Deliver deep value to a small audience, retain the loyalty of that audience, then extract the value. That's good for you. Especially when the mainstream press gets to talking about Internet Commerce. Instead of hiring clued-in reporters with experience, most papers have taken control of the beat by moving folks in from other beats. Competing for space and placement, their bureaucratic impulse is often to misinterpret reality so they can sell a story to an editor.
Truth is usually a casualty.
Which brings me to Bruce Haring of USA Today and his coverage of two Web disputes that recently hit courthouses. In the first case, Microsoft had been negotiating with Ticketmaster for links to its database, from its Sidewalk sites. Negotiations broke down on the subject of price, and Ticketmaster began lining-up other partners. Microsoft put the database calls in anyway, and Ticketmaster sued. This case is not about linking, Bruce.