Anthony wrote:
Well, first of all, I don't think we could have had Jimbo be the one to break the story to us, since he is apparently restricted by a confidentiality agreement and/or some other legal constraints not to talk about it. Secondly, wouldn't it be better for Christiano to just tell us directly? Spin doesn't help us, whether it's Jimbo's positive spin or the Register's negative spin.
Well, maybe not Jimbo then, but having almost _anyone_ on the "inside" be the one to break something like this to the public would be better than having it be the Register or Wikipedia Review or somesuch.
IMO it's not so much a question of spin as it is a question of getting the whole story out at once. That way there's less room for speculation, which usually tends toward worst-case scenarios, and it improves our credibility while depriving critics of an opportunity to lord it over us. Even if the whole story really _is_ a "worst case scenario", at least we'd get credit for coming clean on it.
Also perhaps this is a sign that Jimbo and the board need to reconsider the confidentiality agreements that they've signed onto, if something like that was what was preventing them from discussing matters that are already out in the public record anyway.