I note that AP also made the obligatory basic-math error, turning "one-hundredth of one percent" of 12 million into 120, rather than the correct 1,200. Oh well, at least they have all those squishy layers of editors...

hahahahahaha

p03^d

They had no idea they'd get called on the carpet for this one by somebody people actually know and respect.

You poor man! Seriously.

I hope you're able to get sleep.

BTW, I hope all in AL are ok.

Not to quibble, but did the AP try to contact you through the eBay internal messaging system?

Tell me you at least read it first....

Whether they attempted to reach him through the eBay system or some other way, they can't truthfully make the claim that he denied to comment unless he actually sent them a note saying "I decline to comment." If they simply couldn't reach him for a comment, that's a whole different situation. I certainly hope the AP has the ability to distinguish between the two. I'm not going to bet my life savings on it, though.

..who declined immediate comment when e-mailed by The Associated Press..

KCom is right. To decline comment requires that willpc affirmatively declined to comment.

Could not be reached, was unavailable, or did not respond, are typically used when there's not acknowledgment of the attempt to solicit comments from a subject.

Just be glad their mistake didn't involve mass decapitation this time.

Oh, and call me a greedy capitalist pig, but I would've asked for $1000.

After I read it, of course.

Hm. So Deep Discount has it in hand, waiting for the appropriate ship date? So do the other booksellers, too, then. I'm surprised there hasn't been a LOT of leakage...that means hundreds of people have ready access to a copy, many of them working jobs in stock or the mailroom that they probably wouldn't give a flip about losing.

You say you're willpc. Where is your proof? I call bullshit on you. You're lying.

Dexter, you forgot to Question The Timing(tm).

So.... The famous MSM editors missed something like "We talked to him and he said to shove it" vs. "We're trying to reach him, haven't yet."

Seems kinda important to me....

Deep Discount has it in hand, waiting for the appropriate ship date? So do the other booksellers, too, then.

I'm part of the management staff at a bookstore... each Harry Potter VII box is clearly labelled "DO NOT OPEN" until 7/21/07.

Heck, our Home Office has stated upfront that displaying a copy of the book early will result in termination for the offending employee, not to mention litigation.

Yeah, they're very serious about this. Scholastic, the publisher of the HP series, has a lot of power in the book biz, and having their support pulled from your company could cripple a franchise.

But that's why there hasn't been many leaks: too many managers scared for their jobs. I know that if we could, we would have put our HP boxes in the store safe.