But aren't you trying to influence by commenting? We all do, mostly benevolently when we think we ccan introduce someone to something great or steer them away from something toxic. we call it helpfulness but it is still an attempt at influence. What bugs me about Gladwell is that there is NO sense of what he really believes or how deeply he has bothered to think about the stuff he writes. Did he REALLY not consider where his Tipping Point principles could lead -- or did he consider it and decide that going there was bad for business?