What's the eBay response to 60 minutes segment on harassing journalists for trying to do their jobs?

[peszar-0]

This is SICK tactics by eBay to try and bring down a journalist who is trying to bring to light a crackdown on 2nd Amendment rights. And the CEO exits with a golden parachute. **bleep**!!!!!!

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@bonjourami  Yes. they also say "living well is the best revenge" and the Steiners could live pretty well with the millions they might get from this case. As I say, it will be their money, and they will be able to do whatever they want with it....

[bonjourami]

Absolutely,and when I think of a young man here locally, who was hit by a train and is disabled for life, and only got twenty five mill, I think they did very well.

[farmalljr]

---

@bonjourami wrote:

Nobody said it was 'laughable', or 'supportive' of these 'evil acts'.You certainly put your own spin on what was said,at least be accurate ..or it might hurt your credibility with your responses.

Im in complete agreement with Maxine*j, and im quoting here:

Yes, I get the same feeling, that the Steiners get too much mileage out of this to let it go. 

In the criminal cases, seven people were charged, two immediately arrested.  They did not get off lightly in final sentencing, with three sent to jail (for one year, two years, five years), one put under a year's house arrest, two put under lengthy supervised release.  So the criminal justice system worked. 

Now, we have this civil suit to get through, to keep this whole sorry incident in the limelight. The seven already convicted in the criminal case are being sued, along with eBay, former CEO Wenig, former CCO Wymer, and some security firm used by eBay.

Was the  harassing of the Steiners ugly and egregious?  Of course it was.   They were harassed, and they were threatened, and more of the same was planned.  Did someone higher up at eBay do the old, "Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?" thing?  Probably.  But that alone is no crime, or even unusual, although it is heedless.

But I just can't keep from thinking that people who make a living in any other way than the Steiners do would be gratified at the results of the criminal investigation, arrests, convictions, and sentences, and would want to put all the rest behind them. 

---

OH! So if it were you or your daughter, you would think that was "justice served" or a fair punishment for terrorizing and stalking? You and I both know better than that. 

Your distain for the website and the Steiner's is showing. I don't much care for most of the comments on the articles over there either. But there are piles of threads HERE with as much negativity and people upset over what has been done to them.  So what? 

If the Steiner's get a HUGE check, I really have no problem with it. The problem is, this whole situation should never have happened. A civil society does not promote or accept radicals being violent, threating, or the threat of it. If it costs eBay and those involved a huge amount of money, so be it. This would not even be an issue had they never did this. 

If this happened to you, you would certainly be speaking differently. Lets hope you never live in fear of your life. Because I don't know if others could muster the empathy for you, when you can't seem to muster it for others. No one deserves to live in fear of their lives. There was nothing they did that should have caused what happened, TO happen. 

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@bonjourami  As far as I know, the Steiners haven't gotten anything so far. The 60 million is an amount being tossed around, but they might end up with less or more. 

[mam98031]

---

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

@vintagecraze50   Ride into the sunset is exactly what they might do. Then again, some say revenge is sweet, and the Steiners might feel that way. Only time will tell.

---

How is a financial pay out on a corporation that very likely had nothing to do with the actions of a few be "revenge".   While they are suing some of the individuals that were involved in this campaign of terror on the Steiner's, Ebay is likely the one with the deep pockets.

Now I say that not because I don't believe the Steiner's have every right to sue, because I absolutely believe they have that right.  What happened to them should have NEVER happened.  But I'm also a firm believer with putting blame where blame is due.

[albertabrightalberta]

I thought I read that the 60 million was an amount ebay "set aside" to allow for payment of a potential payment or settlement.

[mam98031]

---

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

@bonjourami  Yes. they also say "living well is the best revenge" and the Steiners could live pretty well with the millions they might get from this case. As I say, it will be their money, and they will be able to do whatever they want with it....

---

Why would Ebay care if they live well or they don't.  You are taking as if Ebay the perpetrator instead of a handful of employees.

So does this mean you believe this is the culture at Ebay?  This is what Ebay directs their employees to do as a whole?????

[mam98031]

---

@albertabrightalberta wrote:

I thought I read that the 60 million was an amount ebay "set aside" to allow for payment of a potential payment or settlement.

---

That is what I read somewhere too @albertabrightalberta .  If memory serves me it is 64 million, they set aside for this lawsuit.  But IDK what is actually correct if anything.  It is just something someone was passing around.

[bonjourami]

"If this happened to you, you would certainly be speaking differently. Lets hope you never live in fear of your life. "

I dont want to burst your self righteous bubble, but I have lived in fear for my life..and am very thankful that I survived. Probably shouldnt make suppositions,when you dont know what others have lived thru.I do have empathy for the Steiners..just dont try to beat people over the head with it.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@mam98031 " But I'm also a firm believer with putting blame where blame is due."

My guess is, so are the Steiners. And the reason they are suing ebay and Wenig is because they believe they share in the blame. So far, NO legal determination has been made on that issue. It is obvious that some on these Boards have made up their minds on that issue, but that's not the same thing....only time will tell. 

[mam98031]

---

@my-cottage-books-and-antiques wrote:

@mam98031 " But I'm also a firm believer with putting blame where blame is due."

My guess is, so are the Steiners. And the reason they are suing ebay and Wenig is because they believe they share in the blame. So far, NO legal determination has been made on that issue. It is obvious that some on these Boards have made up their minds on that issue, but that's not the same thing....only time will tell. 

---

All true.  And I do think that the Steiner's needed to name Ebay in the suit.  But it is also highly likely if there is a big payout, which I personally think there will be, it won't be the individuals sued that pays the bulk of it, it will be Ebay because they have the deep pockets.  Ebay is undoubtedly spending millions on their legal bills regarding this entire thing.  And likely they will lose millions more when the lawsuit gets settled.  The individuals however, with the exception of possibly Wenig, don't likely have the cash to make much of a dent in a settlement.

I also don't think it will go to trial.  I think they will settle before that.  But that is just my opinion.  The only reason for Ebay to let this go to trial is if they think they have a good enough case to defend themselves against a big payout.  And that likely wouldn't happen with a jury trial.  Corporate monsters and all.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@albertabrightalberta  Yes, ebay has money set aside, whether for this lawsuit or just as a contingency fund for any litigation is an open question. But until a decision is made (and any appeals are exhausted)  or a settlement reached, the amount is an open question. And keep in mind, if there is no settlement and the court finds against the employees but not against ebay/Wenig, it could be hard to collect on the award, as ebay/Wenig are the deep pockets here....

[chapeau-noir]

I'm not sure the Steiners really want this dragged through a trial, either.

GENERAL:  Some of the posts on the mentor's board (even though I can no longer answer them) gobsmack me - reading comprehension seems to be, well, in question, and people seem to have a very high fear index of the world around them.  Explains a lot in general, I guess.

[bonjourami]

Yes, a hot topic for sure, people lose their objectivity to the point of hysteria.

[maxine*j]

---

@farmalljr wrote:

---

---

... OH! So if it were you or your daughter, you would think that was "justice served" or a fair punishment for terrorizing and stalking?...  

---

If it were my daughter, I would be gratified that the criminal justice system worked so that the actual perpetrators of the cyberstalking and witness intimidation were brought to justice, and rather swiftly, at that, and given sentences that fit the ugly crimes they committed. 

I would be grateful that they all pleaded guilty, so that she did not have to be part of the media and social media circuses that would have ensued had they pleaded not guilty and demanded jury trials.

The conviction and punishment of the seven people who did that to her would put "paid" to the whole episode and I would want her to then be out of the public eye, heal, get on with her life.  I would not want her to relive the whole thing, have it dominate and consume and define her life, for years to come after that.  I would not want more trauma and more public exposure of her trauma.

Not that comparing "my daughter" to the Steiners is apt.

-