I know it's fashionable to bash Arrington on HN, but I'm willing to take the karma beating and say this: couldn't the MYB CEO have requested the FunAdvice CEO submit to a confidentiality agreement for this specific reason?
Here's another, potentially more-provoking one: Isn't this what "good business" is all about? Manipulation of your opponent? Using what you can to generate PR buzz? "I'm not being a jerk, I'm just doing good business."
Please do not treat this post as a testimony of my own values.
Well yes he could, but business is basically about trust. When Warren Buffett asks you to send confidential information you'll do so because you trust him not to abuse it - his reputation is built up over many years, but can be shattered with just one major breach of it. Both parties know this.
If you lose your credibility you lose your ability to do business. Credibility is to business as intelligence is to hackers.
Good business is treating your colleagues with respect (even if you secretly want to crush them). You can be sure that Geoff Cook will never, ever, ever do business with Jeremy Goodrich after this display of unprofessionalism.
I agree with mixmax about trust in business. I'd just like to add that if you compare and contrast the writing styles of Cook and Goodrich, it is pretty clear who is the pro and who is the wannabe. There was nothing shrewd or savvy about what Goodrich did. OTOH, Arrington did squash a source in public. That just seems odd.
Here's another, potentially more-provoking one: Isn't this what "good business" is all about? Manipulation of your opponent? Using what you can to generate PR buzz? "I'm not being a jerk, I'm just doing good business."
Please do not treat this post as a testimony of my own values.