Worth highlighting a lot of people are not fans of the bot in the news communities for several reasons, but predominantly the biased source of its data.
this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2024
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Health can be a very nuanced topic. I feel as if a bot would do more harm than good as it's incapable of identifying the little things sometimes. Also, bots learn from the Internet. If there's a general misconception on the Internet and we call it out here, the bot will think it's untrue.
I think it's best if we, as people who care about our health, look at these posts and use our own judgement instead.
People with no training who care about their health, looking at internet posts and using their own judgement is the exact thing fueling the antivax movement...
You're completely right. That being said however, I feel as fact-checking via AI is jumping from one extreme to the other. There's too much room for error with having an AI monitor and fact check this kind of topic.
Really depends how the bot is implemented and what it uses as information sources.
As a mod, I am not completely opposed to a fact-checking bot but I do not have experience managing one, nor do I likely have the technical expertise to incorporate one (would very likely need assistance in the event the population within this community wants one).
I would like to hear more input on ideas (pros vs cons) from community members and if anyone has suggestions for incorporating one if that is the popular opinion.
Personally, I prefer to have community members freely discuss health issues, sharing facts and opinions on commentary. Health can be viewed so many ways. While scientific research is the golden standard to support facts, one must consider other aspects of life that influences health such as history, culture, and individual experiences.
Ideally, I would prefer not to have a bot but would like to hear what the other mods and community members say. Thank you for sharing this suggestion.
Example: The recent post that discusses taping your mouth to decrease snoring with a "linked study".
I personally think that is not a safe practice despite what the article says. Moreover, looking at the amount/percent of down votes and reading through all replies, I don't see the value in a fact checking bot as the community members apply their own knowledge, critical thinking and personal opinions to the discussion, thus helping other community members form their own ideas of the "factfulness" of the initial post.
How would a bot fact check this?