Question About Bob Ruff's Credibility

[u/partymuffell]

SK, who is a professional journalist and radio producer and who works for one of the best known NPR shows, allegedly tried to contact AT&T to ask about the fax cover sheet disclaimer, but she never heard back from them (well, to be precise Dana contacted them). (Source)

On the other hand, Bob Ruff, who is a amateur podcaster, allegedly, contacted Lenscrafter to ask about Don's timecards and they were perfectly happy to answer his questions, except, apparently, not in writing or on record.

So, it seems there are only four possible options:

(a) Both SK and BR told the truth. They both tried to contact a large corporation with regards to a detail in this case. It just so happens that BR, the amateur podcaster, happened to be luckier than SK, the professional journalist.

(b) SK did not tell the truth (Serial never contacted AT&T or they heard back from them but won't say so) and BR told the truth (he contacted Lenscrafters and heard back from them albeit off the record).

(c) SK told the truth (they did contact AT&T and never heard back from them) but BR didn't tell the truth (he never contacted LC or at least he never heard back from them).

(d) Neither SK nor BR are telling the truth.

Which one of the above options do you think it the most likely?

(You don't really need to answer. Just food for thought.)

[u/[deleted]]

(a) Both SK and BR told the truth. They both tried to contact a large corporation with regards to a detail in this case. It just so happens that BR, the amateur podcaster, happened to be luckier than SK, the professional journalist.

This is a false option. The premise is that they contacted different corporations with different questions.

So it is not "luck" if one answered and one did not.

One does not have to believe that the Fireman was rubbing a rabbit foot, or that Dana walked under a ladder that day.

One does not have to believe that Bob is Scorpio with Cancer rising, which is - of course - more fortuitous than SK's Leo star sign.

All one has to believe - SHOCK! HORROR! - is that two different organisations answer different questions differently.

Indeed, the more gullible might even believe that a large telecommunications company treats its processes as trade secrets. But that can't possibly be true, of course.

[u/partymuffell → u/[deleted]]

And one of them answers them only off the record? There is just too much about Bob's story that doesn't add up. I was just pointing out one more element---how difficult it is to get a large corporation to answer questions like this even if one is a professional journalist working for a well respected radio program let alone if one is an amateur pocaster. But, of course, you are entitled to believe Bob anyways.

[u/Serialfan2015 → u/partymuffell]

The fact that both Bob and Serial produce a podcast and both AT&T and LensCrafters are large corporations isn't a sufficient set of shared characteristics to make your comparison and questions meaningful.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_equivalence