1.15.2010

@tarable Wait a second...You're an ex-standup comic? Re: "Lijit VS. P.U.B. (Publishers Union of Bloggers)" @Lijit

A printing press in Kabul, Afghanistan.


The Perfect American has left a new comment on your post "Lijit VS. P.U.B. (Publishers Union of Bloggers) N...":

unless your sense of humor is even drier than mine, i think you missed out on my joke. but thanks for sending me the link. it's probably the one i based this whole spook (sic) on, but i'll certainly take a look. not being one to ever write 'lol' or explain my humor...i was just about to do it, but i'll just leave it at that.




Posted by The Perfect American to What Gets Me Hot at January 15, 2010 5:53 PM

Tara Anderson has left a new comment on your post "Lijit VS. P.U.B. (Publishers Union of Bloggers) N...":

Just to clarify, we send payments to publishers when they hit $25, so it's currently not possible to send you the
"stinkin $5" that we may owe you.

Additionally, if you'd like some background on where Barney is coming from, perhaps you'd like to read our side of the story?



Thanks for using Lijit!

mrjyn 0 minutes ago
dear tara,

i apologize for causing you or any of the employees at Lijit any added stress over what I thought would surely be received in the manner in which it was intended (a send-up of an obvious ex-insider and fly-by-night conman, although I didn't know that until reading toddvernon's letter) by the very audience which I had intended--Lijit. i suppose the punchline was the
'$5' --a guesstimate as to how much Lijit would be lining their pockets, at least from any revenue created by my blog.

I hope you will reread my post in light of this somewhat awkward explanation, and possibly pass it along with my added commentary to anyone else who may have misunderstood.

sincerely,

http://whatgetsmehot.blogspot.com
loyal Lijit user and fan


Statements regarding P.U.B. and Barney Moran



by toddvernon
Lijit develops search-powered applications for online publishers.  In our efforts to build a lasting enterprise, we have always viewed ourselves as the publisher advocate, delivering measurable value to each publisher in our network and providing the utmost transparency about Lijit as a business.

Our service is a unique and powerful offering that Publishers utilize to aggregate their online content making it searchable, and thus increasing engagement between publishers and their readers in a real and measurable way.

Lijit is always open to feedback, comments, and suggestions for improvement.  It’s for these reasons that we were surprised and dismayed by the actions of a former Lijit employee, Mr. Barney Moran and P.U.B., a for-profit entity we understand is owned and controlled by Mr. Moran.

Mr. Barney Moran worked for Lijit for approximately 7 months, starting in late 2007. Mr. Moran’s employment was terminated by Lijit on March 3rd, 2008.

Shortly after Lijit terminated his employment, on behalf of P.U.B., Mr. Moran sent a lengthy questionnaire to our COO requesting detailed and confidential internal financial information.  Given the confidential nature of the financial data requested and the unusual nature of such a request, we attempted to further identify the nature and legitimacy of P.U.B. We were only able to find a one page web site with a single post referencing only Lijit.

Shortly thereafter, Mr. Moran began posting comments on publishers’ sites that mentioned Lijit.  Mr. Moran largely posts a canned statement drawing into question Lijit’s business practices and data gathering motivations.  It is our belief that these comments are designed to create an air of concern or mistrust around the delivery of our service or the use of private data from our publisher’s sites.

Data collected by Lijit is constantly and in real-time fed back to publishers in their analytics dashboards, and in fact, is a significant value proposition to the publishers themselves.  Our privacy policy, publisher agreement and terms of use available online from our site clearly address issues Mr. Moran calls into question.  From time to time we update these policies to reduce ambiguity and we strive for complete clarity in regards to our service. We monitor best practices in the industry and believe our practices are consistent with these practices.

Recently, we received an unsolicited email from Mr. Moran, sent to our CEO that requested a large sum of money as well as shares of Lijit capital stock.  In this email Mr. Moran states:

“I’m prepared to sell P.U.B. for $25K and 4,000 undiluted shares of Lijit at this time. I am in process securing a TradeMark for P.U.B., and have press releases and marketing spots for P.U.B. scheduled to begin appearing in September. When the trademark is secured and the marketing starts for P.U.B., the valuation of P.U.B.  will be higher.”

In a separate phone call with our CEO, Mr. Moran indicated that if Lijit were to purchase P.U.B., Mr. Moran would no longer work for P.U.B. or make references to Lijit.

Given these facts, we are asking the same questions you may be asking yourself. If P.U.B. is indeed a union that intends to serve the best interests of publishers, why has it sought to target only Lijit? If it is a “public watchdog” why is it a “for profit” entity and why would it be for sale to Lijit? Why would Mr. Moran want to own equity through the sale of P.U.B. in a company that provides a service that he has recommended publishers not install?

We do not intend to purchase Mr. Moran’s company. We have considered taking legal action against Mr. Moran, and we continue to hold this out as an option. In any case, we intend to provide publishers with the best service we can and be responsive to our loyal user base.

As always, please send us any feedback or comments to: info at lijit dot com.





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