As for the "publicity stunt" angle that's come up in these threads a few times --

No, this wasn't a "publicity stunt" -- other than perhaps on umutov's part. But it kind of backfired on him........

However: pointing that aspect of things out doesn't stop the reality of the fact that "any publicity is good publicity", at least when it comes to marketing. In the past, I've had a couple of merchants who were involved in bru-ha-ha's of one sort or another admit to me that they enjoyed a sudden spike in their sales during the bru-ha-ha's prime time forum run. It wasn't usually FUN for the merchant: but they did sell more stuff for a while.

I realize that some people don't like hearing annoying truths like this at such a time as this: but there it is.

BUT -- for the sake of anyone out there who is half-bright, let me be clear: I am in NO way, shape, or form implying that anyone involved in this situation "set this thing up" in the interests of obtaining publicity. It's clear that a theft was committed here, and that the theft was committed with intent. It wasn't an unintentional stumble of the sort that merchant newbies sometimes miss in their work. This one was deliberate. So, no: this wasn't a "publicity stunt".

It's one thing to point out the natural effect of....uh......"bad" publicity. That's merely an empirical observation. But it would be another matter entirely to suggest that the bad publcity came about as the result of a planned-out scheme.

Conspiracy theories aren't my bag. Although they can be entertaining.

Something To Do At 3:00AM