Reputation of a Reputation

[Tim May]

On Monday, December 3, 2001, at 09:26 AM, georgemw at speakeasy.net wrote:

> On 3 Dec 2001, at 13:44, Ken Brown wrote:
>
>> All the discussion about certificates of speaking Navajo or whatever 
>> are
>> slightly beside the point. If personal reputation, as such, has a 
>> market
>> value it isn't the money you'd get by selling the reputation, because 
>> as
>> everyone else already pointed out, if you could sell it, it wouldn't
>> really be a reputation.
>
> Well, I thought so, but apparently not everyone does, since there's
> been a certain amount of discussion as to whether a nym might be
> sold (with associated reputation) and if so how it might be
> accomplished.

This is "the reputation of a reputation."

As soon as people tumble to the fact that "Tom Clancy" has sold his 
nym/reputation to some hack writer, that is, let them put his name on 
their words, then the reputation of "Tom Clancy" falls.

Nothing new here. "Fisher" was a respected (high reputation) name in 
stereo equipment. (I don't like the term "reputation," due to issues 
I've discussed here, but I'm using it in the commonly understood sense.)

The name Fisher was bought by a Taiwan maker of equipment, and one can 
now see "Fisher" on boxes at Costco and Best Buy.

Draw your own conclusions. My own sense is that no one is fooled: those 
young enough not to know what "Fisher" once was don't care. Those old 
enough to know aren't fooled. I expect the brand name Fisher sold for 
very little money, reflecting all of these issues.

Lots of issues here. I'm still composing a longer essay in response to 
Wei Dai's and others' points. Some delays.


--Tim May
--Tim May, Occupied America
"They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety 
deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin, 1759.