People use it like everyone fucking has the innate knowledge of every acronym out there

  • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
    40·
    3 years ago

    Fear. Uncertainty. Doubt.

    It’s sometimes used as a noun for things that cause FUD, too.

  • Dr. Bob@lemmy.caEnglish
    33·
    3 years ago

    As others have said Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt.

    It entered tech lingo way back in the 90s when Microsoft was fighting an early wave of Linux on desktop. They would troll and present themselves as a reliable alternative.

    They weren’t the first to do it. IBM’s unofficial motto in the 70s was “nobody gets fired for going with IBM”.

  • Clav64@lemmy.ml
    26·
    3 years ago

    In a modern internet context:

    Fear. Uncertainty. Doubt.

    Often used in crypto circles when a shitty project is being accused of being a rug pull. The scammer may say “it’s just FUD, ignore it”.

    On ‘the street’, if I called someone a fud, it is calling them an idiot.

  • Nollij@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    142·
    3 years ago

    Others have answered it pretty well, but here’s a more specific example:

    In the long, long ago, IBM was the biggest seller of computer equipment, and by a wide margin. They alone decided the majority of standards in use, as well as what was coming soon. Anticompetitive monopoly tactics were standard there. For the vast majority of customers, you absolutely HAD to be compatible with whatever IBM was selling.

    When one of IBM’s competitors would introduce a new and desirable product, IBM would often issue a press release. They would say that they have something similar in the works, and it won’t be compatible with the other brand. The safe option would be to wait for IBM to release theirs rather than take a risk on a whole new ecosystem. This was all despite the fact that IBM never actually had said product in development.

    As a result, the customers would be afraid of being stuck on something incompatible, with an uncertain future. They wouldn’t buy it, but they would continue to buy their existing IBM options. Eventually the other product would fold (proving their fears correct), and they’d forget what IBM promised.

  • 520@kbin.social
    111·
    3 years ago

    It means “Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt”.

    It’s a modern kind of shit talking employed by large corporations in conjunction with astro turfing (pretending to be an unbiased commentator, when you’re really as biased as can be) to dissuade people from going to a competitor.

    Because saying stuff like “I dunno dude, there’s been reports of a lot of problems with Product X” is a lot more persuasive than “Product X sux!!!”, especially when you don’t know the poster was paid by Company Y, a competitor, to say it.

  • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
    61·
    3 years ago

    I had to look this up the other day and found it annoying. Absolutely feels like something not common enough to abbreviate to me

  • ARk@lemm.ee
    72·
    3 years ago

    In what context is this? I have never heard of FUD before in my life. Why the heck does Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt need to be arranged into an acronym?

    • Aabbcc@lemm.ee
      31·
      3 years ago

      Because posters on crypto/investing forums needed to refer to it frequently

    • OneCardboardBox@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      21·
      3 years ago

      It’s common in communities where rigid adherence to a set of beliefs is necessary to enforce cohesion. It’s commonly used to avoid engagement with “Facts U Dislike” (haha) by terminating all meaningful discussion.

      Part of a flat earth forum and you’re posting an experiment you performed that suggests the earth is round? You’re spreading FUD that should be ignored.

      Posting on a crypto shitcoins discord about how this kinda looks like a scam and maybe it’s not a good investment? That’s also FUD. You’re just mad that everyone else is going to be rich.

    • Wrench Wizard@lemmy.world
      54·
      3 years ago

      I get that web searches make finding knowledge easy but it kind of disturbs me that we shame people for not doing so and basically tell them “just Google it and shut up!”

      Are we supposed to just never communicate with other humans aside from chit chat and personal opinions?

      Never speaking to others about any info that we could glean from Google seems… weird, doesn’t it?

      Who initially began the campaign of “just Google it” anyway? It sounds like an ad campaign for google

      • alienanimals@lemmy.world
        42·
        3 years ago

        Multiple people already gave the correct answer. I did not tell him to shut up. I gave OP the tools to solve the problem himself in the future.

        What are you upset about?

  • magnetosphere@kbin.social
    3·
    3 years ago

    I keep thinking it’s FOD (foreign object damage) which is why you don’t want small, hard objects on a runway or something. Stuff like bullet casings can get sucked into a jet engine, and cause FOD that takes a plane out of service.

    Then I notice that FOD doesn’t make any sense in context, reread the sentence, and realize it’s FUD. Whoops.