Practically, third parties who learn about an accusation will often have significant uncertainty about its accuracy. So, as a third party seeing Ben (or anyone else) make a highly critical post, I guess I could remain agnostic until the truth comes out one way or another, and reward/punish Ben at that point. That’s certainly an option. Or, I could try to have some kind of bar of “how reasonable/unreasonable does an accusation need to seem to be defensible, praiseworthy, or out of line?” It’s a tough continuum and you’ll have communities that are too susceptible to witch hunts but also ones where people tend to play things down/placate over disharmony.
Practically, third parties who learn about an accusation will often have significant uncertainty about its accuracy. So, as a third party seeing Ben (or anyone else) make a highly critical post, I guess I could remain agnostic until the truth comes out one way or another, and reward/punish Ben at that point. That’s certainly an option. Or, I could try to have some kind of bar of “how reasonable/unreasonable does an accusation need to seem to be defensible, praiseworthy, or out of line?” It’s a tough continuum and you’ll have communities that are too susceptible to witch hunts but also ones where people tend to play things down/placate over disharmony.