric. 151.229.53.102 (talk) 22:50, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

Right. The other citation does (this) — Rhododendrites \\ 00:50, 22 November 2016 (UTC)

Re-read what I said please. On your Business Insider link, click the link to the source, it goes to Buzzfeed, but the Buzzfeed article doesn't mention Russia at all. I've reverted your edit, if you wish to remove it please clarify on my Talk page first to avoid an edit war. 151.229.53.102 (talk) 21:38, 24 November 2016 (UTC)

Problem solved. Used many other different secondary sources. Now extensively documented in its own separate subsection in the article. Sagecandor (talk) 01:38, 25 November 2016 (UTC)

@Rhododendrites:Incredibly revealing investigation by two separate expert research groups as reported by The Washington Post:

• Timberg, Craig (24 November 2016), "Russian propaganda effort helped spread 'fake news' during election, experts say", The Washington Post, retrieved 25 November 2016

Added and incorporated into the article and the introduction section. Sagecandor (talk) 03:44, 25 November 2016 (UTC)

@Sagecandor: I misunderstood the IP's original objection, but it looks like you've addressed it. Thanks. — Rhododendrites \\ 16:07, 25 November 2016 (UTC)

@Rhododendrites: Glad you approve! Sagecandor (talk) 16:11, 25 November 2016 (UTC)

Over-reliability on single source

This article relies heavily on Buzzfeed citations. Is this considered a 'reliable' source to use anyway? The irony of criticising false news and citing Buzzfeed isn't lost on me. Given that it's predominantly left-wing, is it safe to assume that Buzzfeed is fine to quote? (I jest) 151.229.53.102 (talk) 23:06, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

Buzzfeed does widely respected investigative reporting, in addition to the lists, gifs and other nonsense on the site. See, for instance, this piece by the Poynter Institute about Buzzfeed's investigative journalism: how it has won and been nominated for journalism awards and how its journalists are highly esteemed. Or this piece about how CNN hired an entire investigative journalism team from Buzzfeed. The stories that were broken by Buzzfeed in this article have been widely reported on elsewhere in reliable sources. So we're not being overly reliant on a bad source. Snooganssnoogans (talk) 23:34, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

The New Yorker significantly relied upon the investigative reporting by BuzzFeed News, at "The Failure of Facebook Democracy". Sagecandor (talk) 02:24, 22 November 2016 (UTC)

respected by whom?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.111.11.118 (talk) 21:31, 25 November 2016 (UTC)

Overabundance of images

There are frankly just too many unnecessary and redundant images in this article, that mostly seem like a way to imprint the 'message' of this article into the mind of someone who will just skim it, and look at the pictures. The images of Russia on the map, and the Russian flag, are just ridiculous. They don't add anything to the article, and only serve to make more transparent the POV of the cadre of editors in control of this article. Likewise the images of Obama, or of the logo for a website, are superfluous. I know my recommendation will be ignored because it goes against the bias of the editors-in-chief, but hopefully others who see this absolute mess of an article, and go to the talk page, will find some encouragement in knowing they are not alone in their outrage at this abuse of Misplaced Pages. 73.20.33.105 (talk) 16:27, 25 November 2016 (UTC)

What sources do you have to support your claims of bias and POV of this article, please? Sagecandor (talk) 16:52, 25 November 2016 (UTC)

Prior comment by same user appears to show support for White nationalism at link. Sagecandor (talk) 16:55, 25 November 2016 (UTC)

There were ten images in the article on 25 November 2016. The Current version has 12 images and only one (town of Veles, Macedonia) is not USA or Russia related.

And that's not proof that the IP supports White nationalism (as if that were a bad thing). He is simply pointing out racism and sexism against certain group (White/European males). Emily Goldstein (talk) 12:29, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

Free-use images are used when relevant to the text directly next to the text where discussed in the article by secondary sources. Sagecandor (talk) 14:35, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

I was interviewed by Vice about fake news

I don't know if this is useful for the media section? I certainly won't add it, but wanted everyone to know it's here: http://www.vice.com/en_se/read/a-wikipedian-told-us-how-wikipedia-stays-reliable-in-the-fake-news-era Victor Grigas (talk) 19:33, 25 November 2016 (UTC)

Wow, thanks ! Sagecandor (talk) 19:35, 25 November 2016 (UTC)

I saw that, great job Victor! And thank you.Volunteer Marek (talk) 23:11, 25 November 2016 (UTC)

In an article about the reliability of Misplaced Pages, it's somewhat less-than reassuring to see the words: "How deep is the Mariana trench? Forty-three miles." --Hillbillyholiday 23:49, 25 November 2016 (UTC)

Someone on my facebook feed mentioned that too. Want to reach out to the writer for a correction? I don't think I should, and a Wikipedian doing it would have more weight and would further prove the point of the article.Victor Grigas (talk) 00:47, 26 November 2016 (UTC)

Geographic Bias

I added a couple of templates to the article because, after reading it, I noticed a very strong geographic bias. That's not necessarily surprising given how many US-based contributors there are on Misplaced Pages (myself included), but writing an article using primarily US-based research and sources gives a US-slanted article.

For example, in the lead section alone, the following sources are mentioned: BuzzFeed, US News & World Report, PropOrNot and Foreign Policy Research Institute, GWU, RAND, and President Obama. All quite clearly American sources, and no viewpoints from any countries outside the United States. The article itself does provide a greater diversity of sources, but they too are limited to pretty much just the United States and Western Europe.

I'd also like to point out that "fake news" is a broader concept than just the US presidential election, so it's not fitting (and US-biased) for the lead section to solely focus on that topic. --Slon02 (talk) 21:01, 25 November 2016 (UTC)

Strongly disagree. The article cites issues involving Russia, Macedonia, Romania, Sweden, Germany, Indonesia, and Philippines. Slon02 has provided zero secondary sources to back up his spurious claims of bias. The article presents a global focus already. Sagecandor (talk) 21:46, 25 November 2016 (UTC)

Indeed. You'll need to show some sort of evidence other than your own research/belief to support that. This has been a major story in the United States recently, so a large number of available sources will be based in the US. It's also a neologism that, while it refers to something broader, is specific enough and contentious enough that we'd need sources specifically calling things "fake news" (rather than simply incorrect, sensational, conspiracist, etc.). You may be right, but there needs to be a better justification/explanation for placing a tag like that. — Rhododendrites \\ 22:31, 25 November 2016 (UTC)

Thank you, Rhododendrites, for your helpful explanation here. In addition, I've taken care to make some edits to improve the global and worldwide focus on multiple different countries of the article. Hopefully this shows, right from the introduction itself, that this is a global issue impacting multiple different countries throughout the world, and that the article now covers this. Sagecandor (talk) 22:34, 25 November 2016 (UTC)

Screenshot

This is a great article. It really needs an example image of some fake news website to document the problem - this would be acceptable under fair use. Any suggestions for a really blatantly false story? I looked for "Pope Endorses Trump" pages but they all seem to have been deleted now their purpose has passed. Blythwood (talk) 08:26, 26 November 2016 (UTC)

I see that someone has added a screenshot of endingthefed.com. I don't think it's accurate to say it's a valid fair use claim to take any example of a site listed as a fake news site. It would need to be the subject of critical commentary in the article. To that end I grabbed PolitiFact's screenshot of 70news, which is explicitly covered in this article. — Rhododendrites \\ 15:27, 26 November 2016 (UTC)

It's preferable to have all images on the page be under a free use license. Sagecandor (talk) 18:55, 26 November 2016 (UTC)

I uploaded this screenshot from realtruenews. _Gravity 19:21, 26 November 2016 (UTC)

Free is preferable indeed, but screenshots typically don't work that way. :) Except, of course, when there's nothing copyrightable (as is probably the case with this Realtruenews screenshot, which is just text, not laid out particularly creatively). When it's just text, however, it's unclear how much it adds in terms of illustrating the subject (unless it's e.g. a logo of a company in an article about the company). More options is better, and it doesn't hurt to have, but it looks like Realtruenews is another that we don't talk about at all in the article. That matters for non-free rationales, but also just insofar as images connect to the text. Also, the subject is just as much the fake news stories as it is the sites, which is why the 70news screenshot seemed ideal (mentioned in the text, well covered by sources, displays the site along with a well-known headline). — Rhododendrites \\ 22:00, 26 November 2016 (UTC)

Realtruenews was covered here when some online communities passed a fake Hillary speech transcript as a real one. Additionally, the screenshot contains the admission "Everything on RealTrueNews Was A LIE", illustrating the article's subject. Maybe it could use some more cropping, though, to focus on that text. _Gravity 22:18, 26 November 2016 (UTC)

Thank you very much to user:FallingGravity for the suggestion. Replaced the fair-use-asserted picture with the Free-Use-Licensed picture. Sagecandor (talk) 23:04, 26 November 2016 (UTC)

@FallingGravity:Thanks for that valuable source. I've added it to the article. Look good? Sagecandor (talk) 23:28, 26 November 2016 (UTC)

I strongly disagree. The free option doesn't automatically take precedence if it doesn't actually serve to illustrate the subject. You've replaced an illustration of the subject via an actual fake news story headline that has received extensive coverage such that it's representative of what the entire article is about... with an image of a header we could just as easily describe in article text (i.e. the caption says everything the image says -- very little is actually illustrated). — Rhododendrites \\ 23:31, 26 November 2016 (UTC)

I'm going to have to say I agree here with the suggestion by FallingGravity and I think we should try to have the entire article be Free-Use-Licensed-Pictures-Only, if at all possible. Sagecandor (talk) 23:32, 26 November 2016 (UTC)

@Sagecandor: You didn't reply to anything I said. Being free isn't sufficient justification. It needs to be free and actually illustrate the subject. Non-free is perfectly acceptable if you cannot otherwise illustrate the subject that way. Again, you've removed an illustration of a well-covered fake news story in a fake news site with text taken from a site intended to mock fake news sites. If a huge caption that makes the image redundant is necessary, it's not the best way to illustrate the subject. — Rhododendrites \\ 23:37, 26 November 2016 (UTC)

I gotta go with the recommendation by FallingGravity on this one — this is a website that was actually reported by a major media source, The Kelly File on FOX News, as if it were completely a factual source. That is remarkable. And unique for this particular fake news website, where the other story was a high Google search result, but was not falsely picked up by a major news outlet as factual. That is a major feat. Sagecandor (talk) 23:40, 26 November 2016 (UTC)

It's funny cause the contents of this website were supposed to be so obviously fake that no one could possibly accept it as true. A similar thing happened the same month, though I don't think that's within the scope of this article. Another thing I might add is that the "Everything on RealTrueNews Was A LIE" message was only recently added to the site. _Gravity 00:27, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

As comment, I think the 70news screenshot is worth having. It's good to have a specific example of a specific fake news website making a specific fake story that we can show to people a case study. Blythwood (talk) 07:57, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

I agree, Blythwood, and I like where you added it to the article in that location. Thank you ! Sagecandor (talk) 08:28, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

I still say the Realtruenews screenshot is a terrible one to lead with. That's not to say it shouldn't be anywhere, but we start off saying "it's distinct from satire" and then show a picture of a site "intended to show reader gullibility" that's pointing out its own lies. I still say it doesn't actually illustrate anything, and seems contrary to the entire lead it accompanies. — Rhododendrites \\ 14:20, 28 November 2016 (UTC)

I dunno about that -- because in one picture we have represented the idea of being labelled as "news" and also pointing out to the reader it is a "lie" on the same picture. Seems to be a basic summary of the whole idea right there in one image. Sagecandor (talk) 15:02, 28 November 2016 (UTC)

Now replaced with template {{Computer security}}, which has links to many relevant topics in this article. Sagecandor (talk) 16:56, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

Trump vs. Clinton

Pretty much every source I've seen emphasizes that the fake news purveyors tried out both anti-Clinton and anti-Trump stories but it was only the former that took off. This should be reflected in our article.Volunteer Marek (talk) 23:26, 26 November 2016 (UTC)

Yes, I saw that reported on by lots of secondary sources also. It's already in the article in multiple places. Quite strange times, I wonder why that pattern was? Sagecandor (talk) 23:27, 26 November 2016 (UTC)

Just a comment, but fake news websites are specialists in telling people what they want to hear. You shouldn't necessarily believe them when they speak to a liberal newspaper and tell its liberal journalists how smart they are. Although it is certainly true that they particularly seem to have targeted Trump voters. Blythwood (talk) 07:53, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

Yeah I wonder why that was. Sagecandor (talk) 08:29, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

Criticism

This article urgently needs a criticism section. The unfortunately named propornot site is analysed by one of its targets at Nakedcapitalism.

An echo chamber for The Washington Post? The irony! Shtove (talk) 14:18, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

Suggested source fails WP:Identifying reliable sources as it appears to be someone's personal blog that calls itself admittedly "commentary" with no editorial review. Sagecandor (talk) 17:06, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

I'm not sure if a "criticism section" is appropriate here (it's just the criticism of one group), but here's some better sources: The Intercept, Fortune. This information should be added per WP:WEIGHT. _Gravity 17:14, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

Thank you, FallingGravity, those are better sources. Added new highly critical content from both sources to this article. Sagecandor (talk) 17:24, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

The article still does a lot to promote PropOrNot, despite this new section. For example, Footnote A includes three sources that mostly parrot the Post's report rather than look into the matter themselves. _Gravity 17:35, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

Good point about the footnote, fixed it with attribution to the secondary sources that describe it. Sagecandor (talk) 17:39, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

Sorry if I didn't make this clear, but my problem with the footnote is that it ignores the criticisms of PropOrNot and instead focuses on WaPo's favorable coverage, violating WP:DUEWEIGHT. _Gravity 18:53, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

Valid suggestion, thank you. Added that info into the Footnote as well. Sagecandor (talk) 19:00, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

This term/article definitely needs a criticism section, as I've seen almost nothing but regarding this newspeak. With that said, I don't think PropOrNot should be cited, as it cannot be independently verified, and may very well be 'Fake News' itself. Solntsa90 (talk) 19:45, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

Agree that we should not cite PropOrNot, and we don't, we stick to WP:SECONDARY sources only. Disagree about having a "criticism" section, per discussion we already had about this, above in this section itself. Sagecandor (talk) 19:46, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

I don't see any reason given for why a criticism section should be excluded gleaning from the above statements. I continue to endorse a 'criticism' section, and will push for one on this page, hopefully going to a vote. Solntsa90 (talk) 19:48, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

I hear you and your opinions are valid and important. However we've already in response directly to suggestions in this section, incorporated "criticism", directly into the article content itself. Sagecandor (talk) 19:50, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

What would a criticism section even look like? Fake news is easy to criticize because it's fake. _Gravity 20:33, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

Agree here with FallingGravity. Separate sections for such things are discouraged, per "Avoid sections and articles focusing on criticisms or controversies". Sagecandor (talk) 20:37, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

Disagree - this is a new article on a controversial subject and is being heavily edited by an editor who has little track record on wikipedia, although with much skill. A criticism section is appropriate, and as the concept of this article becomes clear that section may be distributed into the main text. Shtove (talk) 20:55, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

What else would you like to incorporate that is "criticism" into the main text? Sagecandor (talk) :56, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

No idea - editors will work it out over time. I expect this article will be deleted as a piece of crystal-ballery.Shtove (talk) 00:26, 28 November 2016 (UTC)

Some of this can be mentioned but there's no reason to repost Ingram's column here.Volunteer Marek (talk) 00:37, 28 November 2016 (UTC)

Thank you, Volunteer Marek, for your recent improvements to the article. As you can hopefully see, here on the talk page, my recent edits were in direct response to suggestions, above, to add more "criticism" to the article. I tried to do so by incorporating suggested sources, above. Sagecandor (talk) 01:47, 28 November 2016 (UTC)

Given that the original Washington Post article has even been criticized by the Washington Post, I'm removing the lede content which reference it while preserving the body text. _Gravity 04:41, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

Okay that makes total sense, no problem here. But just to point out the column you linked to is an Opinion piece. Sagecandor (talk) 04:47, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

@FallingGravity:I've added that suggested source to the article body text. Sagecandor (talk) 05:04, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

I have no objections to including it (nor to excluding it) as an opinion, though the claims mostly echo The Intercept, which is already referenced. _Gravity 05:51, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

@FallingGravity:New information from two new sources that it was likely a Russian intelligence operation in the style of Trolls from Olgino, see and . Sagecandor (talk) 05:58, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

Removed all references from the article based on any research by the group "PropOrNot" -- hopefully this goes a good way along towards improvements as suggested above in this section. Sagecandor (talk) 01:51, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

You've deleted the Rolling Stone article, the Fortune article, and the Intercept article ?! I do not think the solution to bad reporting by the WaPo is to cover up bad reporting by the WaPo at Misplaced Pages. SashiRolls (talk) 10:30, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

You complain about having PropOrNot in the article. Now you complain about having PropOrNot removed from the article. Difficult to please you. Alright, I added it back to its previously stable section within the chronology of the time line in that section of how events occurred. I will trim down emphasis on PropOrNot and keep in the criticism of PropOrNot in that section. Hopefully this will be satisfactory to you. Sagecandor (talk) 16:11, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Added back the info that I had removed on PropOrNot, after it was complained about that I had removed it, having previously read complaints, above, that I had added it at all, in the first place. Sagecandor (talk) 16:15, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Wake up please

I would issue a challenge to the editors of this website, and the editors of articles like this one in particular, to examine their own biases and reality bubbles.

Look, this article is currently full of slanted sources which are viewed by your own confirmation biases as "reliable", such as Full Frontal, PropOrNot, the Foreign Policy Research Institute, among others.

Your own article states "PropOrNot is a nonpartisan foreign policy expert group composed of persons with prior experience in international relations, warfare, and information technology sectors." A rephrasing of a quote right on their own website. The fact is we just cannot say that this website is nonpartisan until we know who these "persons" running it really are. But they do have a clear detectable agenda: to list and condemn as "propaganda" all sites and media which do not bow to the narrative presented by western governments and NGOs.

This article reads like a conspiracy theory, only one which supports the western establishment and paints the Russians as a secretive, all-controlling cabal. Neo-McCarthyism at its finest.

So this is my advice, you may take it or leave it: always question everything. This includes the western establishment's narrative, and especially your own, sometimes subconscious, biases. Keep your reality bubble permeable.

May you find the Love and Light of the Infinite Creator whom you are. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.1.158.251 (talk • contribs) 14:50, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

The article uses WP:SECONDARY sources for that information. None of those WP:PRIMARY sources mentioned above are relied up on as sources for this article.

Sagecandor (talk) 17:08, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

exactly, looking at the amount written of this article and how it is poping out from nowhere makes it obvious people are getting paid for writing these articles. Its really questionable lately and this article is not neutral at all, it was created in 20:00, 15 November 2016‎ just some days ago. Who has so much free time in their hand writing all this out of no where, and why now all of the sudden for such vague and random term like Fake News which could mean a lot of things?--Crossswords (talk) 05:08, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

PropOrNot called 'experts'

Who can independently verify that PropOrNot are actually 'experts', as opposed to Fake News themselves? So far, Washington Post is refusing to reveal the identity of anyone behind this shadowy, mysterious group that popped up overnight, has claimed endorsements that have been rejected, and has been trashed by respected journalists like Glenn Greenwald of The Intercept as "Garbage journalism".

Until then, I don't think we should refer to these people as 'experts', and DEFINITELY not non-partisan, as they have done nothing to prove any such claims except their own word, and widely-discredited story by the Washington Post. Solntsa90 (talk) 19:40, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

Already being discussed here on this page, above. Please see Talk:Fake_news_website#Criticism. Sagecandor (talk) 19:42, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

Praise and a topic to consider

In my school's journalism class, I'm learning about the integrity of news sources, and I found this Misplaced Pages article to be extremely informative to my work. Nice job to all who have contributed to this page!

However, there should probably be a section about traditional fake-newspaper websites like The Onion. It's mostly a fake newspaper but has transitioned to a web-only paper in recent years. "Although satire sites like The Onion are not the target of the policy, it is not clear whether some of them, which often run fake news stories written for humorous effect, will be inadvertently affected by Google’s change."

epicgenius (talk) 22:03, 28 November 2016 (UTC)

@Epicgenius:Thank you very much for the praise and thank you for the helpful copy editing. As for The Onion -- Is that not already covered by the top note link to News satire ? Sagecandor (talk) 22:05, 28 November 2016 (UTC)

@Sagecandor: Yes, it's linked from news satire. But the recent crackdowns on fake news may also affect "traditional" news-satire sites, which is the only reason I'm suggesting this. I'm just suggesting this, but if it's not included, I think the "news satire" Wiki page covers this topic. epicgenius (talk) 22:06, 28 November 2016 (UTC)

What would a suggested title for such a section be, and what order should it appear as a section? Sagecandor (talk) 22:13, 28 November 2016 (UTC)

I actually just integrated some information on this in the "Responses" section. Although it's a start, I think we should mention satire sites in the "Responses" section if applicable. Otherwise, we can create a whole new section near the bottom, in regards to how fake news and news satire differs. epicgenius (talk) 22:21, 28 November 2016 (UTC)

Looks good as integrated version so far. Sagecandor (talk) 22:30, 28 November 2016 (UTC)

Fake news website discussed by Misplaced Pages news

Misplaced Pages:Misplaced Pages Signpost/2016-11-26/In the media.

Sagecandor (talk) 01:47, 29 November 2016 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 29 November 2016

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

the article states "After journalists from National Public Radio identified Coler" if possible it would nice to make it clear that it was "a journalist from National Public Radio and an independant software engineer identified coler" To our knowledge this is the first such identification of someone who has deliberately hidden their identity, to the extent that I was required to forensically analyse present and past data from many sources.

It seems relevant since fake news creators go to immense trouble to hide their identities

Thank you for your consideration John Jansen (software engineer and the one who found Coler) 71.202.158.81 (talk) 04:17, 29 November 2016 (UTC)

 Done. It is verified by this source, but I worded it a little differently. Let me know if you want to change the wording; I had to fix the grammar a little bit. epicgenius (talk) 04:41, 29 November 2016 (UTC)

@FallingGravity:Maybe we could discuss this edit, here, as that material was in direct response to above, and was change made by Epicgenius ? Sagecandor (talk) 07:15, 29 November 2016 (UTC)

Citations in introduction of Fake news website

@Crossswords:, thank you for your interest in Fake news website !

Previously every single sentence in the introduction was cited with a citation.

But Epicgenius moved those citations out of the introduction.

This conforms with WP:CITELEAD.

Everything is cited lower down in the body text of the article.

Hope that explains it okay !

Sagecandor (talk) 04:56, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

Previous version had citations for every single sentence in lead section, then removed by Epicgenius who cited the page WP:CITELEAD with this edit . Sagecandor (talk) 04:59, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

And again by Crossswords (talk · contribs) at . User also appears to be engaging in subtle vandalism by removing mentions of Russia. Sagecandor (talk) 05:08, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

what has a single country to do with anything for it to deserve its own links below? And if you did it before why not making it back to it again? And it doesnt conform with CITELEAD at all, you dont see any article written this way unless its extremely short where the introductions are so short that it is next to the sources.--Crossswords (talk) 05:17, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

You are incorrect on all points. The article explains in detail the particular importance of Russia. Moreover, citations are often omitted in the lead when the content is sourced in the body. Neutrality 05:19, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

Please see , temporarily added back all citations to the introduction section pending further discussion. Due to the topic of this article being contentious perhaps by those representing the Russian government, might be best to keep in all the citations in the introduction section to avoid such complaints in the future? Sagecandor (talk) 05:23, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

Fine by me. Neutrality 05:25, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

Okay thank you ! Sagecandor (talk) 05:27, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

The citations are explicitly not needed in the intro as per WP:LEADCITE, unless the exact statement in the lead is extremely controversial. Moreover, I don't see why {{citation needed}} ever needs to be added to the lead. If the information is not sourced to the body, {{citation needed (lead)}} should be used. Otherwise, the citations in the lead is redundant, given that the lead is supposed to be a summary for the rest of the article (and thus doesn't need a citation). epicgenius (talk) 18:45, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

I see where the problem is, now. In the lead, I think that only the statement about Russia should be cited. The rest of the lead is already explained in detail in the body section. epicgenius (talk) 18:47, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

WP:CITELEAD says: "The verifiability policy advises that material that is challenged or likely to be challenged, and direct quotations, should be supported by an inline citation." In this case, unfortunately, due to the incoming interest by Trolls from Olgino, best way to avoid arguing over cites is to keep the cites in the intro. Otherwise we risk drive-by cite tagging again. Sagecandor (talk) 18:54, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

• Note: I have removed this discussion from Misplaced Pages:Third opinion because there are now four participants in the discussion. Scolaire (talk) 10:34, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

@SashiRolls:Please read this section to see why every single sentence in the lead section now has a citation. Sagecandor (talk) 21:56, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

@Neutrality, Epicgenius, and Scolaire:Strongly disagree with this edit by SashiRolls done without discussion here. See above discussion of cite-tagging in the intro previously by Crossswords (talk · contribs) for why we should keep all citations in the intro. Sagecandor (talk) 22:09, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

I have indeed brought the first two paragraphs of the lead in line with NPOV and LEADCITE. If you wish to restore your point of view and add back all sorts of unnecessary blue links, that's up to you... but please wait 24 hours before reverting anything. Others should feel free to continue cleaning up the article which is -- I agree -- quite biased. A systemic bias tag could also be added in the meantime. SashiRolls (talk) 22:33, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

We should keep all citations in the intro because of this . Sagecandor (talk) 22:35, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Article is way slanted to the US 2016 election and Russia(?)

Are Misplaced Pages editors biased against Russia or is it just the "reliable sources"? And why does every image have to be related to Russia or the US?

It's clear from the images in the current vision of the article that something (or someone) is going on with the "fake news" phenomenon.

1) Image says "Standing For America Until They Shut Us Down Or We Take It Back"

2) "European Union parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs drew greater attention to the problem — when it passed a resolution in November 2016, condemning: "pseudo-news agencies ... social media and internet trolls" used by Russia."

3) "The United States Department of State spent 8 months creating a unit to counter Russian disinformation campaigns against the U.S. before scrapping their own program in September 2015."

4) This one has the least connectction to the USA or Russia, even then the section this picture is for claims that a BuzzFeed "investigation" found "100 websites spreading fraudulent articles supportive of Donald Trump were created by teenagers in the town of Veles, Macedonia."

5) The Swedish Security Service issued a report in 2015 identifying propaganda from Russia had the goal to "create splits in society."

6) U.S. President Barack Obama said, "If we can't discriminate between serious arguments and propaganda, then we have problems."

7) "A screenshot of a fake news story, falsely claiming Donald Trump won the popular vote in the 2016 United States presidential election."

8) "Google CEO Sundar Pichai has said there should be "no situation where fake news gets distributed" and that it is possible fake news had some effect on the 2016 election. "

9) "Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg specifically recommended fact-checking website Snopes.com as a way to respond to fraudulent news on Facebook." (Both are American companies, section mentions 2016 election)

10) "Fact-checking website PolitiFact.com was praised by rival fact-checking service FactCheck.org and recommended as a resource for readers to check before sharing a potentially fake story." (Don't they only "fact check" American politics?)

11) The section this picture is for says "Zeynep Tufekci wrote critically about Facebook's stance on fraudulent news sites in a piece for The New York Times, pointing out fraudulent websites in Macedonia profited handsomely off false stories about the 2016 U.S. election"

12) "Samantha Bee went to Russia for her television show Full Frontal and met with individuals financed by the government of Russia to act as Internet trolls and attempt to manipulate the 2016 U.S. election in order to subvert democracy." Emily Goldstein (talk) 14:06, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

The article reflects the weight given to the issues in over 100 secondary sources. Sagecandor (talk) 14:27, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

See Misplaced Pages:Systemic bias. The best way to fix is to add more sources. (; _Gravity 05:56, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

Currently the word "Russia" appears 121 times in the article. If editors want to rely on US media hyperbole and US intelligence service allegations to create an collaborative opinion piece called "Evil Russian plots to ruin the 2016 US election" and present it as a balanced encyclopedia article about veracity in news reporting and the purported sudden appearance of "fake news", they could at least try to be honest about what they are doing rather than hiding behind the old lame excuse of "it's what the sources all say". As the Taibbi piece about the joke Washington Post article points out, conspiracy theorising comes from all sides these days. N-HH talk/edits 08:41, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

There were complaints, above, that this article was too USA centric. Now it focuses on many different countries. So now there are new complaints that it is too focused on other countries other than USA. In any event, we take our emphasis from the over 100 secondary sources themselves. Sagecandor (talk) 17:01, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

The criticisms do not contradict each other. Indeed, rather obviously, they're all part of the same overall point. The entirely consistent complaint, as voiced by multiple other editors and observers, is that this page is predominantly built up of one-sided criticism of *alleged* Russian actions in respect of the US, mostly sourced to US media, and with any countervailing evidence deleted, all masquerading as some kind of neutral examination of the broad, purportedly new phenomenon of "fake news". N-HH talk/edits 21:28, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

Perhaps that is a wider condemnation of all news media and all reliable secondary sources, but on Misplaced Pages the sources used are guided by WP:RS. Sagecandor (talk) 21:40, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

See my point about lame excuses, as in specious appeals to "RS!", and cherry-picking. This is not what all the media say. Thanks. N-HH talk/edits 21:46, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

But it is represented in a significant portion of WP:RS sources, and this article brings together over 100 sources giving multiple different pieces of information about the topic as a whole. Sagecandor (talk) 21:52, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

Russia Today fails as reliable source about Russian propaganda by Russian government

Source Russia Today fails WP:RS as not reliable source about Russian propaganda by Russian government.

Please don't use this source, especially not in this article.

Thank you ! Sagecandor (talk) 14:25, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

RT is a news station. It may have flaws, but it reported something which appears to contradict claims made by a US comedy programme. It beggars belief that anyone can seriously argue that reports from the latter must be included, while reports from the former must be excised, and more generally that US sources are fine for discussing purported Russian propaganda attacks against the US, but Russian ones responding to such claims are beyond the pale. You also reverted half of my other entirely reasonable minor additions and rephrasings, which were a small attempt to add some balance to the article and avoid it just being stuffed with allegations as if they are all true (for example by removing Zuckerberg's comments – if you objected to the quote being in the lead alongside the Google CEO quote, you could have moved it to where the point was made in the body – and restoring wording that contentious research "confirms" things, although that whole para in the lead was subsequently removed by someone else). As so often on WP, this page is being used to push charges via slanted emphasis and cherry-picked sources rather than to describe a topic neutrally and with balance. And, yes, I know the response is "we're just following the RS". Oh well, if you say so. Have fun with it. N-HH talk/edits 08:16, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

Why is RT not reliable? Because your local newspaper says so? What do you mean by "especially not in this article." should we use biased american MSM? DerElektriker (talk) 11:29, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

Russia Today is not reliable because it is an overt Russian propaganda arm by the Russian government. The sources cited in the intro section of the Misplaced Pages article RT (TV network) make this quite clear. Sagecandor (talk) 16:59, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

and CBS and BBC are propaganda from the US and UK as they are sponsored by the goverment?--Crossswords (talk) 17:02, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

No, Crossswords, and this false belief has already been explained to you, repeatedly, by Neutrality in great detail. Sagecandor (talk) 17:07, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

And you haven't addressed the point about why a US comedy show is an unimpeachable source, whose allegations simply have to be included in great detail, when a Russian news source daring to suggest there might be a problem with that show's report is verboten and has to be censored, simply on the basis of your personal declaration to that effect. The brief RT content I added for balance was clearly attributed, and did not assert that it had conclusively debunked the original report. People can read things from both sides and come to their own judgment. And if you can't see the circular reasoning and extensive question-begging involved in your argument as to why X media is OK and Y media is not, please try harder. N-HH talk/edits 21:34, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

Let's focus on Russia Today. Sagecandor (talk) 21:38, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

I did. In case the point is not clear, your argument (often heard on WP) is that RT is not "reliable", especially when it contradicts western media reports, because western media have declared it unreliable. That's as rational and helpful – and as circular an argument – as declaring western media unreliable because RT says so, which it frequently does. I agree RT should always be used with caution, and with awareness of where it is coming from, but then so should all media and indeed any other sources to a greater or lesser degree. As I said, I attributed the RT content. As I also said, it certainly stands on a par here with the US comedy show claims. N-HH talk/edits 21:42, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

Casting all reliable secondary sources as unacceptable sources as quote "Western Media" belies a POV. Sagecandor (talk) 21:45, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

Which I didn't do. N-HH talk/edits 21:47, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

"Russia Today has frequently been called a propaganda outlet for the Russian government and its foreign policy by news reporters, including former RT reporters." -- note that this includes former reporters for Russia Today, itself. Sagecandor (talk) 21:58, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

Yes, I know what WP's page on RT says, and I know what people say about RT (just as I know what people say about other outlets, including former employees of those outlets). I don't necessarily disagree with much of it. But copy-pasting all that here is rather obviously still missing the point of what I said about circular argument and about the potential problems with *any* source. Nor does it address the point that you seem quite happy to justify relying, without even a hint of a question, on a US comedy show's report, and reports from other western media, as well as direct accusations sourced directly to western government agencies on this page. Given that context, you have spectacularly failed to explain, let alone justify, why just one of RT's direct responses to some of the allegations here is beyond the pale. Continually posting irrelevant non-sequiturs isn't helpful, unless your aim is simply obfuscation. No wonder "fake news" gains so much traction when people's critical and logical faculties are so manifestly lacking. N-HH talk/edits 20:37, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

You are factually incorrect. Nothing is sourced to a comedy show or to a government source. It is all sourced to secondary sources. Perhaps you may not know the difference between a WP:PRIMARY source and a WP:SECONDARY source? Sagecandor (talk) 20:39, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Er, there's a whole subsection of claims about Russian "trolls" sourced to Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, which is a news-based comedy show. That's the content this discussion was initially about. There are huge swathes of content citing the direct claims of western intelligence agencies and politicians. I never raised the question of whether or not the sources were primary ones. Feel free to be confused yourself, but don't accuse me of it. N-HH talk/edits 20:47, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Nope. Not sourced to Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. Read WP:SECONDARY, please. Sagecandor (talk) 20:49, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Yes, the original source of the claims is Full Frontal. That's the show the interviews were with and which made the claims in question. Other outlets have, in turn, simply reported/repeated that "Full Frontal did/said this". This is not hard. Or shouldn't be. And please stop telling me about the difference between primary and secondary sources, whether in WP-land or elsewhere. I know the difference, and it just makes you look patronising on top of everything else. N-HH talk/edits 20:55, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

References

1. ^ Julia Ioffe,What Is Russia Today?, Columbia Journalism Review, September–October 2010.
2. Beth Knobel "Russian News, English Accent: New Kremlin Show Spins Russia Westward", CBS News, December 12, 2005
3. ^ Benjamin Bidder (August 13, 2013). "Putin Fights War of Images and Propaganda with Russia Today Channel". Spiegel Online. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
4. Luke Harding (December 18, 2009). "Russia Today launches first UK ad blitz". The Guardian. London.
5. Kramer, Andrew E (August 22, 2010). "Russian Cable Station Plays to U.S." The New York Times.
6. "Ukraine hits back at Russian TV onslaught". BBC. 2014.
7. MacFarquhar, Neil (28 August 2016). "A Powerful Russian Weapon: The Spread of False Stories". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
8. John Plunkett (July 18, 2014). "Russia Today reporter resigns in protest at MH17 coverage". The Guardian. Retrieved July 18, 2014.
9. Brian Stelter (March 24, 2014). "Putin TV in Chaos". CNN. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
10. Gray, Rosie (March 13, 2014). "How the Truth is Made at Russia Today". BuzzFeed.

Subtle vandalism by Emily Goldstein

With this change here by Emily Goldstein (talk · contribs) = subtle vandalism broke links to many citations by removing the domain names from several different links to sources.

Not sure why that was done or what the intent behind that was here.

Sagecandor (talk) 14:43, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

Result was blocked by Ritchie333. Sagecandor (talk) 17:24, 30 November 2016 (UTC)

As I've said on the user's talk page, such a regex option should be available on every page to see the pattern of sourcing more clearly (though without having to press "save").

Since then, the following paragraph has been removed (this is a much more serious disruption):

The Washington Post and PropOrNot received criticism from other media including The Intercept, Fortune and Rolling Stone. Matthew Ingram of Fortune magazine felt that PropOrNot cast too wide a net in identifying fake news websites. The Intercept journalists Glenn Greenwald and Ben Norton were highly critical that the organization included Naked Capitalism on its list. The Intercept called the reporting by The Washington Post as "shoddy", and Fortune magazine called the evidence "flimsy". Writing for Rolling Stone, Matt Taibbi described the report as "astonishingly lazy" and questioned the methodology used by PropOrNot and the lack of information about who was behind the organization.

References

1. ^ Ben Norton; Glenn Greenwald (26 November 2016), "Washington Post Disgracefully Promotes a McCarthyite Blacklist From a New, Hidden, and Very Shady Group", The Intercept, retrieved 27 November 2016
2. ^ Ingram, Matthew (25 November 2016), "No, Russian Agents Are Not Behind Every Piece of Fake News You See", Fortune magazine, retrieved 27 November 2016
3. Taibbi, Matt (28 November 2016). "The 'Washington Post' 'Blacklist' Story Is Shameful and Disgusting". Rolling Stone.

One person's vandalism is another's positive contributions. Anyone interested in the sourcing of this article should look at the link above. SashiRolls (talk) 10:44, 2 December 2016 (UTC)→→

POV

This article ist biased and POV. It needs to be improved. DerElektriker (talk) 11:29, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

This article is based on over 100 secondary sources and reflects multiple perspectives from those secondary sources. Sagecandor (talk) 16:59, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

The problem is, where are the sources from? Most if not all of the sources seem to have the same way of thinking. Now take the problem in reverse. Let's suppose russia didn't make any propaganda and this is just a propaganda attack from the USA who are trying to decredibilize russia because, let's say, they want their version of every important event to spread. How would that be handled? Everything is supposed to be objectively told, yet there's almost no citation of someone who was trying to defend russia in this giant debate. Sites like propornot offer a completely biased version of the scene, and should be considered as propaganda, but this article doesn't actually do better. It smashes russia against the ground, barely letting it a chance to defend itself, and doesn't think about fake news spread by america, who are probably numerous. 2A02:120B:7FB:C1B0:8D9D:314:519D:DBD (talk) 18:06, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

If you are saying all 100 plus sources are non independent, that is a spurious claim. The secondary sources are independent reliable sources whereas for example Russia Today and Sputnik News are operated by the Russian government as Russian propaganda. Sagecandor (talk) 18:10, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

In germany we have state financed and controlled media (eg. ARD, ZDF). DerElektriker (talk) 08:47, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

The problem isn't a matter of independance. It is all about the vision. You'll see I never said they lacked independance, if you read what i wrote carefully. What equilibrates a debate is the fact that there will be an equal amount of defenders of each side. This article takes only citations from defenders of one side, and thus has nil neutrality. It describes the russians and macedonians as horrible woe-spreading monsters, and americans as holy heroic victims. It's like accusating someone, and to ask them to shut up when they try to defend themselves. That's not fair. That's why this article should also cite some sources defending russia and macedonia. 2A02:120B:7FB:C1B0:5D33:39A1:7088:29FD (talk) 21:31, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Copy edits to intro section

I'm doing copy edits to intro section to make more succinct.

Please can we discuss instead of wholesale reverting all the copy edits?

What is good, what is objectionable, Florian Blaschke ? Sagecandor (talk) 18:30, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

Made more copy edits, but this time, for every single copy edit used a very detailed and specific edit summary to document each exact change made. Primarily the purpose was to reduce excess verbiage within the introduction section, while retaining the exact same meaning for each individual sentence. . Sagecandor (talk) 19:14, 1 December 2016 (UTC)

@Corinne:Thank you for your interest to this article. Unfortunately, your revert which you may have done from your view to make grammar changes as you had been previously summoned to do so and make that revert -- but your revert also undid massive amounts of content additions. Instead of reverting, could you please discuss individual concerns with me and others, at the article's talk page? Maybe that way we could come to a better understanding? Perhaps we can be more specific and hammer out a good consensus that way? Thank you ! Sagecandor (talk) 02:11, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

@Epicgenius and Neutrality:Not sure what the rationale for this change is? For example, phrase "websites are websites" in the first sentence. That appears quite redundant. Edit also appears to have undone lots of copy editing and adding extra verbose verbiage to the introduction section that is unnecessary. For example, "One Sweden newspaper, The Local," replaced prior wording of: "Swedish paper The Local". As I have no idea what the reasoning is for these edits, I'll wait here for an explanation, please? Sagecandor (talk) 02:41, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

@Sagecandor: you insist on discussing, yet you re-reverted two other editors, who explained their objections. You're aware of WP:BRD? Joshua Jonathan -Let's talk! 04:56, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

@Joshua Jonathan:I believe I reverted in order to add back in additions of content that another copy editor Corinne had mistakenly removed in their wholesale revert. (See examples and ). And, Joshua Jonathan, you will note you are the first user to comment in this section on this talk page asking for talk page participation from the other parties involved in the WP:BRD cycle. Sagecandor (talk) 05:08, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

@Joshua Jonathan:The 3rd step in WP:BRD is called "discuss". Kinda hard to "discuss" when one tries to post repeatedly to the article talk page, and user talk pages, and gets ignored, and users refuse to respond. Kinda eliminates the "discuss" step. Not sure what to do in that situation when one has tried to start a new section on the talk page, ask the other party to come to the talk page, and get ignored instead. I've actually had GREAT experience recently in a different situation where the other party to a dispute did come to the talk page. We worked it all out, and it was great, and wonderful. So talk pages are much better places to discuss and work things out than instead relying upon edit summaries as the sole means of back-and-forth communications. Sagecandor (talk) 05:14, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Two reverts ; Corinne's revert surely wasn't mistakenly, as she already explained at Florian's talkpage. I took a look at the reverts; I'd prefer "Fake news websites are websites that," and I don't know the word gullibility, so probably a lot of readers don't either. And "newspaper" is to be preferred above "paper." So, I've got the impression that Florian and Corinne have got a point. which they already did discuss at Florian's talkpage, in response to you. Joshua Jonathan -Let's talk! 05:14, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

@Joshua Jonathan:They refused to come here to this talk page to discuss. And you are the first person to bring up those specific copy edits in particular. Sagecandor (talk) 05:16, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

@Epicgenius:My thanks to Epicgenius for the subsequent copy edits. Sagecandor (talk) 16:20, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

McCarthyism section

I notice that in the revert in question, your removal of criticism of the WaPo's poor practices was undone. Why don't you wish for people to know that the "fake news sites" meme has been used to advance a McCarthyist list published by the "venerable" Washington Post on the basis of a shadowy organization called PropOrNot? Looking forward to reading your response to this question, @Sagecandor:. — Preceding unsigned comment added by SashiRolls (talk • contribs)

I was making those edits to directly address talk page complaints about having PropOrNot in the article. Funny how now there are complaints about the opposite. Sagecandor (talk) 15:56, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

@SashiRolls:A lot of people complained about PropOrNot. So I removed it. And you can't just add an entire "McCarthyism" section, to add criticism of PropOrNot to this article, at the bottom, with no prior discussion of what PropOrNot even is. That makes us think you wish to inject "McCarthyism", with no actual discussion of substance from the sources themselves. Sagecandor (talk) 15:59, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Let's keep discussion above at Talk:Fake_news_website#Criticism. Sagecandor (talk) 16:09, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

No, I think it would be better to keep discussion of your "section blanking" in a section with the appropriate title. I notice you did not answer my question. Here it is again: Why don't you wish for people to know that the "fake news sites" meme has been used to advance a McCarthyist list published by the "venerable" Washington Post on the basis of a shadowy organization called PropOrNot? Looking forward to reading your response to this question, @Sagecandor:. SashiRolls (talk) 18:04, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Responded, and more comprehensive discussion of prior issues already, above at Talk:Fake_news_website#Criticism. Sagecandor (talk) 20:02, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

No. You did not respond concerning why you deleted the McCarthyism section. You mistakenly stated that I had objected to PropOrNot being in this article, which I certainly did not. I think it is very important for people to realize that the Washington Post is becoming an unreliable source regarding fact-checking. That's all. Shall we reinstate the original text that @Volunteer Marek: deleted and put them back in the section that you deleted? (I left a message on VM's talk page so that everyone could see that they were exactly the same sources, contrary to his edit summary. SashiRolls (talk) 20:10, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Already being discussed at Talk:Fake_news_website#Criticism. Please discuss up there. Sagecandor (talk) 22:16, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Good survey source

• Kate Connolly, Angelique Chrisafis, Poppy McPherson, Stephanie Kirchgaessner, Benjamin Haas , Dominic Phillips, and Elle Hunt (2 December 2016), "Fake news: an insidious trend that's fast becoming a global problem - With fake online news dominating discussions after the US election, Guardian correspondents explain how it is distorting politics around the world", The Guardian, retrieved 2 December 2016{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Good survey source.

Describes impacts in multiple different countries.

Good for global overview and improved worldview of issue.

Sagecandor (talk) 17:32, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

SnooganssnoogansThis source, above, also has more info on Italy. Sagecandor (talk) 18:00, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Discussion about Italy section

= Italy page blanking from section by SashiRolls.

Originally was added by Snooganssnoogans.

Can we discuss?

Sagecandor (talk) 18:00, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

My edit summary was very clear. If Snoog speaks Italian well enough to read the blog, he can provide us with a fluent translation. SashiRolls (talk) 18:02, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

You are at or more likely over 3RR, please refrain from any further edit-warring. diff1, diff2, diff3, reversion of signature / talk page refactoring here, comment: since Corrine's two reversion were not related to copy edits to the intro, I corrected the section title to reflect its content. SashiRolls (talk) 18:43, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

@Neutrality:, I see that Neutrality has added the info on Italy back to the article. So my thanks to Neutrality for these helpful edits. Please also notice we have more sources for info on Italy, with The Guardian, as noted above. Sagecandor (talk) 20:04, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Yes, the text is improved. Thank you for doing what I asked the OP to do, Neutrality. SashiRolls (talk) 20:12, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Glad we both agree on something, SashiRolls. Nice to find common ground on the edits by Neutrality. Thank you for your constructive talk page comments here about that. Sagecandor (talk) 20:16, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

FYI, it's generally considered bad form to delete edit warring notifications from your talk page. (Just a heads up for someone who has a lot of skillz for a "newbie"...) SashiRolls (talk) 20:24, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Thank you, SashiRolls, but I'd rather receive input from a previously uninvolved neutral admin who does not have a vested interest in a particular ongoing dispute. But I read your posts and I appreciate your concern for my interests. Sagecandor (talk) 20:28, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Is PropOrNot over-weighted in this article?

PropOrNot could probably have its own wiki article at this point.

But it is way too overweighted in this article.

This article is about fake news, not PropOrNot.

PropOrNot has at this point been thoroughly debunked by Adrian Chen of The New Yorker at .

At the most it could merit a two sentence mention.

One sentence saying PropOrNot was used by The Washington Post.

And another listing a few other news outlets that debunked it.

Sagecandor (talk) 22:19, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Could you please try to write in paragraphs and try to choose section titles that are not leading? (I've changed the title to a question.) Discussion of PropOrNot, along with the conservative think tank the WaPo journalist cited (Foreign Policy Research Institute) are exactly the sort of balance this article needs. Of course the Russians engage in propaganda. It is necessary to counter our own (which is quite often uncritically echoed in Misplaced Pages due to a very narrow vision of WP:RS ). Thankfully, for once, mainstream RS are debunking the WaPo... as they have been more and more frequently in the last year. SashiRolls (talk) 22:42, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Agreed, but this is not the right article to do that. That would be --> The Washington Post and/or PropOrNot. Sagecandor (talk) 22:47, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

The WaPo was pushing fake news. So they have their place here. Don't hesitate to create that page on PropOrNot. That would show you were a dedicated Wikipedian, to be sure! SashiRolls (talk) 22:52, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

They have their place, sure, but a two sentence mention would be plenty. Sagecandor (talk) 22:56, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Thankfully, the New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Fortune, the Intercept and the co-owner of the Nation gave it more than 2 sentences. IMO, *this* article is way too long, and way too biased, cut it by at least half, "and then", to quote MelanieN, "we'll talk". ^_^ SashiRolls (talk) 23:03, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Biased how? It is telling that you wrote in your words, quote "Western institutions" ? Are you trying to put in Misplaced Pages's voice in main article space that the article is biased somehow towards "Western institutions", as you say? Sagecandor (talk) 23:10, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

My hope is that you did not write the copy "in an attempt to lessen democratic values", because I'm really not sure what that might have meant. The notion of weakening (European) institutions is indeed in the article that we source to. (facts, just facts) SashiRolls (talk) 23:24, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Clearly you have not checked the cited sources before blatantly removing or changing information. That is quite inappropriate. Sagecandor (talk) 23:28, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

"D. whereas information warfare is a historical phenomenon as old as warfare itself; whereas targeted information warfare against the West was extensively used by the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and has since been an integral part of modern hybrid warfare, which is a combination of military and non-military measures of a covert and overt nature, deployed to destabilise the political, economic and social situation of a country under attack, without a formal declaration of war, targeting not only partners of the EU, but also the EU itself, its institutions and all Member States and citizens irrespective of their nationality and religion;" Apologies will be accepted for the false accusation.SashiRolls (talk) 23:43, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Wow that's misleading and disinformation. That is the WRONG LINK. The citation you changed was from source Deutsche Welle. Sagecandor (talk) 23:46, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

Wow, that's misleading disinformation! Indeed in DW, you can find the words "eroding confidence in European institutions", which are in turn -- in different form, of course -- in the resolution that DW makes reference to (cited above). A simple ctrl-f should suffice. Also, we should include the fact that the majority of deputies did not vote for the resolution. (over 200 abstained...) SashiRolls (talk) 23:52, 2 December 2016 (UTC)

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