Do your research before mouthing off, dude. In the linked post, it’s clear that Ryan tried to contact Apple PR — a notoriously tight-lipped group — several times before publishing.

It seems that Engadget will take some steps to try and make sure that this doesn’t happen again, but when you deal with rumors and speculation (no matter how credible) you are going to have some misses. I think Engadget’s core readership understands and accepts that.

Others DID receive the email and did NOT publish it.

They rang Apple and got a straight answer, as any publication would with a sense of responsibility.

Engadget is not responsible. Full stop.

“…It was better, he thought, to fail in attempting exquisite things than to succeed in the department of the utterly contemptible.” - Arthur Machen

You’re a fantastic journalist. Your passion for what you do only strengthens your already solid ability, and although I can only speak for myself, I’m know that a lot of people feel the same way I do.

As for journalistic integrity… no matter what someone might say publicly, ANYONE would have done exactly what you did. Hell, even in your statement on the incident, while covering your own ass, you did so coherently, honestly, and grammatically correct(ly?)

Try not to let it affect you too much. Things like this happen all the time! Think back to right after September 11th. The New York Times (shamelessly) published flat out lies, and received no more than a slap on the wrist.

Only time will tell what (if any) lasting effect this incident will have on society. In the meantime, you’ve gained a lot of notoriety and while some people might hold you in a negative light, I for one think you think you should be commended for your professionalism and maturity in dealing with the situation at hand, as well as inadvertently exposing a massive flaw in our nation’s economic system.

It’s these sort of things that catapult people into infamy.

Whether you see that as a good thing or a bad thing… you, Ryan Block, are a blogging legend.

-j.R

I’m sorry your group is going through this, and I hope it all blows over soon. Engadget is one of the most enjoyable sites there is to read, and it’ll be awesome when everyone forgets about this and it’s business as usual.

Keep on truckin’.

Hindsight, is, of course 20/20, but I probably would have done what you did and published the story. But with something serious like this, I would have put something in there to the effect of “we tried to contact Apple; no response”. That, at least, shows that you are trying to follow up, which your original post didn’t bring across. You obviously were, but it didn’t look that way. On my site wirelessinfo.com, we flag stuff like this with an Unconfirmed Info logo to show that it’s not been checked, and we also use a rumor logo to show stuff that we can’t confirm. Then, if someone wants to use this as a basis to sell their stocks on, they can’t turn around and blame us.

Anyway, it all goes to show how much impact blogs can have. Who would have though a few years back that a few lines on a Web site would move a mountain?

Whoever it was that sold the big initial load of shares really made the proverbial hit the fan.

I think the problem wasn’t the retracted post, that happens all the time for various reasons everywhere. but people are so trigger happy on the stock exchange that they immediately sold on the basis of your post. and then had the gall to insult you on the WSJ blog (one guy claimed he lost 110k! and wanted to sue you. what a jerk).

I thought arrington did a really good job on the write up, very balanced, especially for him. Unlike others (infinite loop…)

btw - do you buy the conspiracy story? ie someone faked the email and shorted the majority of the stock sold?