Gossip is not just for women

Last night, the story that a player had been arrested at the UK Open spread around multiple darts forums. Users close to people in Bolton confirmed that it was Chris Mason. No reason was given but people were in contact with Lorna (Chris's wife) Those that weren't speculated as to what happened with drugs seeming to be the "popular theory" This has been shown to not be the case but the real reasons remain unknown at this time.

Gossiping is human nature, it's partly why forums exist. I blogged a while back on the clamour for news on what sports stars are up to and the incident with Chris just re-inforces it. Is speculation wrong though? People are going to be interested in what's happened and there's going to be rumours but peoples attitudes to it were interesting. Saying "rumor is that is was drugs but this is un-confirmed" is a far cry from saying "it definitely was drugs" Browsing through some of the different forums that were discussing it, all had picked up on the drugs rumor and nearly all had posters highlighting how absurd that was. The over whelming feeling was Chris is not that kind of guy. Some were very passionate in their defense of Chris but unfortunately for Chris, some only see his past and will assume any negative rumor to be true. But it was generating discussion because people are fans of the sport.

I don't believe speculating is wrong but you have to be clear that's what it is. I don't believe you can dampen it but that is the choice of the forum owners. A few mods on a forum were not happy it being discussed but I have nothing against it. Humans love to gossip and it isn't just the women, sports fans are probably just as bad. In this case, a story gets out that a player is arrested the first question is Why? and that leads to discussion/speculation. I've said so many times already and I will say it again - that's the point of a forum (among others)

The main problem people have with speculation is the gullibility of some. They will believe anything they read on the internet and be selective about it aswell. To use my earlier example, what is written is "rumor is that is was drugs but this is un-confirmed", they see "Chris Mason does drugs" and then that gets all over the internet. That's not really the forums fault though but the threat of legal action is always an issue. There's a larger argument over freedom of speech on forums but that's for another time.

If I was Chris Mason I'd look at the amount of support given during the incident but players need to accept that anything that happens may get leaked and will get discussed such is the nature of the internet and forums. They may not like it being discussed but we're not camping outside their home trying to get pictures. It's a small but distinct difference.