Two weeks ago, Sam Antar wrote about Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne, and what happens to people who ask questions about the company, his management, and curious details about the company’s financial statements.
This week Sam has a follow-up, detailing a timeline surrounding events related to Patrick Byrne, Judd Bagley (Director of Social Media at Overstock), and a website run by Bagley called antisocialmedia.net.
The antisocialmedia.net (ASM) site was started to lash out at critics of Overstock. Byrne claimed no knowledge of who owned the site, then admitted he probably knew but had a “don’t ask don’t tell” policy about it, and then it was later revealed that Byrne did know Bagley ran the site.
Here’s a bit about ASM from the New York Post:
January 2, 2007 — Internet retailer Overstock.com’s war against its critics is taking an ugly new twist, as a Web site aided and supported by its management is leveling sharp charges against two Internet message board posters.
The site, AntiSocialMedia.net, launched bitter attacks last week on the message board critics, accusing them of participating to various degrees in a conspiracy to malign the anti-naked short selling movement that Overstock.com supports.
ASM’s targets, Floyd Schneider of Newton, N.J., and Darl Dumont, of L.A., are critical of Overstock.
ASM accused Dumont of “marginaliz[ing] those who’ve spoken out against the practice of strategic failure to deliver.” It accused Schneider of something sharply more serious: bashing stocks like Overstock “for compensation and in coordination with hedge funds shorting the stock (or worse).” It also said Schneider makes a “living out of lying.”
According to Sam:
Judd Bagley?..s very first post on antisocialmedia.net is an anonymous vicious attack on well known investigative reporter, blogger, and vocal Byrne critic, Gary Weiss entitled ?..Gary Weiss: The Strawman Cometh.
Sam then goes on to to outline what Patrick Byrne has said about his knowledge and involvement with ASM after the fact, versus what was posted on various sites at the time questions first came up about ASM. It appears Byrne was less than truthful.
