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

21–30 of 73 posts

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

#21

Post by folbec »

DocTomoe wrote: post #11

Rule of thumb: The longer and more complicated the article, the more reliable the content. NY Post article citing 'scientists' or 'a study' about how doing handstands increase your sexual capabilities in 250 words or less? Unreliable. Scientific paper linking biweekly handstands to increased cardiovascular health in 40-50 year-old Asian men in the Baltimore area, with raw data attached, in 12500 words? Reliable.

With, however the caveat that scientific papers can be embarrassingly wrong, and the error can not be spotted for 17 years, and the paper can go on being widely believed and quoted many years after the full debunk (and the case I link is apparently an honest mistake, not fraud which may be obfuscated).

https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2022/04/08/the-dunning-k...

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

#22

Post by omginternets »

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…

This. There’s just no substitue for genuine curiosity paired with extensive reading.

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

#23

Post by mgh2 »

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…

"Without data, you're just another person with an opinion." — W. Edwards Deming

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

#24

Post by mgh2 »

folbec wrote: post #21
DocTomoe wrote: post #11

Rule of thumb: The longer and more complicated the article, the more reliable the content. NY Post article citing 'scientists' or 'a study' about how doing handstands increase your sexual capabilities in 250 words or less? Unreliable. Scientific paper linking biweekly handstands to increased cardiovascular health in 40-50 year-old Asian men in the Baltimore area, with raw data attached, in 12500 words? Reliable.

With, however the caveat that scientific papers can be embarrassingly wrong, and the error can not be spotted for 17 years, and the paper can go on being widely believed and quoted many years after the full debunk (and the case I link is apparently an honest mistake, not fraud which may be obfuscated). https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2022/04/08/the-dunning-k...

That is the nuance of the scientific method in order to advance knowledge: it is not perfect, but the peer reviewed process is rigorous

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

#25

Post by thejackgoode »

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.

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

#26

Post by sofixa »

cryptica wrote: post #16

/r/conspiracy subreddit but the credible information is mixed together with fake news. But it's easy to figure out which is which if you do a few searches online. A lot of stuff on there just seems insane, but then you start searching and sometimes it all checks out.

Sorry to be memey, but X.

Do you have concrete examples of stuff from r/conspiracy that "checks out"? I don't frequent that sub, but every time I've visited it's been just.. crazy talk without a shadow of a kernel of truth.

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

#27

Post by FloatArtifact »

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.

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

#28

Post by nonameiguess »

DocTomoe wrote: post #11

Rule of thumb: The longer and more complicated the article, the more reliable the content. NY Post article citing 'scientists' or 'a study' about how doing handstands increase your sexual capabilities in 250 words or less? Unreliable. Scientific paper linking biweekly handstands to increased cardiovascular health in 40-50 year-old Asian men in the Baltimore area, with raw data attached, in 12500 words? Reliable.

You should actually be careful if you're really seeing the third line there. That's a form of p-hacking. Don't find a statistically significant effect in your entire study population? Fine, just segment it into 20 subsets, and in an average study, you can now expect to randomly find at least one population subset in which the effect is statistically significant.

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

#29

Post by sofixa »

GrumpyNl wrote: post #7

I check Hacker News regularly for credible information. The comments help me with this.

How do you approach things when there's an argument in the comments with diametrically opposed views? And did you see the person who admitted to inventing stuff in the comments to sound knowledgeable about subjects they had no idea about?

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

#30

Post by ponow »

iamthemonster wrote: post #9

This is a tricky one, but in my main area of interest (energy) I ask myself whether a source is "falsifiable", or whether it would be theoretically possible to come up with some way to prove their claim wrong: Claim 1: "Wind turbines are committing genocide upon wildlife and if they weren't subsidised by Daddy Government they wouldn't exist" Claim 2: "The levelised cost of energy is $40/MWh for electricity generated…

Does trusting the government depend on administration or jurisdiction? Should Russians heed your advice?
Post reply on HN