Will Star Wars rumors make the internet explode?

Episodes VII, VIII, and IX will be modeled after Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy.

The new Star Wars movies will have nothing to do with the Expanded Universe.

There's definitely going to be a movie all about Boba Fett!

Zack Snyder is absolutely, for sure developing a Star Wars movie that's like the Seven Samurai.

Mara Jade will be in the next Star Wars movie and will be played by Felicia Day (okay, I just made that one up).

Rumors. Hearsay.
But you know what? Several websites have posted some of those rumors as facts. One site has a mysterious inside source and others run with it and conveniently forget to mention that nothing is confirmed. Fans get outraged, excited, confused and then it starts all over the next day.

by ihlecreations

The rumor mill is insane. I'm sure it was like this before the prequels, but the internet is a different place now. It's evolved, social media is far past the likes of MySpace, and news - even the fake kind - spreads faster than the Millennium Falcon can jump to lightspeed (that might not be the best measure).

And you know, it is fun to speculate and to spin. What if Joss Whedon directed? What if Dave Filoni got involved? What would the universe be like in the hands of person X, Y, or Z? Imagining the possibilities is a blast and one of the best ways to pass the time until we get the names of those actually involved. Then theories will move forward to the next topic: casting or story or whatever questions remain unanswered.

Talking about the hypothetical is a part of fandom I enjoy, but let's all keep our senses. Before you have heart palpitations about Zack Snyder and start tweeting about he would ruin Star Wars in ALL CAPS, consider taking a step back and examining the news in front of you (the extreme negativity is a topic for another time).

What's the source? How many sites are reporting it? Which site reported it first and do they have direct quotes or cite their source? Has Lucasfilm released any announcements?
Use your noodle.

In fact, you should apply that to darn near anything you read on the internet. You don't want to be one of the people who passed around the link stating that NASA found Mardi Gras-like plastic beads on Mars believing it to be truth. Be a skeptic. Especially before you go to the trouble of raising your blood pressure.

I'm paranoid enough that I don't believe any of the news about the Star Wars movies or TV shows until I see it from Lucasfilm. I've seen at least two stories that spread around entertainment sites as "sure things" that ended up being false. At least one company reported that The Clone Wars is moving to a Disney channel and there wasn't any solid confirmation backing it. I don't begrudge blogs for jumping on information as it speeds across the internet - traffic is traffic after all and Star Wars makes people click - but I don't like that people neglect the rumor part. Many headlines from yesterday stated "Snyder IS developing a Star Wars movie" instead of the accurate "Snyder might be involved with a Star Wars movie."

Of course after that story washed over Twitter like a tornado, Snyder's rep said he is not in any way involved with the franchise. But we should also remember that someone denying he or she is involved with a Star Wars project isn't necessarily the end. Contracts can prevent people from talking and who wants to be involved in a legal situation with Disney/Lucasfilm? Freaking nobody.

Moral of the story: debate the possibilities, have fun, but don't believe everything you read. And if you're a writer, for the sake of Skywalker, don't report rumors as stone cold facts. It's rude.