If you’ve ever wondered how much of what you read in the tech blogs is true, Shawn King’s Stupid Apple Rumors site has done you — and the entire profession — a favor.

Starting on July 24 and for the next two and a half months, the site kept track of every story about Apple’s (AAPL) new iPhone posted on 130 different websites.

The first thing King discovered will come as no surprise to anyone who reads Techmeme: Most of what passes for tech reporting is simply a matter of echoing rumors other sites have started. He calls this “coattail riding,” and singles out the three worst offenders: iClarified (41 iPhone rumors, none of them original), Applebitch (38) and Ars Technica (28).

His second discovery is that most of these rumors turned out to be bogus. Of the 74 rumors the site identified, 58 were false, 16 true.

The third discovery is that most of the iPhone stories could be traced to three sites with less-than-stellar track records:

• 9to5Mac — 23 original rumors, four of them true
• The Boy Genius Report (BGR) — 14 original rumors, one of them true
• Appleinsider — Nine original rumors, two of them true

The full list of 78 rumors is posted, with links to their sources and coattail riders, at the bottom of the Stupid Apple Rumors home page.

Via: Daring Fireball