I would doubt nearly everyone's credibility on nearly every topic.
I worked in a corporation, not in the boardroom or in senior management but I knew a lot of the honchos quite well. I met them frequently around the water cooler and if there were any hints made about important upcoming events, projects and decisions I would have heard them. But the thing is, I DIDN'T hear the actual facts, because the people really in the know weren't going to tell me or any of my colleagues. I only learned important news when it was officially announced, like everyone else.
Once, one of my friends was involved in a merger with another company and he didn't say "boo" to me about it because he was expressly warned of the legal jeopardy he would be in for leaking anything.
The only time I ever heard an important piece of information before the public was once when my friend who had let's say, ethical issues, logged onto someone else's computer and read about a plan to launch a subsidiary.
It is beyond absurd that anyone legitimately "in the know" at a large company like Disney would casually blab about this or that project being greenlit or cancelled to a friend or acquaintance EVEN if they work for the same company, and ESPECIALLY if they don't work for the company and they run a blog or is a busy beaver on social media.
99% of the time, "I have an inside source" is a lie.
I agree on some points and disagree on others; you have to understand Disney’s corporate culture and bureaucracy to understand the “leaks.”
WDI has only improved its online secrecy over the last few years. For a long time, their projects leaked like an old wooden bucket. They use so many contractors, file so many reports, and take so many tours of the parks that it’s difficult to hide the fact that something, anything, is happening. WDI functioned for decades without having to guard themselves from fan forums, and they had to learn how to look over their shoulders within the Disney bubble.
When Lasseter briefly headed up WDI and brought his secrecy from Pixar, the leaks dried up. To further track the leaks, leaders also spread false rumors and insane blue-sky ideas that were never considered (hello, tunnel to Tom Sawyer Island with a Frontierland expansion).
At that point, a handful of legit insiders still had friends because...
...Disney’s culture is a permanent high school. Everybody talks. Everybody gossips. This is how the infamous “bus driver” rumors develop, as bits and pieces of legit plans trickle through the break rooms.
Maybe your business practices silence, and my own line of work also demands secrecy. But in a high-school culture where everyone has to brag about something, legit plans often leak out as the Disney equivalent of h.s. “locker-room talk.”
Just the same, I agree that 99% of self-proclaimed insiders are full of BS on
any forum about
any subject. We’re lucky to have a handful of legitimate industry insiders here, but of course we have plenty of posers too.
This also parallels the rise in planted forum members whom corporations pay to protect the co’s reputation. That’s when you get the pixie dusters and the self-proclaimed experts who never drop any information, but tail the few legit insiders to contradict legitimate claims. They’re usually paid or premium members who suddenly appear and pursue petty arguments. But they’re an integral part of the corporate response to the early, Wild West days of forum leaks.
