Just wanted to flag two blog posts I’ve seen in the past 24 hours that are on the same topic — transparency.
First, John Gruber explains how Apple is hurting itself by not establishing clear rules on which iPhone applications can be sold in the iTunes store. Anyone who’s interested in building a platform for developers should read this article.
The second is Nate Silver attacking the methodology used by RealClearPolitics in formulating its poll of polls in the Presidential election. RCP changes the composition of it polls without explanation, in what appears to be a partisan fashion. Because they do not hew to any documented methodology, they undermine their own credibility.
Transparency and reputation are the only paths to trust, and absent transparency, a reputation is an easy thing to attack or undermine.
October 4, 2008 at 4:36 am
Yep. Which is why eliminating mark-to-market is such a dangerous and terrible idea.