Comments on: Rumors gone wild in the City http://www.spinhunters.org/blog/rumors-gone-wild-in-the-city/ Reputation Security Think Tank Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:50:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Ix http://www.spinhunters.org/blog/rumors-gone-wild-in-the-city/comment-page-1/#comment-14 Ix Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:23:55 +0000 http://www.spinhunters.org/blog/rumors-gone-wild-in-the-city/#comment-14 I think that something else that helps in spreading the juicy negative information is that we're more inclined to listen and share negative stuff than we are positive, and the fact that the negative stuff truly is juicy while the positive stuff refuting it is generally bland and something we'd expect them to say anyways even if the negative information is true. It's plain human nature to feel a little excited when someone else fails/has bad stuff affect them because it makes a little more room for us to succeed in our minds, even if we're working in some field where we have no relation to the group that had bad stuff happen to them. The mental view that we subconsciously hold allows for only 'N' number of successful people and someone falling from their position makes room for us up there. Rumors can be especially nasty to deal with since we're also predisposed to not trust what a company says about themselves, which lends more credit to unofficial channels of information when it really should be the other way around until the company gives us a good reason not to trust them. This, in addition to the numerous ways they can quickly spread and difficulty in tracking down the original source does make them very effective, and does as you say "guarantee the chaos you need in order to inject the rest of the slander messages." Pretty nasty piece of work getting the pound's trade-weighted index to a new decade low, even if it was just for a single day. I think that something else that helps in spreading the juicy negative information is that we’re more inclined to listen and share negative stuff than we are positive, and the fact that the negative stuff truly is juicy while the positive stuff refuting it is generally bland and something we’d expect them to say anyways even if the negative information is true.

It’s plain human nature to feel a little excited when someone else fails/has bad stuff affect them because it makes a little more room for us to succeed in our minds, even if we’re working in some field where we have no relation to the group that had bad stuff happen to them. The mental view that we subconsciously hold allows for only ‘N’ number of successful people and someone falling from their position makes room for us up there.

Rumors can be especially nasty to deal with since we’re also predisposed to not trust what a company says about themselves, which lends more credit to unofficial channels of information when it really should be the other way around until the company gives us a good reason not to trust them. This, in addition to the numerous ways they can quickly spread and difficulty in tracking down the original source does make them very effective, and does as you say “guarantee the chaos you need in order to inject the rest of the slander messages.”

Pretty nasty piece of work getting the pound’s trade-weighted index to a new decade low, even if it was just for a single day.

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