List poisoning

Hello kiddo, do you know when you write something in your notebook and then make something go wrong on purpose? Yes, that is a little bit what "list poisoning" means, but it happens in a computer.

Sometimes, people or bots go to websites and put fake information in "lists", like a list of comments or a list of reviews. This fake information is called "spam". And, just like when you put ketchup all over your friend's drawing, it messes everything up.

When spammers change the information in these lists, it can hurt the website owners and make it harder for people to find real information. For example, imagine you wanted to know the best toy to buy and all of the reviews were fake – it would be hard to figure out which toy was the best one to get.

That is why website owners need to be careful about what is put into the lists and why they might want to double-check the information before publishing it.