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As an online article writer, I realize that my life-experiences are of value especially when writing non-fiction pieces. I also like to include stories, conversations, and actual events in my articles to help me make a point. The stories I use are actual, no need to make stuff up, however sometimes I change the names of my acquaintances or conceal their gender and identity, no sense in making waves or losing friends over something incidental as that. Occasionally, but not very often I slightly modify the story for brevity, or to stay on topic, so is that a lie? Does it become fiction, or is it okay because it is based on factual events, real people, or actual experiences? Ah, all good questions along the lines of ethics. One thing which bothers me is when other online article authors ramble on an make up stories, especially when I can tell and it is obvious. I wonder should I give them the benefit of the doubt - well, more often than not I can't, nor do I trust the newspapers or media much, call me cynical, but what's that famous quote; "You can believe half of what you read, none of what you hear, and most of what you see" or something to that affect." There is a decent article you should read titled; "Lying Words: Predicting Deception From Linguistic Styles," by Matthew L Newmann, James W Pennebaker, Diane S Berry, and Jane M Richards which stated that; "Telling lies often requires creating a story about an experience or attitude that does not exist. As a result, false stories may be qualitatively different from true stories." Is this possible, can they really figure out who is lying by what they say or write? What about those who write online on their blogs, forums, news comments, or online articles? Well, the researchers also stated, and this is way cool; "In an analysis of 5 independent samples, a computer-based text analysis program correctly classified liars and truth-tellers at a rate of 67% when the topic was constant and a rate of 61% overall." Okay so, where do you stand in all of this in your online articles these days? Are you lying through your teeth, albeit through a keyboard perhaps if you don't use speech recognition software to assist in your writing - or are you careful to accurately tell stories about real experiences without crossing that line. What about your readership? What do they expect? Yes, I know that you can't trust anything online, but my question is; can I trust you? Can I trust your advice, stories, experiences? Well, you don't have to answer me, but I hope you'll look in your mirror. Lastly, don't be surprised some day if we run a sophisticated algorithm to ferret out your BS stories if you choose to go to the dark side Clyde, or Bonnie. Please consider all this and think on it. freelance writing job
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