Find the original source
Follow the links backwards, from one retelling to the next, until you reach the original document: a research team's announcement, a weather service page or a manufacturer's manual.
Guides
Practical guides
Checking rarely takes special knowledge. Most of the time patience and a few repeated steps are enough: find out who said it first, when it was said and what exactly was said. Here are guides for the most common situations.
If a story seems too good to be true, it usually has a humbler original source and duller details.
How this section works: each tip is described in general terms and is not tied to specific apps. The examples are invented and deliberately drawn from calm areas — science, weather, nature and everyday life.
Guides
A few tasks that almost everyone who reads news in chats and feeds runs into.
Read news about a study
Find out which journal published the work, how many participants or observations it involved, and whether it was an observational study or a real experiment. A “scientists have proven” headline often exaggerates.
Check a photo or video
Run a reverse image search, compare details in the frame with the caption and see when the file first appeared online.
Spot an AI-generated picture
Look closely at hands, lettering, reflections and the background. Oddities can be a clue, but their absence guarantees nothing, so the key step is still finding the source.
Help your family
Elderly parents and children benefit less from bans than from a couple of questions they can ask of any message. Explain with examples from their own interests: gardening, animals, games.
Article catalogue for English-language readers
This is where standalone articles written specifically for the English version of the guide will be collected.
- GTA 6 Preorder Guide and Editions: Player FAQ
Short answers on GTA 6 preorders: the 19 November 2026 date, Standard vs Ultimate, the preorder bonus, boxed codes and how to spot fake edition rumors.
- Aion 2 bundles: Practical Overview for Players
What is verified about Aion 2 purchases, how to judge a bundle before paying, account safety, and in-game shops versus outside sellers.
- World of Warcraft: Character Boost — Resource Planning
Plan a WoW character boost: Blizzard's official boost vs outside services, the WoW Token, gold and time budgets, and alternatives to skipping leveling.
- Exploring Sea of Thieves news, guides and game resources: Gaming Culture
How Sea of Thieves culture works, where reliable news comes from, which guides help which players, and how to judge third-party resources and rumors safely.
What we plan to cover
- How to test a viral home “hack” before trying it on your own appliances
- Why the same dramatic storm photo resurfaces every season with a new caption
- How to spot a look-alike page pretending to be a local animal shelter
- What to do when a “free giveaway” post starts circulating in your neighbourhood group
Editorial rules
- Articles in this catalogue are written separately for each language version and are not translations.
- Some articles link to third-party websites, including gaming services; we do not control their content, prices or terms.
- We do not publish advertising for services or publications, rankings, prices or reviews.
Check a viral story
Pause before forwarding
A viral story is designed for an instant reaction. Hold off on the “forward” button for at least a few minutes, until you have read the whole text and not just the headline.
State the claim
Boil the message down to one sentence that can be checked: for example, “a rare owl has moved into the city park”. Strip out the emotion and embellishment.
Look for the original text
Put the key words into a search engine and find the earliest mention. Often the story turns out to come from a humour column or an old article.
Check the date and place
Make sure the event happened when and where it is said to have happened. Retellings tend to lose the year and move events to another town.
Check the picture
Find where the photo or video appeared before. A beautiful owl photo may turn out to have been taken long ago in a completely different forest.
Hypothetical example: a photo of “today's” apple-sized hailstones has been circulating online with captions dated to different years.
Look at independent sources
If only the members of one chat know about an unusual event, while local services and experts say nothing, it is better to wait for confirmation.
Decide whether to share
If there is no confirmation, do not forward it. If you want to discuss it, say so plainly: “I found this story but could not find the source”.
Read next
- Tools
Techniques to use when checking: reverse image search, date-limited search, web page archives, file properties, maps and street-level imagery.
- Comparisons
How an original source differs from a retelling and an opinion, and a photo from a drawing, a video still and an AI-generated picture.
- If you slipped
What to do if you shared a mistake, a relative believes a chain message, or nobody in an argument can find where a story came from.
- Security
Risks for the careful reader: emotional headlines, fake accounts, forged screenshots and cloned voices.
- Glossary
A glossary of terms: original source, context, clickbait, deepfake, metadata, verification and other concepts in plain words.
Sources
- Reference materials on media literacy and information checking (general principles)
- Editorial materials of the Vovkinsite guide
The method is described in general terms as of the preparation date. Search engines, archives and forgery techniques change over time, so treat this advice as a way of reasoning rather than a final verdict on any particular post.