Students believe in the tree octopus.

[mumakil]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1352929/Endangered-tree-octopus-proves-students-believe-read-Internet.html

So it seems a scientist has done a test with a fake website about a tree octopus with very detailed info about to see if people would believe everything they read on the internet.

not only did they believe in it, they kept on believing in it even after the scientists told them the info was completely fake. While i think the story is hilarious(as i cant see anyone ever believing in a tree octopus but maybe thats just me) it still concerns me that so many people didnt know this to be a hoax. Do so many of us, the youth of today believe so badly in internet info. Hell i wonder where we would be if most of wikipedia turned to be fake(instead of just a bit of it). So tell your opinions on the subject and maybe just make fun of the octopus if deep talking isnt your thing.

The site of the octopus

http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

I bid you all good day.

PS: Even though its ridicilous a tree octopus would be freaking AWESOME. The best creature on earth

PPS: Please dont start telling its just America or some other country. Im sure there are people who would have fallen/fell for this thing.

 

[lacktheknack]

This was hilarious.

Then it became horrifying.

Then my brain said "HURP DERP".

Seriously? I can't even begin to say what's so screwed with this. It's like the friggin' Time Cube.

 

[loc978]

Sad, but not surprising in the least.

 

[Chogg Van Helsing]

There is a site? I found out thought it was from Terry Prachett's 'Nation', and then I insisted it was real to my friends lmao

 

[Anarchemitis]

PPS: Please dont start telling its just America or some other country. Im sure there are people who would have fallen/fell for this thing.

Like Pastafarianism.

 

[whiteshark12]

this looks pretty bullshit. For one, what age are we talking about by 'students'? if it's university students then they should know better than to see a completely new, previously undocumented thing and believe the single source. if were talking 8-10 year olds then i don't really blame them.

I also don't see any figures or statistics, even details of the test/subjects. what's to say this isn't the same experiment?

Really? I would've thought if this was a real thing they would've heard it elsewhere first.

 

[Distorted Stu]

Reminds me of the tim ei made a friend of mien believe there was a type of flying spider from Brazil and they escaped and are now in Europe. She was terrified until i told her

 

[scorptatious]

I remember seeing that website back in high school.

My teacher used it as an example of what kind of websites we should avoid when looking for something to write about.

 

[Spacewolf]

i thought there was a tree octapus alougth that could of been a type of crab getting confused with the coconut octopus

 

[megaraccoon]

wait a tree hugging cuthulu? more likily than i thought!

 

[Korolev]

Pretty funny. Similar stuff occurs everywhere, throughout all of time. People believe in the dragons and the Loch Ness monster as well, and although Nessie isn't as implausible as a tree octopus, a Dragon is (come on, if Dragons really existed, they'd have found some skeletons by now, unless people believe the dragon bones being hidden by the Overarching Dragon Hiders of the Illuminati or something equally stupid).

If people can believe that giant balls of fusing Hydrogen, millions of light-years away from this earth, can actually influence our fate and destiny via MAGIC, then I'm not surprised that some people will believe in a tree octopus.

 

[Tartarga]

I totally would have fallen for that. But can you blame me? Why whouldn't I want there to be a tree octopus? Thats one of the most awesome things i've ever heard of.

 

[FamoFunk]

Is there another source with this story?

I cannot bare the Daily "sensationalist" Mail

 

[robert022614]

wow, it definitely screams fake i mean come on its natural predators are the bald eagle and SASQUATCH!!!!! I mean come on people that is pretty amazing if these were college students who fell for this, but then again how do i know that this isnt an experiment to see who believes people fell for this experiment?????

 

[proctorninja2]

they should make T-shirts with Save the Tree octopus on them

 

[Polock]

Its fake.

But its also badass.

How cool would Octopi in trees be!?

...I think its cool.

 

[Woodsey]

You sure this isn't just a story by the Daily Mail to tell us how stupid the people of today are (ironic, I know)?

I bet the next time they write about the story they blame it on the Muslims.

 

[TAGM]

This actually looks pretty familiar - I think one of my teachers presented it as evidence that using just the internet for sorcing for essays is A REALLY BAD FUCKING IDEA if you don't know what you're doing.
Really, even if there was a tree octapus, it probably wouldn't look much like an actual octapus anyway, so... Yeah.