spittleteets
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I know downvotes for lacking a source was never loved universally, but it's one of the basic requirements of critical thinking and believe posting a source is more important now than ever.
Why?
• LLM bots (Ai) often don't include a source due to the way in which they scrape and generate info.
• Bad Actors purposely don't include sources because their goal is to misinform, not provide clarity.
Not saying it's a panacea that would fix everything, but IMHO it would help improve the ecosystem of posts, if only a little bit.
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Sources:
AI Search Has a Citation Problem - MARCH 6, 2025 - By KLAUDIA JAŹWIŃSKA AND AISVARYA CHANDRASEKAR - https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/we-compared-eight-ai-search-engines-theyre-all-bad-at-citing-news.php
Automated influencers: Unravelling the dynamics of social influence by bots (automated agents) with various strategies in online interactions - By: Ana Jovančević, Elaine M. Smith, Michael Quayle - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691826006128
nasukkin
But poor up/down vote ratios cause people to not click on galleries, and that's bad for advertisers.
LeumisRichardson
Absofuckinglutely.
Turkeyburst
victor810
Three votes for this!
DarthFutuza
Please source the puffin picture.
manixaist
minipancho94
We stopped posting sources as much because we we've been discussing a genocide for the last several years where the primary source is social media, often this site. "Offcial" sources barely exist because the majority are all complicit and use "othering language". Ai and LLMs have also made verify sources much harder, and people are frankly tired/ avoiding the fact that the majority of western media is all owned by the same few individuals and used as propaganda machines for them, while 1/2
minipancho94
Academic sources are pay walled or being purged. But most of the "educational post" still have sources from my limited and inaccurate experience. 2/2
tinydog
Lffayen
The genuine irony of not including source of Andreas Mulder for the picture that led to the unpopular opinion puffin meme is hilarious when telling everyone they need to remember to downvote sourceless posts.
IMakeLotsOfReferencesAndRemakes
Also the fact that some people suck at research and are often posting hoping to get more info about an event. Sourceless does not instantly mean a bad post. Being misinformed does not make you a bad person. No source because you intend to misinform and denying facts and clinging to misinformation makes you bad. Don't be afraid of making mistakes AND taking responsibility for them. That second part seems to be the problem for villains and fools.
Broken08
It was better before meme dumps. They defeat the entire purpose of voting and commenting.
Newdonster
I agree, source or don't post AND use tags.
MajorNikon
I like dark beer
RedTailedHawk
https://imgur.com/pwCIE8c.mp4
Taxian
Could not agree more. +1 to you, and wish I could give more.
SnakuPlisskin
I don't have that sauce please gif saved but pretend I posted it. Also pretend I had any idea who created it and I included that as well.
BipedalHumanoidWithSlightlyDifferentNoseRidge
Sure, but memes are supposed to be entertaining. Entertainment always contains the exaggerated and embellished.
If it is posed as "Breaking news" or "knowledge" or "truth" etc, then ofc sources are required.
Also, if it is something mundane, unimportant and easily verified or debunked, do it yourself....
Which imgrrians LURVE having a meltdown about, every time I suggest such unthinkable common sense....
MacTually
How is this different from what Buzzfeed did to publishing online?
101Medic
I agree, but there's like 12 real people left here it seems. I've never hit the "bottom" of imgur so often in the 12-13 years I've been here.
AmericasHouseguest
You know when you are reloading User Sub Newest and you get half a page, something is wrong. Mostly my screen time.
101Medic
Screen time is no joke. I've closed the app only to open it again immediately and be like, "...the hell is wrong with me?" lol
freshthrowaway1138
dreikommavierzehn
that was a rather new phenomenon and overall a bit short-lived. From the top of my head I'd say it was maybe from 2 years ago to little less than a year ago. Basically around the time they had some drama in the mod team and the community becoming more vocal. Up until they were let go entirely, lots of people leaving, the rest of community throwing a hissyfit and marking a return to nonstop thirst posts.
Don't expect things to change, I assume the people that made it happen largely left.
spittleteets
In an ideal world do you agree that it would have it's benefits?
dreikommavierzehn
obviously. i'm sure i have plenty of comments with negative votes for asking for sources over the years. what i'm saying is, I don't believe our current community is still the community from that time period you remember and miss
nelllybellly1
While i strongly agree that nothing posted as fact ought be believed without some investigation by the reader/listener/watcher even preceding the advent of the internet (most of my life) and that sources make it easier to get detail and judge the trustworthiness of the information, it's usually not so hard to do independently of the post.
NKato
You post some shit that makes people go "What the fuck is this?", and don't cite a source and instead make them do the work to verify it? Nah, dude. The poster of that information should burn in hellfire for making conceivably thousands of people have to fact-check it (and some will fail at the fact checking).
nelllybellly1
Ok but burning in hellfire is rather a severe penalty.
NKato
It's appropriate. When they go to hell, they'll get the daily news, but no citations or sources. Some of the stories will seem innocuous, them take a dark turn. Others will seem dark but then go completely innocuous. They will question their sanity before long.