[Suggestion] Fact challenge button

[Badwords]

For when people are voicing their opinions of things as facts. Make a button that when pressed the person has to post the sources of their info in a special field or the post only gets 'opinion' label. It will streamline discussions and also the people that regularly back up their statements with facts can get more notice.

[Forge]

people that regularly back up their statements with facts can get more notice.

Do you have any sources to back that "fact" up?

[LiamC]

LOL! well played

[Aidy]

It will streamline discussions

Citation please.



Seriously though it won't, it will only result in "Look where you got that info from, they're trash", "Do you believe everything that site says?" and so on. I think people are fairly good at knowing when something is an opinion or not, and if someone is basing a strong argument on something you think might be dubious you can always ask for the sources and if they don't give any people will know it's just "opinion" and if they do give their sources you can commence to tell them "Oh yeah, cos if that site says it it must be true"

[SigSal]

Balderdash anyone?

[Ceejay0875]

I belong to another forum (not gaming related) that has about 10 different options. Anyway, one of them is a big red "x" for "disagree". This could be an option here...the only downside being when someone gets bored and decides to give everyone on the thread the magic red "x", and then there's always somebody who can't take the joke and then gets their feelings hurt. Yes, I have actually seen this happen...sad, I know.

[Valkenr]

I belong to another forum (not gaming related) that has about 10 different options. Anyway, one of them is a big red "x" for "disagree". This could be an option here...the only downside being when someone gets bored and decides to give everyone on the thread the magic red "x", and then there's always somebody who can't take the joke and then gets their feelings hurt. Yes, I have actually seen this happen...sad, I know.

I don't think some incarnation of the downvote is a viable option. The mass-flag is the staple of internet thought-police, and no negative-vote system is really immune. I think a simple "facts stated without evidence" in a report form dropdown would be sufficient. Let the mods handle it and make the final call, this isn't something I would entrust to the general public.

[Ceejay0875]

I don't think some incarnation of the downvote is a viable option. The mass-flag is the staple of internet thought-police, and no negative-vote system is really immune. I think a simple "facts stated without evidence" in a report form dropdown would be sufficient. Let the mods handle it and make the final call, this isn't something I would entrust to the general public.

I tend to agree with you to a point. I was just saying what I have seen/experienced. Since it is no longer a new feature (when it was new, yes people played with it like I described) on the other forum the users generally don't abuse it. I suppose we could also just comment or quote the person and say "I call bs." It just depends on the community, I can see it being problematic for some.

[ethansito]

Do you have any sources to back that "fact" up?

I don't think he does. Mods, please give this thread the opinion tag.

[bdemarchi]

Well, this is a forum, not really a debate site per-se so not sure any functionality like what is being suggested here makes sense.
There could be a specific debate area if people believe that is necessary, but that is something to ask Jeremy to find out. A Pool created by him would be the best way to determine that, in my opinion.

[Ronnin426850]

No. Sources are worthless. Nothing discussed here has publications in scientific journals, and the rest of the media is littered with fake news.
Also, not every fact has a "source". Some facts are proven with logic or observation, not by posting a link to "another person who said the same thing, but in a bigger media".

[Tonic]

We will pass up this suggestion. I'm not sure how this would help here. We're not talking about science, plus the idea would then bring fear of anyone saying something slightly inaccurate. we want friendly interactions, like the old days of the arcade or local lans.

[Badwords]

I'm not saying it's something to use on every single post. Also there's nothing wrong in having the sources entered challenged or debunked in a thread either. This is why I feel it's important. Because we see many times people finding one set of information and maybe not finding a retraction of the information that was posted later. For example if someone decided to make a statement like, 'No man sky has no mutliplayer' which might been true a launcher but would be incorrect now.

We see often people forming their ideas on outdated facts. Having a way to check if the person posting is aware of upto date information or at least make sure the most upto date info is available to all in a discussion thread would streamline them and lead to more solid discussions.

[Tonic]

I'm not saying it's something to use on every single post. Also there's nothing wrong in having the sources entered challenged or debunked in a thread either. This is why I feel it's important. Because we see many times people finding one set of information and maybe not finding a retraction of the information that was posted later. For example if someone decided to make a statement like, 'No man sky has no mutliplayer' which might been true a launcher but would be incorrect now.

We see often people forming their ideas on outdated facts. Having a way to check if the person posting is aware of upto date information or at least make sure the most upto date info is available to all in a discussion thread would streamline them and lead to more solid discussions.

Why would this require a 'fact checker' button? All it would need is a polite reply from a user pointing out that is not true. There is nothing to streamline here.

[Koolaidman]

I think that this feature would at best be unnecessary for any forum discussion on this site. If anything, it could be detrimental. With so many interpretations of what is subjectively considered fact and how difficult it can be to source information in some cases, this could quickly turn into a "disagree" button. Which I think would be a negative feature to add. If someone posts something that you know to be false, just comment that on their post and explain why in a respectful manner.

[Tech_0ne]

How about just do your own research and either confirm or deny said 'fact' if you want to call someone out just do it with words.