Sex, Bluetooth, Made Up Fads... And The Lack Of Journalistic Inquiry

from the hmmm... dept

Mon, Apr 4th 2005 5:28pm — Mike Masnick

About a year ago, we first wrote about the practice of "toothing", noting that it sounded very much like a made-up fad, or (at best) something a few geeks were hoping would actually become a fad. It involved using Bluetooth on your phones to anonymously hookup with other commuters for sex. If it sounded ridiculous, that's because it was. As more news sources picked up on the story, we expressed more skepticism of the idea, noting that no one seemed to confirm any of this. The story died out, but was brought back to life today by someone asking whatever happened to toothing. A little attention from Slashdot, and the person who created it admitted that it was entirely a hoax. Of course, we weren't the only ones who thought so. Others posted similar things noting that the whole story seemed unlikely (have you ever gotten Bluetooth to work on your phone?) and extremely weakly supported. Yet, Wired, the BBC and Reuters all ran stories on it, because it was too good of a story to bother fact check even remotely. Meanwhile we keep hearing stories about how bloggers can't be journalists because they don't have the same standards?

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9 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 4 Apr 2005 @ 7:20pm

No Subject Given
why the have you ever got bluetooth working on your phone comment? Bluetooth works great on my phone, not had a problem at all.

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dorpus, 4 Apr 2005 @ 9:57pm

Be careful what you wish for
Asides from issues of credibility, there is lots of news out there that is either unreported, or not widely reported, because it talks about things people don't want to hear. If there are no ethical constraints, it may not create a desirable situation. As irresponsible as mainstream media is, there are levels of fear-mongering they will not stoop to.

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fahtot, 10 Jan 2008 @ 6:08pm

hi
hi send me viedo pic plaese
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WHATS SUE WOOING WORLD, 30 Jan 2008 @ 11:08am

yo
who made it up the geeks?or what?
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Mar 2008 @ 5:01am

thanksssssss
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jnsdjahsbuvfvc, 25 Jun 2008 @ 6:10pm

FAD SUCKS
ANYONE THAT FOLLOWS A FAD MUST DIE
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Nov 2008 @ 10:59am

Re: FAD SUCKS
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khaled, 2 Dec 2008 @ 2:31pm

sex
I want to bowl format phone films
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Feb 2009 @ 10:04pm

بدون تنسيق في الكلام ومقدمات ليس لها اي لزمه
ابغى التعارف الجادr0533351203@hotmail.com
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