Posted by Dr. Bob on November 17, 2003, at 2:42:21
In reply to Re: the effect of crying wolfbob, posted by shar on November 16, 2003, at 22:19:22
> > What do you see as the effect of that incident? The general effect of crying wolf is no mystery...
>
> I just wanted to emphasize the difference.
>
> LarYes, I agree, there's a difference between crying suicide and swearing.
> in this medium, there are at least 3 effects of crying wolf. One is the traditional "no one believes the poster the next time." Another is that such behavior may invite copycats, and the third is that any crackpot who knows what happened before with Kristen can now post as someone claiming to have current information about her. Check out people's reaction's to P's post. It's been suggested that it's genuine; that it's Kristen up to her old tricks, or that it's someone who doesn't know Kristen at all but who is, in rather predatory fashion, trying to stir things up. If Kristen had never cried wolf, we'd probably, most of us, assume this message to be genuine. As it stands now, people are all over the place in terms of how they've reacted.
>
> MairI agree, but wouldn't the situation be at least similar if it had been someone else who'd cried wolf before? Since once someone shows that it's possible, it'll always be a possibility?
But then again, it was possible even before the first person actually did it. There were different initial reactions to the news about sar, too...
> We get burned.
>
> SharYes, that's certainly also an effect.
Bob
poster:Dr. Bob
thread:278893
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20031008/msgs/280428.html