Exactly, oldgreg, cause panic.

I don't think Thrace or people like Thrace are shorts. There simply is nothing to the short interest here, it is small and much of it may a sort of hedge, like a "short against the box," where a person just doesn't want to sell stock at a particular time for whatever reason, but doesn't want to have a big loss if things go wrong, so you hedge by selling some shares short.

We all have our slight imbalances (okay, perhaps with the exception of DNWL), and the degrees vary, depending on who and under what circumstances. But on all these boards, especially emotionally charged ones, the mental/emotional weaknesses of an individual can be seriously stressed to and beyond the point of breaking. Then, lashing out happens. It could be that an individual pushed too far simply does what they can do to attract attention and cause others pain in the form of doubt. This happens all too often. It could be as simple as, "I can't succeed, and I want to make sure the rest of you don't."

I feel bad for those individuals, but I can do nothing to help. It's best when a poster exhibits such extreme characteristics (with no redeeming value to the board), that they be banned, but not derided.