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MessagePassing
MeatballWiki | RecentChanges | Random Page | Indices | CategoriesThere are several critical contingencies that determine whether a message is passed on from one party to another.
- The relevance of the message. Frivilous messages aren't worth the effort, whereas emergencies get high priority.
- The work-load of the sender.
- The difficulty in communicating with the receiver (e.g. physical distance, rate the receiver checks messages, bureaucracy between sender and receiver)
And most critically,
- The effect on the sender of the receiver obtaining the message. People like sending good news on because it reflects well on the messenger, and they dislike sending bad news because it reflects poorly (Don't shoot the messenger!).
A message may not be passed on whole; it may be transformed. It is typically summarized, especially in a social relationship when one is expected to summarize information to help the receiver cope with InformationOverload. This detracts from the InformationRich?ness of the detailed information, of course, which may be problematic for the receiver. Transformations may be more varied than summarization though. Messages my be filtered so that only part of the message is past on. They may be withheld, either delayed or hidden, or even destroyed, which are more extreme forms of filtering. The message may undergo ContentSwizzling so that it is distorted like broken telephone: people only hear what they want to hear. Coupled with Wiki:OnlySayWhatCanBeHeard, this may rapidly distort messages in a possibly cynical or unfair way. Finally, messages may be substituted with something quite different (e.g. lies, excuses).
Messages may be passed along subtly, through InformationHiding?, such as burying it in a footnote or an obscure reference or spraying it all across the universe in a ForestFire (thereby drowning it in a bad SignalToNoiseRatio). One cannot say immediately that OpenProcess wasn't followed without a careful analysis of whether that process was meant to be read or meant to be buried.