Sorry to rain on your day, but if you read SOME they are not all rumors, some tell you trade routes (Not a rumor) or others tell you of wrecks lost in some nebula or other (possibly rumor, but all have checked out). If all these are true why not belive the others?
Beside this is a GAME. Not REAL LIFE. most rumors in real life arent true, but the game makers never thought obviously to put in rumors that were NOT TRUE in Freelancer.

Yeah but are all rumors true? Isn't there a single piece of gossip on Freelancer that isn't just that?

The fact that Freelancer is a game doesn't really alter the meaning of words.

Well, I have completed the SP Missions and gotten to a high level char and done the same in Multi. Every bit of rumor i have seen in that game was true. Except for the ones that do not have a true or false to it, like the ones that sometimes give you advice on enemies shields

If someone put in rumors in FL that weren't true, can you imagine the amount people would complain about it? I can just imagine the following scenario:

"Dammit! I went all the way out into that dense radiation pocket three times, and blew over a million creds on repairs, ammo, and shields/nanos, but I can't find that wreck the bartender said was there! What kind of joke is this DA?!?!"

Reaper: $200,000,000.
Rockets: $100,000
The look on that pilot's face when you launch a full pod of screamers up his tailpipe: priceless

Well, some of the "rumors" are somewhat false even if the person who is talking to you doesn't know that. Like when they the Liber Navy is after Trent, the evil criminal from Freeport 7

I definitely haven't read all of em but no rumour has caused me any grief so I don't see what the problem is, they're either useful or dismissable, it's your call and one of the things that makes the game interesting no?

Does it really matter whether they're true or not? Most of them are irrelevant pieces of information that have no bearing on the gameplay whatsoever. What does it matter if an irrelevant piece of information is true or not? What do I care if the Liberty Police is corrupt, or that the Corsairs ship water to Freeport 9? What does anyone else care?

And all my happiness was flushed down the infernal toilet and sent straight to the sewers of hell...

Most are gameplay hints, some are a "who knows", such as the Corsairs being the descendants of the lost Espania. The "rumours" I get a chuckle from are the, "Me and my buddy just came from (place X) and were almost killed by (faction Y)".

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Bar patron: "You some kind of Nooby?"
Trent: "Uuuh, Huuuh"

My point is that one of the things that makes Freelancer so great is the complex story. So the LSI have rumors on how evil the Rogues are, but the Rogues say the LSI is corrupt, and that sort of thing.

The News, for example, are full of half-truths, half-lies and major BS.

Some of the rumors might be just that... rumors...

I have to disagree with u on the rumor bit, but i completely agree with u on the news bulletins bit. It would have been nice if you could accept that find find the guys son news bit, 6 million credits could come in handy