Hacker News Reader

Comment by n3rdy | Hacker News Reader

I think there is a big difference between the news saying "THIS IS THE GUY! THIS IS THE MONSTER!" and people on a forum speculating that "this may be worth looking into further".

The people who turn it into a witch hunt are likely not the people actually using their heads enough to know what to be looking for in the images.

View on HN

I think there is a big difference between the news saying "THIS IS THE GUY! THIS IS THE MONSTER!" and people on a forum speculating that "this may be worth looking into further".

The problem is that all it takes is one group to start quoting the other, and the effect starts to snowball:

"Internet detectives on the popular website Reddit have identified three possible suspects..."

"[Rival news organization] tonight reported on three new leads. The suspects, Joe Bloggs, Susan Smith and Bill Stickers..."

"Ask Reddit - who of the three suspects do you think is most likely to be behind the attacks?"

Bill Stickers is innocent.

It's usually the second one from the left.

So in LTR languages, the second one?

Bill Stickers Will Be Prosecuted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Availability_cascade

Kudos for the link.

When something like this gets popular, its a matter of time before a major newspaper will publish this on the front page. And that's the beginning of the end for this person, in case he is innocent (which he is, until proven otherwise).

Just wait until the media finds this

They already have.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/16/mystery-man-on-roof...

Edit: It's another picture though.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com