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> It's tough to con Reddit.

That is debatable, Reddit has been conned a lot in the past.

But one error when trying to con the site seems to be too much information: many users apparently love snooping around and digging (and are pretty good at it), so giving more information initially makes claims more credible, but also gives more strings on which users can pull risking unraveling the whole thing.

Furthermore, there's a high level of dependency on the subreddit in which things go "viral", some subreddits are far more credulous than others (and credulity depends on the subject matter as well, you can get both /r/atheism and /r/libertarian to lap up claims unchecked, but it's unlikely the same claim will work on both) (this also means hoaxes are far more likely to unravel as they spread outside of a given subreddit and get wider exposure in the community)




Exactly, the hive mind at work, for example: http://gawker.com/5751581/misguided-internet-vigilantes-atta...

Also every once and a while a hoax reaches the front page, usually some highly suspect family situation or someone finding a treasure chest in their basement and asking reddit what to do.




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