I suspect this about many things, e.g. the advice in the US to never talk to the police. With the Streisand effect I’m less sure. Conflict sells. The areas in e.g. popular science I know the most about tend not to be the ones that are most established or important—they tend to be the ones that are controversial (group selection, deworming wars, arsenic biology).
Maybe we should distinguish between the “Weak Streisand Effect” (in some cases, the act of attempting to suppress information adds to the virality of a story) and the “Strong Streisand Effect” (attempting to suppress information increases the virality of a story in expectation). WSE seems definitely true, SSE seems pretty unlikely on average, though depends massively on the details.
I suspect this about many things, e.g. the advice in the US to never talk to the police.
With the Streisand effect I’m less sure. Conflict sells. The areas in e.g. popular science I know the most about tend not to be the ones that are most established or important—they tend to be the ones that are controversial (group selection, deworming wars, arsenic biology).
Maybe we should distinguish between the “Weak Streisand Effect” (in some cases, the act of attempting to suppress information adds to the virality of a story) and the “Strong Streisand Effect” (attempting to suppress information increases the virality of a story in expectation). WSE seems definitely true, SSE seems pretty unlikely on average, though depends massively on the details.