One of the hazards of the 'blogosphere' is that conspiracy theories and rumours can take on a life of their own. Take this example, reported in the Detroit Free Press, "A conspiracy to get Bush? No, just blog legend", Friday, October 8, 2004:
"The fast-growing universe of political blogs is taking a hit to its credibility over a flap involving a few dozen misprinted absentee ballots in a tiny Michigan community.
In one precinct in the city of Alma (population 9,275) in rural Michigan's Gratiot County, 69 absentee ballots were misprinted so the arrows didn't line up properly next to the places to vote for President George W. Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry. The problem was immediately discovered, says the Michigan Secretary of State's Election Division. The 69 bad ballots were reprinted and redistributed and steps were taken to make sure that those 69 ballots could not be counted should someone find and turn one in.
No other place in the state had the problem.
So that's the end of the story, right? Nope.
Enter the blogosphere. Someone in Alma got hold of one of the misprinted ballots, scanned it and posted it on the Net and -- faster than you can say conspiracy -- it was picked up and run by blogs all over the world. Many of the blog postings and comments voiced outrage and urged people to protest, claiming the problem was a political dirty trick to make Kerry votes count for Bush...."
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