The Guardian says I am the greatest writer of all time. At least it does if this screenshot is to be believed. And this is a screenshot. I took it myself.
Believe it or not, this has not been photoshopped or altered in any way. This article praising me as the world’s best writer is a legit screenshot from the Guardian website. Of course, there has been some jiggery-pokery; just not photo manipulation.
Before I tell you what is going on here are some facts:
- I took this screenshot today
- I was looking at the Guardian website at the time
- That is my name and picture
- Nothing was hacked
- No special tools were used
Okay, I’ll fess up. I used Chrome’s built in inspect tool to edit the HTML to make an article about an actual literary figure become one about me. Of course, only I could see this page and when I refreshed the page the real article was there.
Why did I do this? Two reasons.
First, it was fun and this sort of thing amuses me. I have a whole folder full of daft fakes with my face on them. What? Everyone needs a hobby. Mine just happens to be self-inserted fiction.
Second, I wanted to demonstrate that it is never wise to take what you see on the Internet at face value. This page editing is used by scammers to make the scam’s lies look real.
Here is an example of a Google search result. Try the search for yourself. The result will not be as silly as this screenshot.
Long story made short: Don’t trust everything you see online; also I have “evidence” that the Guardian thinks I am the greatest writer of all time.
