1. A blogger writes a post that, while well-intentioned, is completely misinformed. Take the following post from the personal blog of Mayren Abashad. Mayren isn't a hardcore gamer by any stretch, but that doesn't mean she doesn't love her some Mario. That's why, when stumbling across this image of New Super Mario Bros on the iPhone, she reported it not for what it was but for what it wasn't; "There is perhaps a version of Super Mario being converted just for iphone. See Box art below." Anyone who takes a look at this pic can do a little fact-checking and hop on over to vgboxart.com to discover that it's a repository for fan-made box art. Very cool, but it squashes the NSMB iPhone rumor pretty quickly, which brings us to...

2. A reader, either knowingly turning this into rumor or simply attempting to remove any source other than themselves, edits the photo to remove the URL. At this point, they either blog about it themselves or submit it as a tip to one of their favorite gaming blogs. Getting a potentially meaty piece of rumor like this and having no way to prove or disprove it now that it's source has vanished, most gaming blogs would jump at the opportunity to get the rumor mill pumping.

3. A credible blog reports it, starting the domino effect. Once a credible blog reports the rumor, a few other sites are bound to pick up on it. Things begin to spread, people begin to talk, and the next thing you know the premier blogs like Kotaku and Joystiq post it up because, whether they like it or not, this rumor has taken on a life of its own and become newsworthy.

For the most part there are checks and balances in place that tend to prevent this sort of thing from happening. Bloggers check their sources, readers hold them accountable, and communities speak up -- I'm sure a rumor such as this would be instantly squashed by members of the vgboxart community. If the original artist wouldn't speak up, I have no doubt that his peers would.

I'd also just like to note that Mayren's blog is a personal one, and as such it's not something that should be held to the same high standard of accountability as a public blog such as those found in the gaming community. But it's sometimes info from personal blogs such as hers that fuels the rumor engine from the get-go.

Even though it's not a rumor floating around the web, isn't it neat to see how NSMB on iPhone could have snowballed given the right set of circumstances?

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