Reporting fake Amber Alerts, will somebody please think of the children

[Jabbles]

I was not sure the best section to post this, please move if necessary.

Last night on Facebook a friend posted an Amber Alert. I had remembered hearing that fake ones had been popping up on Facebook. This one was for a little girl kidnapped in Edmonton. About a minute of checking three major news sites on their Edmonton page confirmed no Amber Alert, another quick search revealed that this particular alert was indeed fake.

I posted as such without saying much more. The response was (paraphrasing as the original post has been deleted) "That may be but this could have save a little girl, what's the big deal?" I reply that a few seconds could have confirmed weather or not it was true. again the response about saving a little girl or somehow preventing a kidnapping from happening and how could this be bad anyway? I mention people calling 911 for nothing assuming the license plate posted is real and gets spotted. People taking matters into their own hands, again if this cas is actually spotted, a finally just the old story of the boy who cried wolf, and how false alarms are not good for an emergency system. She then said something about how I would feel if this was my daughter (I have no kids).

The original got deleted after that, another post came up (real quotes this time it's still up).
Friend-   "Apparently. Facebook should be taken as gold, so I'll delete it"

Me-  I was not trying to be a jerk, I think the Amber Alert system is good I just don't want to see it abused.

My friend's friend-  "how is this abusing it? if its a fake then ok, the post doesnt hurt anyone, if its not, it might help a girl in trouble."

Me- Without getting into it again you have heard of the boy who cried wolf right?

Friend's Friend-  "this isn't about that, why criticize what someone posts? does it help the situation? does it make you feel better or is it making them feel worse? regardless of if its real or fake, the post was made sincerely, without judgement on if it is real or fake"

Me-   "You said it yourself it could help a little girl. I assumed it was fake because I heard there were fake one going around. I took a few seconds to confirm (not to make myself feel better) and indeed it was fake. If more fake ones get posted I will stop checking and just figure it must be fake again I don't think that is good for anyone."

Was I wrong here? Should I have just kept my mouth shut after mentioning it was fake?

[Whitney]

it is true that false alarms decrease the chances that someone will actually respond when the real thing happens.  Your friend apparently just doesn't like being corrected and will keep digging her hole until you just give up.

[LegendarySandwich]

"this isn't about that, why criticize what someone posts?"

If you post something in a public place on the Internet, don't cry if someone criticizes you, especially if they do it in a friendly and non-judgmental way. Christ, people like that need to grow some thicker skin.