It is easy to "trash" others online....

...with no evidence whatsoever.

Unfortunately, this is how some people try to "beat" their competitors -- by spreading lies about them.

I have a particular example in mind, however I just want to talk about this in general without naming any names.

Online, it is EASY to accuse other people falsely of various things, without needing to provide evidence for it whatsoever. This is particularly true if these accusations come in private email, though they also occur on forums.

My general approach to this if I hear this kind of thing is to ask these questions....

• What is the evidence for these accusations?
• Does the source of this accusation have a motivation for spreading these accusations? For example, perhaps they are a competitor....
• Do you know the other side of the story, or have you just heard one side?

Just a few thoughts I wanted to share....

By the way, it is in order to prevent this kind of thing that we are the only NO INSULTS marketing forum online that I know of. I'm interested in FACTS and KNOWHOW, not accusations without basis.... These fly around like wild on other forums, but thankfully we have largely avoided them here at Sowpub....

- Dien Rice