Our pal Lorenzo Music passed away on a Saturday morning and I posted an obit here that evening. Word of his departure didn't make the wire services until Tuesday or Wednesday but it was all over the Internet by Sunday night, prompting many, many expressions of regret…and a few folks pondering if, perhaps, it wasn't on the news sites because it wasn't true. On newsgroups, message boards and in a few e-mails to me, four or five people were wondering if perhaps I was grossly-mistaken or pulling some wretched-taste hoax.
My first reaction — apart from wishing it was a mistake or hoax — was to take a bit of umbrage. It was like, "Didn't these people look at my site? Didn't they notice that I was someone who'd worked with Lorenzo? Who obviously knew him? There's even a photo of me with him up there." But then I realized something which I'll put it in bold italic type because I think it's important: These people were right to be skeptical.
Absolutely. The Internet is a repository of spurious information, some of it packaged to look very knowing and official, indeed. It is also a dandy place for hoaxes and miscommunication. Lately, those who follow news of the comic book industry on the 'net have witnessed one outright death hoax and another misunderstanding — both about professional artists, both so authoritative that even insiders were taken-in by them and passed them on. You should be suspicious of everything you read on the Internet, even if you read it here. Hell, you should be suspicious of everything you read in a newspaper or hear on the news…