As usual, speculation is all over the place over

[MineralMan]

the missing airplane. The 24-hour news cycle demands new information, and takes it from all comers, since it has no budget for actually checking its validity.

And, like clockwork, every bit of information, true or not, confirmed or unconfirmed, makes its way to GD.

The only thing we really know is that we don't know much at all. We may know more later, and we'll know a lot more when the plane is finally found. Until then, it's all speculation.

I'm in for the long wait.

[Agnosticsherbet]

1. It's the human drama, MineralMan, the drama.

We are all drama hogs seeking sources to fill our hungry maws.

[Rex]

2. Imagine that, people like to make claims and speculate. Almost like this is GD or sumthin.

People love to talk about current events, people like to interact, I guess that is a crime here now.

[MineralMan]

4. No, not a crime. I was just commenting,

almost like this is GD or something.

I hope you and your green frownie have a nice rest of the day.

[Rex]

9. Right, nothing compelled you to make this OP.

Yeah I am just commenting too, have a great day.

[MineralMan]

11. Compelled? No. I'm not a compulsive sort of guy.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. It could be years before they find that airplane. If ever.

It took two years to find Air France 447, except for a few pieces floating on the surface. But it took that long to figure out what happened. But, as you said, the 24-hour news cycle demands to be fed, and the "experts" are out there, tossing bits of meaningless speculation to the talking heads. As a retired airline employee I'm as curious as the nest person, but my old job taught me enough about airplanes and accident investigations to understand that it's a complex process and sometimes it just takes awhile. Maybe a very long while.

[MineralMan]

5. Well, I hope the actual facts emerge eventually.

I feel very bad for the people whose family members were on that plane. They're on quite a roller coaster ride.

[cthulu2016]

6. A *discussion* forum is not a newspaper, and the topic under discussion is

the totality of the thing, which includes process and journalism.

If your only interest is in where the plane is then check wikipedia sometime next year.

If, however, ones interest is the process and methods and interface of what we know and how we know and journalism and all soprts of things, including how one thinks about mysterious things, and how one "knows" what they know, then the story includes the story, not a set of GPS coordinates.

[MineralMan]

7. Carry on, by all means. I just made a comment,

based on my observations.

[HereSince1628]

8. Dots get connected. Even if some dots are missing or from different games

That's the nature of our minds. They try to make sensible stories out of things.

As long as we fundamentally understand these are just stories connecting dots, it's ok.

As long as we understand we don't have to threaten the life of someone with a different web of dots, it's ok.

[FarCenter]

10. It's interesting that it's shining a spotlight on the 57 year-old, single-party "democracy"

It's an incompetent government run by Malays that enjoy a range of institutionalized privileges over the Chinese and Indian minorities.

Presumably they were installed as a way to settle down the communist insurgency which was beaten by the Brits with a brutal anti-insurgency campaign.

[MineralMan]

12. I suppose. I know very little about the Malaysian

government, to tell the truth. We often don't do much better here when something unexpected happens and we don't have enough facts. Or so it seems to me.

[uppityperson]

13. NOT in Bermuda triangle and about those ringing phones? Here is an answer....

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/559955-malaysia-airlines-flight-mh370-plane-found-in-bermuda-triangle-passengers-alive-video-is-a-scam/

“Video of Malaysia MH370 Plane found in Bermuda Triangle! Passengers alive!” it reads, claiming there’s video footage of it. “Breaking news video footage of this miracle just released on CNN!”

It shows a passenger plane in the water. However, the image of the plane was taken in Bali, Indonesia, in 2013 when a plane crashed into the water. More than 100 passengers and crew members survived the incident.

When one clicks on the Malaysia Airlines-Bermuda Triangle post, they will be taken to a fake Facebook website that asks them to share the post before going any further.

http://indiandefence.com/threads/mh370-why-arent-passengers-picking-up-ringing-phones.43937/

Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370: Why Aren't Passengers Picking Up Ringing Phones?

(clip)
While there is a lot of buzz about the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, the most popular topic is the 'Phantom Call' theory. It emerged after reports spoke about how passengers' mobile phones continued to ring long after the flight went missing on Saturday.

Desperate to learn about the fate of their loved ones, relatives of MH370 passengers resorted to calling their phones. Upon doing so, they were greeted with ringing tones. Speculation quickly mounted on social media that these "phantom calls" were indications that the flight had not crashed.
(clip)
When users initiate a call, hit the send button, and the phone starts to ring, it "doesn't mean it is ringing on the phone of the person you are calling," says wireless analyst Jeff Kagan, according to Mashable.

"What it means is the network is at work, trying to locate the party you are calling," he says. "It rings once, twice, three times, and if it finds the phone, it delivers the call. If it doesn't find the phone, then the call is disconnected.""Family members over there are hearing the [ring] tone and they are hoping, but this is not a sign of anything. This is just how the networks work," Kagan says.

"The ringing sound is generated by the originating carrier's switch while the network sets up the call," a spokesperson for CTIA-The Wireless Association told Mashable. "This keeps callers from abandoning the call when they hear no sound. The ringing sound has nothing to do with the actual 'ringing' of the called party's device," he added.

[zappaman]

14. My dad was a commercial pilot

and whenever there was a crash, there would be endless speculation.
It was funny to watch him yell at the YV "That's just speculation! Wait for the real story!" as if the anchors could hear him.

[MineralMan]

15. That sounds about right.

When the news reports wild speculation, it becomes difficult to tell when they're reporting actual news, I think.

[morningfog]

16. What makes it worse is the lack of transparency or

trustworthiness from the Malaysian officials.

Not being able to find a lost plane is understandable and not remarkable. The handling of communication with the public has been abysmal.

[MineralMan]

17. Well, I think they're as clueless as the rest of us are.

It's difficult for people in positions of authority to say, "I do not know." They think people expect them to know, and that's often true. That gets lots of people into awkward positions, it seems.

[Lex]

18. A discussion board on the internet = speculation on every imaginable topic.

Even when there are more facts, there will speculation about how those facts came to be.

[MineralMan]

19. That's why I commented. It is a common phenomenon, isn't it?

[Glassunion]

20. Well... perhaps what DU should do is

come up with a group, where we could have discussions about general topics that may be newsworthy. Where we could discuss what the news is generally reporting about these newsworthy topics.

We could discuss the general nature of the media speculations and come to our own conclusions, and perhaps bring our own general knowledge into the discussion.

What would we call a place like that? Where a group of folks from all over the internet could have discussions of a general nature that affect or concern most people that take part in these general discussions. We should have a place like that.

[MineralMan]

21. What an idea!

We do have the Creative Speculation group, but it seems to have a somewhat different purpose.

[Glassunion]

22. Yeah... That group is off the mark.

We need a forum where we can have generalized discussions.

[MineralMan]

23. I know what you're trying to say, and you're right.

This is General Discussion. That's why I posted my comment about speculation here. Others can post whatever they want in GD, too. And they do. I'm not trying to stop anyone from posting, and couldn't if I wanted to, anyhow.