The old saying that "names can never hurt you" is not true, says the National Association of REALTORS^®, and now it's stepping forward to battle online hearsay, scuttlebutt and innuendo.

"Cybersmears can be enormously damaging," says Frank J. Sibley, NAR's senior vice president for communications. "The Internet is a medium where anyone can post anything, often anonymously, and then watch as false and defamatory gossip is quickly spread to online sites and mailing lists.

"In those instances where information is factually incorrect, illogical, or simply biased we should respond so that members and the public can weigh our positions and judge various issues for themselves," Sibley continued. "Keeping quiet, not responding, merely makes online rumors appear true."

As an example of online damage, Sibley points to the rash of false online postings claiming that Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc., the huge Wall Street stock brokerage, would be hurt or even bankrupted by losses at the Long-Term Capital Management, the Connecticut hedge fund. Lehman stock went from $85 in July to less then $25 in October, even though the company is reported to have nearly $600 million in liquid assets.

"The Lehman situation is both a disgrace and a warning," says Sibley. "It demonstrates how biased and inaccurate innuendo online can create actual damages and losses."

"Ye Olde Rumor Mill" is now up on One Realtor Place, the private online area accessible to the nation's 750,000 Realtors(r) via REALTOR.com. The area uses a low key, question-and-answer format to look at online gossip. Members are invited to send in rumors for comment, and a mailing list has been established to update members as new items are added to the Rumor Mill area.

Sibley points out that although the service has only been up a few days, members are already sending in questions.

"Everyone online is now a publisher, columnist, and commentator," says Sibley. "The free flow of information is enormously important on many levels. At the same time, just as in the print world, there is a responsibility to be factual and accurate, and to respond when posted information does not meet basic standards of accountability and accuracy."

Sibley says that questions usually take a few days to research, and that responses are designed to be short, informative and informal.

"Rumors are like levitated elephants at a magic show," says Sibley. "They're an illusion, something that looks plausible but isn't. Our goal is to insert a sense of reality into the picture when online rumors arise, something which needs to be done so that member services are not devalued by false stories on the Internet."

Published: November 6, 1998

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