"Special Forces Soldier killed in Syria" likely not dead, may have faked death (Occupy San Diego)

[MineralMan]

63. I certainly hope that is the case.

Very embarrassing for them, for sure.

In the meantime, that story has been quoted on numerous websites and blogs. Checking today, none of them have corrected the story. That is why it's a problem. The publication in question has put a disclaimer at the top of the story, but all of those places that copied and pasted the story still have it as written. Mistakes have long legs, I'm afraid, so the damage here is not over. If things go as they usually do, it will continue to be copied and pasted to other blogs and websites, second hand, and will not be corrected.

Sadly, there is no real way to solve this problem, except for publications taking a great deal of care with what they publish, and that's not likely overall. Equally unfortunately, there are no consequences for publication of incorrect stories, other than the publication losing the respect of its readers. The guy who lied about his military service will simply move on and probably continue to lie. That's a pity, since he probably won't get treated for whatever is wrong.