Or at least they can be a valuable source of information. From Lee Ainslie of Maverick Capital, posted by Kirk Brewer:

A short seller is really the only guaranteed buyer that a company has. Some companies disdain any interaction with short sellers. The more thoughtful, intelligent companies take a different tack and want to improve their understanding of the concerns of the investment community. Sometimes they’ll listen and prove us wrong, and other times they will recognize that we have legitimate points. With the intensity of our research and analysis and our strong relationships with significant competitors, we may have insights or information that prove to be quite helpful to companies.

Listen to your critics. It’s as true in investor relations as it is in all other marketing disciplines. And IR is a marketing discipline.