factchecking before sharing

there's a quote that you'll see a lot on the internet from the truth by terry pratchett.

& i feel like this has become even more accurate with the speed of social media. things can get corrected after the fact, but the truth never catches up with the lie that already spread, & the fact of it is that the first impression people get is what will stick with them, no matter how incorrect it was.

i've seen so much misinformation flying around recently with news about nsfw content being deindexed from itchio & it's been disheartening seeing a lot of people sharing things that are misleading or are flat-out untrue in the desire to "inform".

while the desire to inform itself isn't bad, once you share misinformation, it's out there. there's no taking it back. so i wish people would take some more time into checking sources, seeing where people are getting their information, & thinking over whether what they're seeing is really something that needs to be broadcasted further before hitting the post or repost button. will it really help inform people or will it just spread misinformation & further anxiety?

personally, i feel like the situation is stressful enough as it is & i don't want to add to it, so i hope we can all be a bit more careful about what we post when emotions are heightened & a lot of misinformation is already afoot - not just in this situation, but in general.