> If another person forms a view based on incomplete and inaccurate
> information, I couldn't care less about my credibility with them.
>
> What you describe, Mike, is giving in to popular opinion, regardless
> of its correctness.
If that person had no impact on the situation, then I still wouldn't agree with you, because credibility is a social mechanism, and to be able to argue *any* case effectively partially relies on that. To say "Oh, they don't have any real effect on the situation, therefore I don't care about their opinion" is the classic rationale behind Group Think and the Asch effect (along with "Everyone else is an idiot but us", "See Figure 1", and "They're wrong, we're right.").
And that pretty much sums up what I think of your position in this, Don.
Mike K
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