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Pastimes : Business Wire Falls for April Fools Prank, Sues FBNers -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: astyanax who wrote (240)	4/28/1999 12:46:00 PM
From: Cindy Powell	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 3795

Netconductor hits the nail on the head with his comments that people wasted alot of time chasing dot mania with this hoax, and in the investing world especially, time is money. I can imagine that Business Wire is standing between two fires now, angry "duped" people that want some action taken, and defensive S.I.ers who know the three on a more day to day basis and understand their repetoire. Business Wire probably also understands that the silent majority who shy away from posting on Silicon Investor due to the mud slinging and personal flaming, aren't being as vocal as Bill, Janice and Jeff, and their very vocal supporters. So, taking this into account, true public opinion might actually gravitate more towards the support of Business Wire's stance. Many of the more quiet, less out spoken (and busy) folks on Silicon Investor might not agree that Business Wire should just passively shrug off all the flaming. Flaming is damaging in terms of emotional duress as well as monetarily and in terms of reputation, and I think that we can expect to see more actions taken when posters berate and belittle companies and individuals that aren't deservant of the wrath. In a really schizophrenic way, Janice, Jeff and Bill did enormously benefit from this at the detriment of Business Wire, in that... ah yes, Janice got more fame and Bill got more free advertisement, as did Jeff Mitchell. Ulterior motives that can be smirked off and smuggled under the umbrella of "innocent prank." I have mixed feelings concerning this whole fiasco, but probably agree most with Tonto (per AZNT thread) that this could have been resolved with some apologies and some subdued egos, but as Kathy asserted, the WebNode three continued to relentlessly and viciously ridicule and besmirch Business Wire's good name, for several weeks after April Fools Day. It appears to me that Business Week would have been willing to laugh along with the "joke" had Janice et al not capitalized on the situation to further ridicule and bash Business Wire. Too bad that this had to escalate to the point of lawsuits and get so sensationalized and so fraught with contention, when things could have been smoothed over with some apologies and some handshakes. Business Wire might actually benefit and get even more business as a result of this incident because it appears that they will insist on an even better system of checks and balances, and they will also be sending out a strong message that false press releases can and will be reciprocated with some serious lawsuits and legal action. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Good luck to all involved, and I hope some "true" good comes of this. Best regards, Cindy