Could something be published hundreds, if not thousands of times on the net and be read by no one? Fewer than 100 people? Fewer than 100 people that you care about? The answer is yes.
Mark Cuban says amateurs just spew stuff all over the web in an attempt to be noticed and are mostly ignored. So, it doesn’t matter much what they say because often hardly anyone reads them.
The passive consumer doesn’t pay much attention to them and tend to read what the pros, “those that attempt to publish in a limited number of locations to a maximum number of readers or listeners, with a reasonable expectation of building a following” are saying.
So he says, if someone attacks you, see where it’s coming from before reacting. Checks how many blog comments are about it or if it’s being re-tweeted by someone respected. If it’s just spambots, loonies, or a mesh of little sites linking to each other, chances hardly anyone is reading them, so there’s little to worry about.
The moral of the story is that on the internet, volume is not engagement. Traffic is not reach. When you see things written about a person, place or thing you care about, whether its positive or negative, take a very deep breath before thinking that the story means anything to anyone but you.