Okay, I think you have a good point. The post “PR” is corrosive, “reputation” is not, which I really like and agree with, argues that “reputation” is the thing that actually matters. A good way to describe reputation is indeed “how you come across to people who interact with you in good faith.” Based on this definition, I agree with your point!
That said, I interpreted the OP charitably in that I assumed they’re talking about what Anna Salomon (author of the linked post) would call “PR risks.” Anna’s recommendation there is to basically not care about PR risk at all. By contrast, I think it’s sometimes okay (but kind of a necessary evil) to care about PR risks. For instance, you have more to lose if you’re running for a seat in politics than if you’re a niche organization that anyway doesn’t do a ton of public-facing communications. (But it’s annoying and I would often recommend that orgs don’t worry about them much and focus on the things that uphold their reputation, more narrowly construed, i.e., “among people whose opinions are worth caring about.”)
Anyway, I reversed my downvote of your comment because I like a definition of “reputational risk” where it’s basically generally bad not to care about it. I didn’t change it into an upvote because you seem to disagree with the secrecy/censorship elements of the post in general (you gave “reputational risks” as an example, but worded your post in a way that implies you also have qualms with a bunch of other aspects – so far, I don’t share this aversion; I think secrecy/censorship are sometimes appropriate).
Okay, I think you have a good point. The post “PR” is corrosive, “reputation” is not, which I really like and agree with, argues that “reputation” is the thing that actually matters. A good way to describe reputation is indeed “how you come across to people who interact with you in good faith.” Based on this definition, I agree with your point!
That said, I interpreted the OP charitably in that I assumed they’re talking about what Anna Salomon (author of the linked post) would call “PR risks.” Anna’s recommendation there is to basically not care about PR risk at all. By contrast, I think it’s sometimes okay (but kind of a necessary evil) to care about PR risks. For instance, you have more to lose if you’re running for a seat in politics than if you’re a niche organization that anyway doesn’t do a ton of public-facing communications. (But it’s annoying and I would often recommend that orgs don’t worry about them much and focus on the things that uphold their reputation, more narrowly construed, i.e., “among people whose opinions are worth caring about.”)
Anyway, I reversed my downvote of your comment because I like a definition of “reputational risk” where it’s basically generally bad not to care about it. I didn’t change it into an upvote because you seem to disagree with the secrecy/censorship elements of the post in general (you gave “reputational risks” as an example, but worded your post in a way that implies you also have qualms with a bunch of other aspects – so far, I don’t share this aversion; I think secrecy/censorship are sometimes appropriate).