The problem with these statements is dedicated hoaxers are very adept at their diabolical art. They know enough about their subject to sound authentic, and yet are sly enough to evade detection. Unlike your standard blow hard or a meager troll. They play the game at an entirely different level, and sometimes the complexity would baffle the most dedicated scrounger. Often sending the investigator off chasing phantoms. Further more once their shenanigans are finally exposed they have moved on leaving a wake of destruction, as the house they built tumbles down on the true believers.
Unfortunately you might be doing exactly what the hoaxer wants your acting as their agent. One hoaxer can generate so much detritus that their lies have a way of colliding with each other from multiple sources resulting in what appears to be supporting evidence. For example the same guy can start similar stories on a handful of different sites at slightly different times.
The posters on those sites take the material the hoaxer has laid on them to other sites. Where even more people collect reinforce and then spread to even more sites. Eventually five accounts blossom in hundreds if not thousands of accounts. The carriers often embellishing the tale as their trusted source. The result is one very witty hoaxer has built an entire rumor mill out of five posts with no real validation of their account.
Yes its a very simple for a lie to take on a life of its own. Like a virus it mutates, and infects every poster it touches. Eventually when enough people read it enough times sometimes it can even become accepted truth. The worst of these hoaxes rely on actual distrust of the reputable sources. Even if Sony wanted desperately to put down these rumors. Their record when it comes to honesty is pathetic. Nobody will believe them since they have lied so often in the past. Meanwhile the hoaxer gets a clean slate with whatever new persona they adopt.
The worst thing you can do is ask the question is this guy legit. Unless they are utterly incompetent a hoaxer is near impossible to expose, and that is the only way to answer your question. Fellow posters will label the source as a maybe. Well have you ever told a child maybe. To a child that is a weak yes. In adults it is a suppressed yes. So in their minds the original poster gains a small margin of credibility, and that is what the house of cards is built upon.
Now if your seriously interested in the subject citing a poster on another forum. Which by the way is a way to defer responsibility, and add credibility to yourself. Well thats not the way to do it. The best way is to post the basics of the post into a rephrased question. Say do you think this kind of price reduction would be conceivable.
There are ways to uncloak hoaxers, but that is an art in and of itself. Involving numerous tactics, and a great degree of psychological understanding of their pathological psychosis. They often do it for the thrill, the sense of power, or even for a degree of revenge. In that sense they can be manipulated against themselves. However instead of devoting yourself to doing such things its better not to spread rumors, and more importantly to not dwell too deeply on them. When you focus on something or spread it. You become intricately involved. That just makes you an agent, and not an interested observer.
Your asking a question nobody can answer, and perhaps giving a con artist a free boost. Which accomplishes nothing, and worse might obscure the truth. Hoaxers will spread dozens of lies praying to hit one right. Once that happens they move to the big leagues. Becoming almost like a prophet. They have no reputation to protect, and can get a lot of mileage out of a good guess.
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