Monday, April 21, 2008

What were you thinking www.CyberSmokeSignals.com?

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post, "Time to wake up and smell the coffee Terry Belhumeur!"

The other issue here is that, for several months, Belhumeur hasn't bothered to maintain his posts on www.CyberSmokeSignals.com. It's not clear what the motivation was for him to essentially shut down CSS.com - was it laziness? Did he believe there was a deal on the table waiting for him so he could mothball CyberSmokeSignals in exchange for a settlement of the lawsuit?

However, the decision by Terry to neuter CSS was singlehandedly his biggest mistake. More than anything, it highlights how naive he really has been about this process. In a lawsuit where public opinion can be your greatest friend, and the plaintiffs detect weakness just as surely as sharks smell blood, passivity is the last thing a defendant should display. Because of this inaction, the Federation and its legal counsel now think they can kick Terry around and he won't defend himself.
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Dear Anonymous:

Thank you for writing. We will never comprehend Terry Belhumeur's thought processes for as long as we live. Sure hope he doesn't fancy himself as a poker player otherwise he'll lose more than just his shirt! Not posting on www.CyberSmokeSignals.com since mid-July, 2007 has been tantamount to reaching across the gaming table, shaking David Chartrand and Murray Trachtenberg's hand then giving them all his chips with a big smile on his face?

Eight years of experience posting on the internet has taught us it takes a lot of time and effort to build a readership - the proverbial brick by brick by brick. If Mr. Belhumeur thinks after such a lengthy hiatus all he has to do is re-activate CSS and poof people will return in droves he's sadly mistaken.

This lawsuit has so many unique situations and potentially built-in intellectual property (i.e. defamation litigation) case precedents, at trial not only will it attract law students and University Faculties across Canada but the mainstream media both national and international. Plus Webmasters and Blogmasters everywhere will be watching. Can you imagine a cross-examination under oath of Darrel Deslauriers or Jack Park or John Fleury or David Chartrand or .....?

Being an outdoorsman, we've added an animated Canada goose from his T.B. Outfitting homepage in the hope he'll notice your comments.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just a thought - what if Terry has stuck a deal with MMF, he doesn't do anything as far as his defence. Gets the judge to toss him out, but instead of asking Terry for any compensation, they drop it or ask for a small amount. This leaves you, Mr Pieuk the only defense and the MMF goes after you (a non Metis) and makes you pay (if they win). Does this sound like a viable scenario or am I reading too much into this.

I heard once somewhere that David would rather not go after Terry because he's Metis, but wants real bad to punish you.

4:59 AM  

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