Did anyone else read this story about how things can go bad on an internet sports message board? Yesterday, a Nebraska fan thought he would have a little fun and made up a story about 2 Oklahoma football players who he claimed had been arrested for cocaine distribution. He lifted a template from a newspaper's website and created a bogus page featuring the story, and he then posted about it on the Nebraska fan message board with a link to his bogus story.
Many people took it seriously, even though there wasn't any shread of truth to it. The story was even picked up by a couple media outlets and reported as true (at least 2 Texas radio stations in Houston and Austin were reporting the story on air)!
Now the person responsible for this hoax has been identified, has confessed to making the story up, and he has apologized to the 2 Oklahoma quarterbacks who he accused of felonies.
But that's not the end of the story. The father of one of the players is vowing to take the message board poster to court--
"I'm going to prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law," Kevin Jones (father of quarterback Landry Jones) said. "I've got deep enough pockets to do it."
The Oklahoma newspaper that had their webpage template stolen for the hoax is also considering legal action. This Nebraska fan is in big trouble.
Many people took it seriously, even though there wasn't any shread of truth to it. The story was even picked up by a couple media outlets and reported as true (at least 2 Texas radio stations in Houston and Austin were reporting the story on air)!
Now the person responsible for this hoax has been identified, has confessed to making the story up, and he has apologized to the 2 Oklahoma quarterbacks who he accused of felonies.
But that's not the end of the story. The father of one of the players is vowing to take the message board poster to court--
"I'm going to prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law," Kevin Jones (father of quarterback Landry Jones) said. "I've got deep enough pockets to do it."
The Oklahoma newspaper that had their webpage template stolen for the hoax is also considering legal action. This Nebraska fan is in big trouble.
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