Hacker News Reader

What is problematic about gossip as a feedback mechanism is that there is no backstop as far as keeping things factual. Gossip can simply be a lot of completely false and targeted information, driven not by concern for the greater good but by one or two canny people's interests, as anyone familiar with the corporate variety can attest.

View on HN

That's no different than public feedback, though. It's not a problem specific to gossip.

Building on this, there's also less anonymity with gossip in my experience. If I trace back a malicious rumor to /u/PeanutCurry on reddit, that's essentially where the trail ends most likely. I have no idea who they are or why they are saying false things about me. Workplace gossip on the other hand can be traced. I'll definitely admit that it can't reliably be traced in the sense that anyone can do it. But if you have friends in the office and participate in the social space then you will probably have an idea of who to pressure for information. And if you have the social capability you've got a good chance of extracting that information.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com