Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How do you find credible information online?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 73 posts

Re: Ask HN: How do you find credible information online?

#31

Post by rjtavares »

thejackgoode wrote: post #25
tchalla wrote: post #20

You look for information from the original source, not opinions. You take that information and come to your own opinion. You validate your opinion with an open mind and curiosity - look out for people who can challenge their views. You introspect and change your mind. You also say that some information is beyond your comprehension and “too hard to understand”. “I never allow myself to have an opinion on anything that…

To add to this: if you grow into this approach, it's almost impossible to become a "radical" believer in anything; usually any serious discourse has very solid points on both sides, which are formulated by very smart people. It's quite hard to live with it, actually, humans are not built for seeing nuance everywhere.

Although you have to be careful not to fall into "Enlightened Centrist" mode all the time.

While there are usually solid points on both sides of an argument, you should take one side on many (most?) issues.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find credible information online?

#32

Post by weinzierl »

jacquesm wrote: post #5

My main trick is simply to know a lot of really smart people in various fields.

This reminds of a talk Donald Knuth held at Google a few years ago. In the QA someone asked how he'd search online for abstract mathematical concepts.

Don Knuth smirked and said (paraphrased from memory): "I'm x years in the field, you can bet I made a few friends along that I can ask."

Re: Ask HN: How do you find credible information online?

#33

Post by usrn »

thejackgoode wrote: post #25
tchalla wrote: post #20

You look for information from the original source, not opinions. You take that information and come to your own opinion. You validate your opinion with an open mind and curiosity - look out for people who can challenge their views. You introspect and change your mind. You also say that some information is beyond your comprehension and “too hard to understand”. “I never allow myself to have an opinion on anything that…

To add to this: if you grow into this approach, it's almost impossible to become a "radical" believer in anything; usually any serious discourse has very solid points on both sides, which are formulated by very smart people. It's quite hard to live with it, actually, humans are not built for seeing nuance everywhere.

If you're surrounded by "radicals" and you have a balanced and well reasoned opinion then you will be a radical among them.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find credible information online?

#34

Post by thenoblesunfish »

Prioritize sources where I understand some motivation beyond traffic/ads for the existence of that source. Non-profits dedicated to providing information (Wikipedia, MDN), individual people I am familiar enough with to believe genuine interest in their topic, publicly-funded yet independent journalistic outlets, documentation written by the actual author of software, etc.

I often find these in my Google/DDG searches, after scrolling past the things I know to be “otherwise” motivated.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find credible information online?

#35

Post by rapind »

It’s not perfect, but here’s what I do, when I run into a new domain:

1. Click bait title? Immediately bail.

2. How many trackers were blocked (ublock). If there’s a ton, then I’m now extra suspicious and might even bail at this point.

3. After that it’s really just specific words I watch out for that could tip me off that it’s fluff or content marketing crap.

4. I will often follow up on sources / searching for corroborating articles or if it’s just a regurgitated press release.

Over time you recognize good sources.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find credible information online?

#37

Post by flunhat »

FloatArtifact wrote: post #27
tchalla wrote: post #20

You look for information from the original source, not opinions. You take that information and come to your own opinion. You validate your opinion with an open mind and curiosity - look out for people who can challenge their views. You introspect and change your mind. You also say that some information is beyond your comprehension and “too hard to understand”. “I never allow myself to have an opinion on anything that…

When seeing a trend of a common narrative, even if it's socially or corporate driven, look for opposing ideas.

Look for them, sure. And consider the opposite. But if you believe the opposite of the Current Thing all the time, you're just a mindless contrarian. A good recent example of this phenomenon is all the people who denied that Russia would invade Ukraine -- not because of any primary sources or facts, but because they reflexively countered the mainstream consensus.

The good news is you can spot these people easily by just asking them to explain why they believe the opposite. And if they answer with empty platitudes or lofty statements that don't really address the specifics of the issue at hand, you can keep searching.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find credible information online?

#39

Post by Adraghast »

thejackgoode wrote: post #25
tchalla wrote: post #20

You look for information from the original source, not opinions. You take that information and come to your own opinion. You validate your opinion with an open mind and curiosity - look out for people who can challenge their views. You introspect and change your mind. You also say that some information is beyond your comprehension and “too hard to understand”. “I never allow myself to have an opinion on anything that…

To add to this: if you grow into this approach, it's almost impossible to become a "radical" believer in anything; usually any serious discourse has very solid points on both sides, which are formulated by very smart people. It's quite hard to live with it, actually, humans are not built for seeing nuance everywhere.

Define what you mean by radical.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find credible information online?

#40

Post by thejackgoode »

rjtavares wrote: post #31
thejackgoode wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To add to this: if you grow into this approach, it's almost impossible to become a "radical" believer in anything; usually any serious discourse has very solid points on both sides, which are formulated by very smart people. It's quite hard to live with it, actually, humans are not built for seeing nuance everywhere.

Although you have to be careful not to fall into "Enlightened Centrist" mode all the time. While there are usually solid points on both sides of an argument, you should take one side on many (most?) issues.

I agree. Everything can be morally relative until you get punched in the face
Post reply on HN