So Many Lies on the Internet About Authors!

[g2narat]

Here's something that irks me. There are so many wrongly attributed quotes and wrong facts about authors on the internet. I know this isn't something that affects authors alone, but it seems that writers tend to get a lot more myths than actors.

Here's an example: I often see on the internet that J.D.Salinger only wrote one book. I know most people are only familiar with Catcher in the Rye but that is not the only book he wrote.  :doubtful:

Have you noticed this too?

[Trellum]

Yeah, but I don't take it too seriously.  Sadly Facebook and internet in general is making this kind of things easier, it seems now ignorance can be spread so easily!  You'd not believe how many wrongly attributed quotes I have seen online, specially on FB.  Lol,  most of the times the quotes aren't even complete or there is no proof x author said that!  Frustrating o say the least, but impossible to stop.  Some people love spreading ignorance.

[Linguetronix]

No, I've noticed nothing of the sort... Where did you get this from?

[Elly]

I hope they meant that J.D. Salinger is best known for one book. But such mistaken phrasing is common in a lot of things.

From what I've read, though, actors still get more inaccurate rumors and lies about them than authors do.

[g2narat]

I hope they meant that J.D. Salinger is best known for one book. But such mistaken phrasing is common in a lot of things.

From what I've read, though, actors still get more inaccurate rumors and lies about them than authors do.

Maybe that was the original idea. That J.D. Salinger had one well-known book. The "fact" that got passed around though, was that he only wrote one book. Anyway, with regards to actors, I agree that a there's a lot of false rumors about them too. But at least they have a team of publicists to correct them and they can even speak for themselves. A lot of inaccurate stuff about authors are about dead authors though... So they can't really correct the wrong info... 

[Rosa]

I know that we can be often times mislead and misinformed on the internet but that example of J.D.Salinger surprised me. Hopefully the claim was that he had one outstanding book because it would be rather sad to run into any wrongful statements about authors on the internet.

[chigreyofthenorns]

Yes. I notice this when I looking for quotations to use on our monthly posters at work. Sometimes, on two different websites, I would find the same quote but attributed to different people. This is why cross checking references is very important especially if your source of information is the Internet.

[deathbyprayer]

It just goes to show that the internet is full of people that are too lazy and ignorant to get their facts straight even though it's already staring them at their faces. The quotes are really one of the most atrocious when it comes to this, not only in books and authors but also from artists. One in particular are Bob Marley quotes that has nothing to do with him except that people just wanted to associate him with smoking marijuana alone.

[Baburra]

I think it happens for everyone, not just authors. It's why most people tend to see information from the internet as not so credible, and I don't blame them. Though, I think it's also possible to come up with a more accurate result if you do enough research, since after all, there's bound to be some correct citations out there if you look for it hard enough. The only problem is that most people don't so the wrong information is what gets passed around more often than not.

[LSJ-8]

This is why I take everything I read on the internet with a grain of salt.  Some people think that they are "experts" but really have no idea what they are talking about.  The internet is a dangerous place to get information, because information spreads so quickly on the internet and if it is false information....

That being said, I agree with Barburra that it happens to everyone, not just authors.

[Muthoni]

Information obtained from the internet deserves further investigation to establish its credibility. Sometimes the information available may not be up to date. Besides, some information available online may have been written by a writer for hire. Getting information from the horse’s mouth is usually the way to go. Always find out the source of the information before using it.