For the past few years, Aurelian Resources Inc. was the darling of retail investors.

But now some of those same people are mobilizing online against the company's proposed $1.2-billion merger with Kinross Gold Corp., an effort that shows how the Internet has brought retail investors together and given them common causes.

A message board on the Agoracom website has become the venting ground for furious Aurelian shareholders who are watching Kinross buy out their company at a considerably lower price than it was trading at earlier this year. They have sent an angry letter to analysts and news organizations decrying the deal and the companies themselves have taken notice.