LazyTruth is a Chrome extension for Gmail that purports to give you context for B.S. spam & chain e-mails
Verdict: Sip With Caution
One of the growing problems on the internet is the inability of many users to go beyond knee-jerk analysis of the information that comes gushing at us via the broadband firehose. And yeah, this is pretty much a natural for this blog.
So, for everyone wondering if the end of the 2012 elections would finally bring an end to all those stupid chain emails that clog up our email inboxes, claiming that US Navy Admirals somehow told off uppity Frenchmen about what aircraft carriers are good for, or that US Navy destroyers were made out of steel from the World Trade Center, or that more people are killed by liberal English-teaching lesbians from Barnard College … there is this little tool:Â http://www.lazytruth.com/
It’s a little plug-in that you can put in your Gmail inbox to try to filter out all the B.S. emails that you might otherwise be tempted to forward to your contacts.
Unfortunately, I haven’t seen it work yet – and the technical support page seems to bear out user complaints that it doesn’t really *do* anything yet.
Still, there is a massive pent-up demand for this – as evidenced by all the entries into the Knight News Challenge that purport to be able to sift through the hyperbole and deliver a score (or some other symbol) as to the “truthiness” of any fact. If this can just cut down on the amount of B.S. that comes into my in-box every day, I will be willing to wait around while they work the kinks out.
In the meantime, we’re going to have to still rely on such things as the rating system I’m launching above. What do you think about it? I’m leaning towards including little animated GIFs that would also demonstrate the level to which I endorse/consider the things I write about…
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