Russell, as everyone knows, I am a big fan of SI and I agree with Jill that it is a quality versus quantity issue when talking about SI v. RB. (see WSJ article below).
However, as I am sure you know and as day to day posting statistics confirm, there were two important dates where the growth in posting on SI slowed and then went negative.
Those dates were (drum roll, please): the date that the ZSUN 8 lawsuit was made public and people realized that SI had given up people's real names without notifying them first like AOL and YHOO do. That was the date the growth slowed.
The date that the posting fell off a cliff was the day Floyd Schneider got a temporary restraining order put against him. While it was a gross error on the part of the attorney that then represented him to not show up in court to respond to the order, SI members were clearly shocked to find that someone of their ilk could be sued by a company of dubious integrity.
But more than that, people put two and two together and said that while they may not like Schneider or agree with his views, they were "SHOCKED. JUST SHOCKED" to see a temporary restraining order against a poster which they would never want against themselves.
Ergo, they go to Yahoo and Raging Bull where they don't need to give up their credit card and thus avoid the potential to be dobbed in as they say in Aussie (otherwise known as Squealing or being narcked on) by SI.
And when I say SI, in this particular case (The ZSUN 8), I mean YOU personally. Because I am Auric Goldfinger, I KNOW that the give up of the ZSUN 8 names was YOU. You may demur, but as I have operatives everywhere...
So the point of this is that I will credit you with having created a pretty good company out of several disparate parts out of a friggen Maxwell Capital shell.
However, if choosing to turn over the ZSUN 8 names of which I was one and, if it is not clear to the others, it is clear to me that there was a VAST Conspiracy (as Hillary would say) to lob a hardball my way for having had the gall to publicly question the origins of GNET pre-Paul Allen/Vulcan Ventures respectability. And that is your choice as CEO of said august company to turn over our names.
However, realize two things in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS: 1) The ZSUN 8 will be clearly vindicated and this will happen shortly. What happens with that case in the next several weeks will make it crystal clear to EVERYONE, even the crims and touts.
2) I submit to you and the general public that views this post (before and if it gets deleted), that by giving up the identities of the ZSUN 8 without notifying us beforehand, and mine in particular to SLAPP me, you sowed the seeds of GNET's growth demise.
Thank you.
PS, Still having both the Lobster NAD the 16 oz. steak for dinner at the Metropolitan Grill? zagat.com
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"Raging Bull's Total Board Posts Surge Ahead of Silicon Investor By CARRIE LEE WSJ.COM
Move over Silicon Investor!
In a case of youth begets speed, Raging Bull
(www.ragingbull.com) recently charged past
the bellwether Internet stock-discussion site
in popularity among online investors.
A comparison of total posts on the two sites show that through Tuesday,
Raging Bull had received 14.9 million posts, compared with 14.0 million
for Silicon Investor (www.siliconinvestor.com), which is three years older.
Raging Bull's rise comes as Internet-discussion sites in general enjoy
tremendous growth because of the decade-long boom in the stock market
that has helped make investing a household phenomenon.
Raging Bull, which started in September 1997, has over 680,000 users
and receives an average of 50,000 to 75,000 posts a day. Silicon Investor
has over 300,000 subscribers and an average of 20,000 posts a day.
Tara Burgess, manager of community development for Raging Bull, says
the site has spent less than $300,000 on advertising since its inception and
has grown largely by word-of-mouth.
"From day one it's always been about
momentum, friends telling friends about the
site," she says.
Jill Munden, a Silicon Investor spokeswoman,
says Raging Bull is probably benefiting from its free format. Silicon Investor
charges posters a $120 annual subscription fee. But anyone can read the
boards for free.
"Free sites generally get a higher volume of posts," Ms. Munden says,
adding that Silicon Investor boards attract better quality posts. "[Free sites]
receive more posts generally because of the quality issue."
On the contrary, argues Ms. Burgess, Raging Bull's business is growing
"because of the quality of what's being discussed on our boards."
Raging Bull isn't the only free stock-discussion site. Yahoo! Finance and
Motley Fool are also free. Yahoo, which launched its message boards in
late 1996, receives hundreds of thousands of posts a day, while Motley
Fool, which rolled out its boards in April 1997, gets about 5,000.
Raging Bull has become a haven for investors who want to discuss OTC
Bulletin Board stocks -- shares of tiny companies that don't meet the
financial and other requirements for listing on a major exchange.
Its popularity among the OTC crowd has benefited from a decision in
November 1998 by Yahoo! Finance, another of its rivals, to drop message
boards devoted to OTC stocks.
However, Ms. Burgess says Raging Bull's popularity isn't driven solely by
discussions about OTC stocks.
"We get some strong volume on these boards, but the most active boards
are a mix, including [stocks like] WorldCom and Spyglass along with
penny stocks," she says.
Raging Bull has surpassed Silicon Investor amid many changes at Silicon
Investor that have worried and annoyed its users, including the site's
purchase by Internet portal Go2Net Inc. in 1998.
When the Go2net deal was announced, posters had complained that
Silicon Investor was giving up its independence and would become too
commercialized.
Some seasoned message board posters also complained last summer when
Silicon Investor redesigned its site and included technology that could track
a user's habits on the Internet.
Although it went online in September 1997, Raging Bull didn't get much
attention until a major redesign of its message boards in mid 1998. The site
also has expanded its forums to include sports, current events, and other
subjects.
The expanded topics have helped boost Raging Bull's total postings.
Raging Bull also is benefiting from discussion boards it has provided since
last summer for search engine Alta Vista. Alta Vista purchased Raging Bull
in February. Raging Bull's boards also can be accessed through some
financial Web sites, such as thomsoninvestment.com and forbes.com.
PR Newswire Helps Track Posters
Companies maligned by anonymous posters on the Internet are getting
some help from PR Newswire.
The news dissemination service has formed an alliance with Internet
Crimes Group, a cyber sleuthing firm in Princeton, N.J., to help its
corporate clients track down malicious posters.
ICG will help track down the persons behind anonymous online postings,
e-mail messages, and Web sites that spread rumors about a company or
try to manipulate its stock.
ICG's ten person outfit, which is largely comprised of Princeton University
graduates, uses technology and old-fashioned digging to solve the cases.
ICG 's service isn't limited PR Newswire clients.
Chairman and chief executive, Michael Allison, says ICG has done work
for about 25% of the Fortune 100 companies. He says the company has
tracked down about 75% of anonymous authors it has gone after.
interactive.wsj.com |
