Reddit apologizes for "Online Witch Hunts" regarding Boston events
- Thread starter Divvy
- Start date
- Status
That does not say what you think it says. They didn't know who they were.
ReturnOfTheRAT
Member
Animal therapy sessions? ARE YOU SERIOUS?
Thats probably the best way of stopping this in the future.
Total humiliation for every idiot and loser who thought they could solve a terror attack by using photoshop analysis.
I really do not see what the uproar is all about. Since when are message boards and anonymous message board posters considered a serious news source? The whole Sunil theory was just that, a theory. At what point did it start to be a theory which was taken as near-fact and who seriously reported it as such? I understand that some people on the internet take things too far and get into peoples personal space based on these "witch hunts", but how is that the responsibility of Reddit?
Uh?
I don't know if that was a wise decision.
It was horrible for Sunil's family and the guys the post accused, but this ended with a cop dead and one of the suspects shot.
Maybe it would have been enough for them to say "We are confident it was not Sunil and the suspects are actually white guys".
e: at that point they didn't know any of them went to college, tho
D
Deleted member 1235
Unconfirmed Member
at least they said something. Reddit is a rather self congratulatory and rather douchey userbase when looked at as a whole, but most redditors seem to regard reddit rather positively and should remember this.
edit: people need to take breaking 'twitter news' with a grain of salt. it's just way it goes. literally everything gets reported and the truth is in there somewhere, I actually think it probably does more good than harm, provided they have you know, some professionals checking all the amateur hour shit that goes on in the reddit witch hunts and so forth. Wouldn't be surprised if the internet method of throwing everything at the wall actually made something stick for a trained eye.
Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew
Banned
Again, don't take my word for the whole thing and read the article. There were numerous articles (most of them sourcing Washington Post) that Reddit and New York Post's false witch hunt was the reason the photos were revealed. They were debating whether to release these photos or not because releasing them would make the suspects more alert.
Again, I/there may be super exaggerating in reading discussions (which I read in Reddit, duh!). They also tried face recognition software but didn't work because the videos were not clear enough. Oh and as much as Reddit may take credit for being the ones to alert cops about the higher-res photo of the bomber fleeing from the scene, it was reported by someone else instead.
Interesting. The article also says, "once the pictures had been released, one of the brother's aunts phoned the F.B.I. to identify them.". I could have sworn Fox News kept saying something about "not one of their family members contacted the FBI after the photos were released."
That's pretty fucked up.
EDIT: Oh god:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=54542922&postcount=4025
SniperHunter
Banned
ether snake's posts were worse. he used to be a quality poster at one time
I'm going to guess never.
Your link refutes your classroom claim. It says they only discovered their identities after releasing the photos and the boys aunt called the FBI.
In the interviews one of the aunts said she had looked over the photos over and over and convinced herself it was her nephews.
Gonna guess this happened pretty late into the night, though.
I think it was more because of the Post's irresponsible journalism of releasing unconfirmed photos of suspects, which the Post obviously used Reddit as their "news source".
Still wrong, but I tend to believe that the Post's cover page is what forced the FBI's hand and not Reddit on its own.
not all the blame is on reddit but the fact the internet wanted to play CSI is why some of this shit blew up
astroturfing
Member
oh wow, what the hell?
Sunil Tripathi's name was never mentioned on the police scanner. The name "Mulugeta" (no first name attached) was mentioned, but it was not clear from the scanner what the context was.
Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew
Banned
I edited my edit by being more descriptive of what I read. Sorry for confusion.
Ok thanks.
Probably was related to another case that night; a couple of times the cops would talk about another crime scene and people became confused.
E: maybe the Mike part came from the whole watch yo mikes shenanigans
Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew
Banned
The problem is that everyone now uses their "anonymous source" for info (*cough*twitter feeds*cough). This makes the journalists look bad when they're late on news, and makes them look bad when they're too early on their news and it's not correct.
Yeah, that's my best guess too. I'm just glad that Mulugeta, whoever they are (and if they exist), doesn't seem to have been directly harassed.
Its all good.
I don't remember them specifically as there were plenty of people making wild statements, but feel free to link them for public shaming purposes...
Facial recognition was coming up empty. The photos would have come out eventually in order to get help in identifying the culprits. Even by their own words, the result of them releasing the photos and telling people to feed any info through their channels is that people phoned in with information about the identity of the suspects.
And once it came out, immediately following the attacks, that they had a TON of video and camera footage and the suspects could see on the national news networks how in-depth the images were, I'm sure they knew they were going to get caught, so it's possible that another day delay in releasing the photos could have had them escape from the area.
It's tragic that a police officer died, but considering the arsenal of explosives and guns these guys were packing, it could have been worse if these guys were better prepared for a shootout.
And once it came out, immediately following the attacks, that they had a TON of video and camera footage and the suspects could see on the national news networks how in-depth the images were, I'm sure they knew they were going to get caught, so it's possible that another day delay in releasing the photos could have had them escape from the area.
It's tragic that a police officer died, but considering the arsenal of explosives and guns these guys were packing, it could have been worse if these guys were better prepared for a shootout.
I think the whole Sunil debacle started after the photos were released, though.
Air Zombie Meat
Member
Aside from any harm it did it made the whole thing impossible to follow. Some of the speculation was just painful to read.
notworksafe
Member
So basically nothing will change and shitty Z-tier CSI will be how the internet keeps trying to prove that it's better than mainstream media.
What a clown.
You think it took balls to say this?
The internet was like half an hour ahead of the rest of the media on most of the news of the manhunt, tho.
And on top of that it's not like mainstream media was any better on pointing fingers at the wrong persons.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
The discussion on GAF mainly consisted of individuals reposting things said on Reddit and evaluating them as true or false. No one was providing original photos here, no one was identifying new "suspects" here. It's not just because Reddit is larger, but also because redditors organized a subreddit dedicated specifically to looking at photos and identifying the bombers; here that was at best an adjunct attached to the overall discussion of breaking news.
Edit: Notwithstanding independent bullshitters like ChiTownBuffalo.
Devolution
Member
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=54540021&postcount=3458
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=54539304&postcount=3319
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=54538290&postcount=3108
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=54538449&postcount=3144
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=54538572&postcount=3175
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=54530709&postcount=1668
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=54530481&postcount=1622
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=54540372&postcount=3537
Flightmare
Member
Yikes
notworksafe
Member
Exactly. No outlet is worth holding up as "better" than any other. Let the police do their damn job and stay away from pointless speculation and lines drawn in MS Paint.
Heh.
FO-totality
Poet Centuriate
Oh MT...
Always-honest
Banned
I will never forget the Sunil shit and the people who were 100% sure that the 19 year old suspect and Suhil were the exact same person.
Some thought they looked similar, but some also were 100% sure and even ridiculed the people who said they were different.
The suspect and Sunil have very different faces, even at first glance. Now it's not a crime to have bad eyesight or if you're not able to see differences in faces. But please, in future facial recognotion threads, don't participate and realise that you are not able to judge these faces. Seriously. You have bad eyes/ bad judgement in faces.
And with those bad eyes you (unknowingly and without bad intentions, i'm sure) contributed to the pain of the family members of Sunil.
People will probably feel offended and say that these two people were very similar. But in reality, that's only true for people who have poor judgement in faces. Sorry, there is no way around it.
Some thought they looked similar, but some also were 100% sure and even ridiculed the people who said they were different.
The suspect and Sunil have very different faces, even at first glance. Now it's not a crime to have bad eyesight or if you're not able to see differences in faces. But please, in future facial recognotion threads, don't participate and realise that you are not able to judge these faces. Seriously. You have bad eyes/ bad judgement in faces.
And with those bad eyes you (unknowingly and without bad intentions, i'm sure) contributed to the pain of the family members of Sunil.
People will probably feel offended and say that these two people were very similar. But in reality, that's only true for people who have poor judgement in faces. Sorry, there is no way around it.
Yuuuuuup...
Devolution
Member
That's just the few I could find in a relatively short time. There's more than that.
Oh God....That post about someone looking like Sunlil's uncle.....jeez scary.
"You people claiming it's definitely (not) Sunil should chill or you're going to eat a lot of crow soon."
I'm not a legal person, but wouldn't safe harbor apply?
You'd have to take the individual posters to court. But since they are anonymous...
Man I remember that Uncle thing, that was S-level stupid.
I guess I wasn't around Thursday night, this is me right now:
http://i.imgur.com/nAhdKjO.jpg
(in the form of a reddit meme, you know, to make it fun)
http://i.imgur.com/nAhdKjO.jpg
(in the form of a reddit meme, you know, to make it fun)
- Status
Similar threads
- Locked