TechDirt reports
Earlier this year, we discussed how UC Davis detailed in a report that it spent $175k with a reputation management firm to try bury the 2011 pepper-spraying incident that has become so infamous, as well as to bolster the positive reputation and search results of its former Chancellor, Linda Katehi.
[...] A new report has been issued that makes it clear that the $175k with the one reputation management vendor was just the tip of the iceberg, and that Katehi's obsession with her own online reputation was far more serious than anyone had known. Indeed, her attempts to meddle in her own online search results started long before the 2011 pepper-spraying incident.
[...] While the initial reporting indicated a single vendor had been paid $175k on Katehi's request to try to control messaging about the school and herself through a barrage of good, but trumped up, press, UC Davis actually hired three different reputation management firms to do this, all to the tune of over $400k. And she appears to have been more concerned with her own reputation than that of the school she was to be stewarding.
[...] It goes without saying that as we, the link above, and several other online media outlets are discussing these revelations, and placing them alongside the original 2011 incident for context, the work of the three vendors and the nearly half a million dollars paid to them has failed.
Previous: UC Davis Chancellor Suspended After $175,000 Online Name-Scrubbing Antics
University of California in Davis Spent $175k on SEO and "Reputation Management"
(Score: 3, Funny) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Thursday August 18 2016, @08:11PM
Half-million? How people perceive her?
Can't ANYBODY see this as a desperate cry for help!
Somebody call an intervention... and a THERAPIST for God's sake!
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @08:27PM
Narcissists cannot stand criticism of any form and will do whatever it takes keep their ego from being wounded. Check out some quotes from the Wikipedia article on Narcissistic Personality Disorder:
"In addition, people with NPD may exhibit fragile egos, an inability to tolerate criticism, and a tendency to belittle others in an attempt to validate their own superiority."
"When their own ego is wounded by a real or perceived criticism, their anger can be disproportionate to situation"
"Since the fragile ego of individuals with NPD is hypersensitive to perceived criticism or defeat, they are prone to feelings of shame, humiliation and worthlessness over minor or even imagined incidents. They usually mask these feelings from others with feigned humility, isolating socially or they may react with outbursts of rage, defiance, or by seeking revenge."
Sending her to a therapist is a good thought, but narcissism is considered to be largely untreatable.
Note the similarities with Donald Trump, who cannot help but lash out at every perceived slight.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday August 18 2016, @09:00PM
That's the same kind of ham-handed typecasting that would lead to a White man calling a Black man a nigger on the basis of skin-color alone.