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• Talk:Gary Weiss/Archive 1

New York Times article about Weiss

Appearing as the subj of a NYT article is pretty notable, perhaps some of the admins/editors protecting the article page would like to incorporate this material. It would be an excellent supplement to the section on Weiss's book and commentary about Overstock.com, Patrick M. Byrne, and naked shorting. Here's the article with some details censored out as they are unmentionable:

"Flames Flare Over Naked Shorts"

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/20/business/20online.html Piperdown 00:31, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

I couldn't read the article because I didn't feel like paying the fee to do so, so I can understand why you posted the entire article here. Anyway, the NYTimes, is, of course, a major publication and if it's reporting on a severe and now public dispute between Overstock.com and Gary Weiss, then that merits at least a sentence about it in the article. Please be bold and add this article to the list of references, write a sentence or two about it in the text, and provide an inline citation to the source. Cla68 00:31, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

not sure how to incorporate this material, other than an "external link". Here's some of the text that applies to the subject of this article, and so as to not violate copyrights, here's a sample - I'll leave it up to other more skilled editors on how to incorporate it into the article -- that could help others determine what is relevant to include without having to pay the NYT to peek at it. Since this is pretty controversial, I felt it is better to post it in talk first and let editors decide what if any should go into the article.

By DAN MITCHELL Published: January 20, 2007, The New York Times (excerpts)...The site...is devoted to combing through message boards and other Web sites to present “proof” that Mr. Weiss misrepresented himself on Amazon, Misplaced Pages and other sites to promote his own books and settle personal scores....Beyond calling the accusations “lies,” Mr. Weiss hasn’t addressed most of the details of the site’s “findings,” though he denied having edited Misplaced Pages entries under a pseudonym. Instead, he pointed out that Mr. Byrne has himself posted under pseudonyms on various message boards...Weiss became especially exercised after The New York Post reported last week that the anonymous operator of {my ed: unmentionable} was Judd Bagley, Overstock’s director for social media. Calling Mr. Bagley “hideous” and a “nauseating spectacle,” Mr. Weiss lit into Mr. Byrne and his online lieutenant in post after post...

Piperdown 01:53, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

I just realized that if someone wants to read the full article, they can just go back in the history for this page and click on the version that contained the full text (13 May 2007). The article is fairly critical of Overstock and Byrne, and neutral in it's reporting of Weiss' involvement. Thus, I don't think it should be a problem to use this article as a reference for a small section on the issue. I'll try to add a neutral, short section on the issue to the article in a short while. It might should also be mentioned in the articles for Overstock and Byrne. Cla68 02:27, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

The website, not Byrne, had made the accusations against Weiss. I have fixed and added Weiss's denial from the Bloomberg article. Also have added details of far greater significance than this spat. As written, this section had put a pissing match with a CEO on a par with Project Klebnikov and Weiss's column in Forbes.com, which was not even mentioned. Also have added a link to Weiss' blog, as per WP:EL, but am not using it as a source.--Samiharris 17:31, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

Good job, Sami. IIRC, the attack website in question also criticized reporter Susan Antilla, alleging that she should have revealed that she is married to a hedge fund manager. The problem? She isn't. When this was pointed out to the blogger in question, his initial response was to deny it, to claim that he had spent "thousands of moments on the internet" trying to find proof of her divorce.

When proof was shown him explicitly enough so that stonewalling like that seemed silly, he dropped the demand that she disclose her non-conflict from the non-marriage. Nice of him, eh?

Or are we talking about different attack websites? Anyway, Susan Antilla should probably get an article of her own. --Christofurio 23:29, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

Yes, that is the same attack site, and I agree that it has been well handled by Samiharris. --Mantanmoreland 23:34, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

The sentence that reads, "Weiss has been attacked by an anonymous website whose operator has admitted to being an employee of Overstock.com." doesn't appear to be true. The front page of that website identifies its owner and operator as Judd Bagley. Also, the NYT article did potray the conflict between Weiss and Byrne as a "pissing match," even comparing the both of them to 14-year-old adolescents. As rewritten, the section no longer reflects the mood of the article. Cla68 23:51, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

The Times article accurately referred to the website as "anonymous" and as "anonymously written." That is correct. It is an anonymous website whose author was revealed by the New York Post to have been an employee of Overstock.com. I'm afraid that your version skipped over that rather significant point. As for the "mood" that you mention, I think that was a problem and that it has been corrected. It is not appropriate for a Misplaced Pages article to reflect the "mood" of one article, even a New York Times article. Certainly the "mood" of the Bloomberg piece made Overstock appear to be thuggish in that particular instance and Weiss as something of a hero. The current version provides appropriate weight to this issue and takes neither approach. Also, as Christofurio pointed out, what this essentially is about is the allegations of a non-notable website that is of the "attack" variety and appears not to be very accurate. --Samiharris 00:34, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

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