The Internet has always been home to fringe ideas and hoaxes, of course, but rarely have they been bolstered by an all-consuming topic like this year's election and powerful social media platforms to fan the flames.
Strandlof's hoax was, of course, a particular insult to veterans who have been forced to give up their careers because of the Pentagon's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
In a letter to Godfrey Lushington, Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, Charles Warren explained, "I think the whole thing a hoax but of course we are bound to try & ascertain the writer in any case".
And of course hoaxes and misrepresentations fly around the Internet on a daily basis.
(It was, of course, a hoax; the elaborate mechanism was designed not to play chess but to conceal the small human being who did).
The hybrid beasts were, of course, a hoax, one that originated in 19th century Japan and the East Indies.
Of course, MacMaster's hoax hurt not only the cause but also the people who believed that Arraf was real.
Of course, it was all a hoax, and few mainstream news organizations gave it any attention.
Joaquin Phoenix's rap career is a joke, of course, but is it a hoax?
