Hey #FandomWithoutFear! It’s been almost a year now since the #SaveDaredevil campaign started, and I thought I’d do a brief PSA to help save your sanity as we enter the second half of our campaign. I’m talking about rumors.





Over the past year, we’ve heard piles and piles of rumors, some causing chaos, others causing despair, some even being really strange and confusing. In fact, our campaign was basically born into a world of rumors as we’ve been combating the ‘The shows are going to Disney+’ rumor since the instant it was canceled. Only recently have we been mostly freed by that one thanks to D23 releasing their starting lineup, but we’re still seeing it.





Giving into rumors can be a trying experience, especially considering our current situation of Marvel being unable to tell us almost anything about the NMCU properties until the two year clause is up and them being tight-lipped by default. However, there are ways of avoiding rumor rabbit holes and the emotional turmoil they put us through.





Before I start, I’d like to point everyone out to #SaveDaredevil’s official website and FAQ. It is loaded with everything we can say for certain about the status and future of Daredevil given the information that has been confirmed by official sources so far. We even have screenshots and citations.





#1 – Encountering the Rumor





So you’re out in the wilds of the Internet and come across ‘news’ about Daredevil. As mentioned previously, simply the fact that there is ‘news’ is enough to raise a red flag. Since everything is on the hush-hush, there’s an 80% chance the ‘news’ isn’t valid right off the bat.





But let’s say there seems like there could be some validity in the claim. Worth investigating further.





#2 – Beware of Clickbait





Websites love dem clicks, and they know the Daredevil fanbase is filled with people who are yearning for news. Many websites will either make up or perpetuate rumors to fill a video or article and then slap a misleading title on it to go fishing for cursors and their precious left-clicks.





While some clickbait is painfully obvious from the getgo, some is harder to discern. The rule of thumb here is that, if it seems too good to be true or if it feels like something that could be molded out of existing knowledge, it’s probably best to avoid it.





Also be on the lookout for words and phrases like ‘Could be’ and ‘Might’ as they are almost always indicative of opinion pieces/rumor mills than actual news.





Reputable articles will commonly headline with a source of a quote, such as ‘said (name) (some important position) at (Marvel or Disney)’ but even those can be misleading, so beware.





#3 – Check the Website Before Clicking





You really, really want to click the link no matter what the title says. Understandable. But before you turn that blue link purple, let’s see where it came from.





Another way you can discern what is likely a rumor from what could possibly be legitimate is by checking the source of the link. Sites like Cosmic Book News (That’s not a typo, that’s the name of the website) and wegotthiscovered are some of the better known rumor mills, but if you’re unsure about the reputation of a site, ask around. However, sometimes the only way to know if a website or news source is reputable is by investigating the content of the link.





Which leads us to….





#4 – You’ve Clicked the Link. Now What?





A few things you should be on the lookout for while investigating the page before even reading the content are the author of the article or creator of the video (if one isn’t listed, that’s a red flag in itself), how professionally made the website looks, the date of the article/video posting (the more current, the better) and how well-written the article is overall. Poor grammar, punctuation and formatting can all be red flags to misinformed or false content.





Sensational graphics, such as pictures with red arrows, circles or obnoxious text – this applies to the video if there is one – can also be an indicator of less than legit sources. Overly produced videos and graphics have become quite common as they are attention grabbers, but they don’t exactly give off the professional air that more legitimate websites and content creators strive for.





Fair warning, while a good chunk of rumor articles are fairly short, many rumor videos can be insanely long because longer videos can have more advertisements crammed on it, which means more money.





Longer videos don’t instantly mean legitimate information. In fact, outside of opinion pieces, many ‘news’ videos will regurgitate information we already know about and go into length about that to extend the video’s run time. Even if you’re only in it for opinions, a significant portion of the video could be padding.





You don’t necessarily have to watch the entirety of the video (or even read the entire article) to tell if it’s spouting nonsense or not. It’s a good idea to do so, but in many circumstances the writing is on the wall within the first paragraph or first few minutes of the video.





They jump to conclusions based on something that is entirely unrelated. They add the could be’s and might’s to the content, instead of the headline. Or they accidentally show their rumor hand by saying the dreaded words ‘I/We heard…’ or even ‘rumor has it.’





Some writers are also tricky about their wording to get you to stay the entire way through by ending the article or video with ‘but this is all speculation. We won’t really know until (blank)’





If the author seems intent on getting you to believe this is all fact and the red flags aren’t quite visible to you, there are still options to explore.





#5 – Read/Listen Carefully





Some writers are particularly good at twisting words around to suit their needs. Even direct quotes can be manipulated in their favor. Read the article or listen to the video host very carefully. Take note of context. Be wary of anything that doesn’t mesh with existing knowledge. You may also find that the content contradicts itself sometimes. If things seem fishy to you, your instincts are likely right.





#6 – Who Else is Saying This?





Daredevil news would be huge, and anything even slightly confirmed by official sources would be plastered on a plethora of news sites so quickly you’d think they were announcing their first born child. When you’re first out the gate, you tend to get the most clicks. However, reputable news sites, as you can guess, want to stay reputable, and jumping on rumors isn’t going to be helping them maintain that status.





Do a quick Google search for the main news item in the headline. Using quotation marks on specific phrases used in either the title or body of the source can help narrow things down.





If there are no very recent news articles from several other websites (Let’s say five or more) containing similar news, it’s probably false. If the initial posting is particularly recent, wait a few hours and do another search. By then, the reputable news sites would certainly have something out if it’s true.





#6 – Cited Sources: They’re Not Just for College Papers





Some rumors do get out of control, however. False information can spread like wildfire, and sometimes reputable news sites make mistakes. One thing can still save you from falling into the rumor rabbit hole – cited sources.





They don’t have to be as meticulously formatted as they have to be for college papers (though that does help!) but having quotes from officials within Marvel or Disney (with context and notes about when and where this quote was said) and links to information sources mean the world when determining if ‘news’ is actually, well, news.





Like before, even if the article does cite sources, that doesn’t mean much if the source itself isn’t reputable. IE, you may want to use Wikipedia in your term paper, but your teacher won’t let that fly. Check out the links and double check the quotes to be as certain as possible.





Also, if something simply says ‘sources claim’ without giving actual….ya know…sources, they probably don’t have any. Or, if they do, they’re not reputable.





#7 – This Random Youtuber I Like Said This, That and The Other Thing





This is cropping up more frequently, so I thought I’d include it. Just because you like a Youtuber doesn’t mean they’re always right. It’s not even a matter of calling them a liar – many times these people are just misinformed or fell down a rumor rabbit hole themselves.





Dealing with people who are saying this to you is difficult because they’re frequently too blinded by their liking of the Youtuber to listen to reason. All you can really do is explain to them what I’ve explained above and direct them to the #SaveDaredevil FAQ.





#8 – Dealing with The F Word





Another problem that has been frequently popping up over the past several months is the F Word: Feige.





A rumor that has been unavoidable since practically the instant Daredevil and the other NMCU shows were canceled was that the properties would inevitably fall into the hands of Marvel Studios president, Kevin Feige, and DD and The Defenders would be in the MCU after the two years is up.





Feige has never spoken a word, post-cancellation, about Daredevil or The Defenders futures, and for all we know he has no role in their futures considering they were originally with Marvel Television. However, so many people seemingly believe bringing up Feige is enough to confirm or deny all things speculation about DD. Some won’t even humor the idea of DD going anywhere else but Feigeville.





Like with the Youtuber fans, it’s hard to reason with people who seem to hardcore support Feige in everything involving Marvel, and dealing with them is about the same. The main cannon you have in this situation outside of the norm is that, as stated before, Feige has said nothing about this, so they don’t really have sources to cite here, leaving everything up to speculation.





Let me clarify that, if you’re of the opinion that Daredevil should be in the movies, that’s perfectly fine. Everyone has their own opinions on what they want for Daredevil’s future, even if the #SaveDaredevil movement has made their own hopes and views very apparent. However, the story of Daredevil’s does not begin and end with Feige and it shouldn’t be treated as such.





#9 – Scooping the Inside from the Outside





There have been a couple of people, won’t be naming names, in the past year claiming they have the inside scoop on this matter because they either are on the inside (IE an employee at one of the companies involved, such as Netflix, Marvel or Disney) or they know someone who is.





These people may very well have inside information that they’re willing to share with us, but the problem is which information is valid and which isn’t.





The ‘insiders’ I’ve seen seem to work on a system very similar to an old fortune-teller.





Fortune-tellers have a habit of predicting something that they know will come true because of something else they knew ahead of time or just getting lucky on an educated guess. If they’re right enough times on little things, that gives them all the validity they seemingly need to prove they’re right about anything else they claim. They will likely be wrong on numerous occasions, but it’s when they’re right that gives them power. They’ll also likely contradict themselves and double-back on things they’ve said in the past to make it look like they weren’t wrong when they were.





Problem is, you don’t know who these people really are, what role they have in whatever company they work for, if they do, or what relationship they have to whatever insider might exist.





They might act like they have the insider knowledge of a high-level executive, but, in reality, they may actually have the bare bones knowledge of a lower ranking employee or just hear stuff around a water cooler and build off of that information. It’s impossible to tell because they don’t say out of fear of being fired or otherwise getting in trouble with one of the aforementioned companies.





That’s also where the difficulty in discerning fact and fiction/opinion with them comes from. We’re all outsiders and any actual known insiders can’t give us really any information. Debunking them or confirming what they say is incredibly problematic given the limited information we have.





That’s not to say there aren’t people out there who pay a lot of attention to what these people say over time and analyze their statements heavily to see if they hold water, especially if it contradicts something they’ve said in the past. I said it was really difficult to discern fact and fiction with them, but it’s not impossible. When you’ve exhausted every other option with these ‘insiders’ the only thing you can do is wait and see if they’re right or wrong.





It’s been my experience (and this is my personal opinion right now) that it’s best to just ignore these people altogether. They never seem like they have good intentions with their info sharing, no matter if their information is accurate or not. They always seem like they want to make people in the fandom angry or sad with their ‘inside scoops’ then eat up all the special attention they get as a rare person ‘on the inside’ that will actually talk with the masses about the subject. Nothing good tends to come out of hanging on the words of these ‘insiders.’





#10 – Avoid Confirmation Bias





For every ‘news’ source that claims something negative about Daredevil’s situation, there’s another that claims something positive. We, as fans of the show, want to believe the more positive stories that are released while also wanting to combat against the more negatively slanted pieces.





While this is entirely understandable, it’s also very biased. It’s great to have hope and not let the negativity get to you, but allowing yourself to more easily fall prey to positive rumors may set you up for a fall. It’s difficult, but you have to take the blinders off.





Staying objective is important in both ensuring that you get the most valid facts and keeping your emotional roller coaster from going off the rails. Even among less than positive news alerts, we have had many nuggets of actual validated hope spring up consistently, and there’s a good chance we’ll get more down the road, so don’t get discouraged if you find some positive rumors turn out to be just that – rumors.





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As a final note, remember that the community is always here for you to both discuss any ‘news’ that comes up, dig out the real facts, and help get you through any struggles you might be having with campaigning. We’ve taken our share of hits, but like Daredevil, we keep getting back up. #SaveDaredevil has already made it nearly halfway through the two year wait with tons of support, positivity and legitimate good news. Together, we can take on the second half even stronger than before.





We can #SaveDaredevil. We’re #NotGivingUp.