Links!! Can You Trust Them or Will They Backfire?

Hello everyone,

Im fairly new to ATS and would like to say this community is a great way to express views on all current topics from around the world. Im excited to be creating my first post here, and hope to get some positive feedback on the topic im about to present.

Links!! Can you trust the ones we see in posts and replies? How credible are the ones im seeing on almost all threads.

The issue im trying to make is: when can I take an external source of information seriously? Are there any sources i should stray away from? Can I solely rely on one persons source of info to be "Credible" ?

As a new member Im finding it hard to sift out the good from the bad information. If someone could shed some light on this I would be more than appreciative. Give me some examples if you will. Hope this will help others as it will definately help me.



Thanks everyone and looking forward to your replies!

Welcome to ATS.

Well any kind of information is tricky I think. Because whatever link or site you find, you can find a site that says the complete opposite. Which is right? Thats for the reader to decide I guess.

Welcome xiamen. Glad to see you here.

Trust is a big issue. You can hardly trust any mainstream media, that's a given. And everything else is really individual choice to trust. You just have to read what is there and decide the agenda that that site has.

I would say most of the major science journals are pretty trustworthy. Some of the UFO places that just report, and don't do too much 'spinning' are good. Mostly though, you have to spend some time reading and deciding on everybody.

But if you're in doubt about a link, ask right there on the thread what the other posters think. You'll get an earful on some of them. But that is the best way to find out what others here think of them.

Hi xiamen,

You might look at this site to get started:

www.library.cornell.edu...

It also depends a lot on the context, and how the site is being used as evidence. Some questions to ask yourself when reviewing a site:

1. Does the author link to other sources of information as back up for claims? Or do they just assert opinions without any backup whatsoever?

2. Does the author make claims that can be corraborated by others, or are they singular experiences? For example, the claim, "I saw a shiny object near the moon last night at 1:30am," could be checked by multiple people to see if a conclusion can be drawn about what was seen. A claim such as, "Grey aliens visited me in my bedroom last night, but I forgot to take pictures," is a little harder to substantiate.

3. Information published in peer reviewed publications tends to be stronger than not because multiple people have read, analyzed, and dissected the argument and conclusions of the author before publication.

4. Although you want to beware of genetic fallacies (a logical fallacy where one discredits a claim solely based on the source of information), it can be a handy tool to begin analyzing a specific claim. For example, if a website argues that the Republican agenda is bad for America, and this page is on the Democratic National Committee site, you might want to take stronger look at their argument.

Thanks for the warm Welcome everyone!
I appreciate the responces, and you have made some very clear points.

Im trying to be as open minded as the next guy, but IMO ive seen some sketchy places to draw information from. But ive seen all of you in action, and its very exciting to know when it comes down to it, you pick and prod and dissect till whats left is the basics of the information, truth or flaw.

Logical to the bitter end lol!

Thanks again, and if anyone still wants to add to this feel free.