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Wikipedia talk:List of hoaxes on Wikipedia/The Lying Student

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Hoax?

So I've never done this before and I'm not sure if I'm following the right procedure, but I'm pretty sure this article is a hoax.

  • If you Google the poem title, all that comes up is this article, or direct quotations from this article.
  • I looked up the 4 cited sources and one of them (Karel Čapek: Life and Work) has a Google Books excerpt available. I checked the cited pages, 150-156, and they're completely unrelated.
  • The Wiki article was written entirely by one user, and the page hasn't been edited for content since then--just formatting or categorization edits.
  • Most importantly, that user made an initial draft of the article in which he appears to be falsifying and inventing details, working from an article about a different, Ukranian poem. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.54.104.131 (talk) 02:01, 21 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, it's a hoax, undoubtedly. I believe that the "author", Jára Svěrák is a combination of the names of Zdeněk Svěrák and a famous fictional character of the Czech culture, Jára Cimrman (who was by the way co-created by Svěrák). Other contributions by the creator need to be checked, as the hoax was written and referenced in a persuasive way - in 2015 it found a way to the main page through the "Did you know" section. The Czech phrase "Ležící studenta" is gramatically incorrect. Good catch 99.54.104.131. --Vejvančický (talk / contribs) 09:41, 22 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
I agree, but this was actually featured on the main page. It can't find its way to the main page unless it is notable, so that's a problem. Kiwifist (talk) 19:02, 23 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
@Miyagawa, Ktr101, and FunkyCanute: please note that this page, which you accepted in good faith at Template:Did you know nominations/The Lying Student, has now been solidly discredited. I don't know how realistic it is to expect DYK reviewers to look into the credibility of citations claimed from printed sources. – Fayenatic London 12:01, 24 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]
No, but since it has now been identified as a hoax, the article should be deleted. Miyagawa (talk) 17:12, 24 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

It's a rather elaborate hoax. It makes me wonder what the purpose of it was. I also wonder how many other such hoaxes are in Wikipedia, and how we go about detecting them. Finally, who has blown the whistle, and why now? FunkyCanute (talk) 13:22, 27 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]

It isn't easy to detect hoaxes written and referenced in a persuasive way, such as this one. I've checked most of new Czech related articles for many years and I'm pretty sure I would be able to detect this one but I'm not as active as I used to be. I would say that this was revealed by accident. I've detected some hoaxes in the past and I've seen far more detected by others. I would say that Wikipedia hosts hundreds of hoaxes, but it's just my opinion. Anyone can edit here with little or no responsibility/accountability, don't forget. --Vejvančický (talk / contribs) 18:16, 27 December 2016 (UTC)[reply]