I would guess that if this allegation turns out to be totally unfounded, it won’t stick, and we’ll never hear from it again. If it turns out to stick despite being unfounded, my guess is it’ll be because the concern was substantive enough that cursory due diligence wouldn’t have found the problems with it.
There’s a good chance I’m being naive here, but I think reputational concerns are often overstated.
That said, I agree that making accusatory public posts without basic due diligence is irresponsible; I have a lower impression of the costs than you seem to, but the time and attention costs are certainly still real.
I would guess that if this allegation turns out to be totally unfounded, it won’t stick, and we’ll never hear from it again. If it turns out to stick despite being unfounded, my guess is it’ll be because the concern was substantive enough that cursory due diligence wouldn’t have found the problems with it.
There’s a good chance I’m being naive here, but I think reputational concerns are often overstated.
That said, I agree that making accusatory public posts without basic due diligence is irresponsible; I have a lower impression of the costs than you seem to, but the time and attention costs are certainly still real.