Re:So you've made a mistake and it's public
by mcguire on Friday November 13, 2020 @02:16PM
(#25086205)
There will always be people who disagree with you, and who will continue to make public attacks on you. They're not the ones you are apologizing to, or for. Pretending you did not make an error will eventually catch up to you, in the opinions of those who would view an apology to your credit and in the fact that it leads to you making more mistakes and not correcting them.
"...absolving the mob of any evil when they pull the person apart limb from limb."
That's a little excessively dramatic, don't you think?
Re:So you've made a mistake and it's public
by core-questions on Friday November 13, 2020 @07:30PM
(#25089175)
> That's a little excessively dramatic, don't you think?
It's 2020, everything's a little excessively dramatic
Re:So you've made a mistake and it's public
by mannykannot on Friday November 13, 2020 @02:17PM
(#25086222)
Then you risk being considered as though you explicitly denied it anyway - and the choice as to when and whether we move on is not so often yours to make alone. Do this sort of thing too often with the same people, and you are likely to get a reputation as untrustworthy - someone who might cover up a problem until it is discovered by others.
Which is why you don't deny it either; you move on, avoiding the Streisand Effect as best as possible by not engaging. It's passive denial vs. active denial.
I'm not saying this is moral or good - I'm only saying that it seems to work for people. It's a question of game theory. We can get better apologies if we start to accept apologies and move on with our lives, but the mob wants blood and these days the public apology only serves as an admission of guilt, absolving the mob of any evil when they pull the person apart limb from limb.