Am I the only one thinking it's a very selfish and unfunny move? What if I call him saying I'm a physician from hospital X and announce him that his father just died. Oh, and then, I'll post a blog explaining how you shouldn't trust people calling you and post that on HN. Obviously there is a chain reaction when a big news comes out. You don't want to have a reputation for the latest in the known news website. And, furthermore, it's very common for journalists to receive anonymous posts.. It's explicitly said in their news that it came from an anonymous source and that it wasn't totally trust-able; yet they admitted that what was said had much chance to be real because of some already known facts.
> And, furthermore, it's very common for journalists to
> receive anonymous posts.
Publishing implies validation, at least to a certain extent. Otherwise media become nothing more than a fully transparent channel; there's nothing useful about that in this day and age. This prank (which doesn't resemble the physician example you mention in the least) shows two things: First, fact checking and double or triple sourcing appear to be a thing of the past. Second, on the internet, anonymous tips mean nothing. Even if you disagree that the former point is an issue, you'll have to grant the latter.
The thing is: How can they check or double check? It's a confidential memo from an anonymous user. If it was possible to check it, that wouldn't be a big news ;-) And yes, I do agree that anonymous tips have no credibility. However, experience shows that some anonymous tips were true and, especially when it's the only information you have, might become relevent.
