I'm not the least bit interested in defending this guy. Anyone can see that he's a tool through and through. What we're seeing here is clearly a tool getting his comeuppance, and it's fun to watch. That said, though, what we're watching is an angry mob exacting its "justice." Having been on the receiving end of mob "justice" I can say without equivocation that punishment is 99.999% of it and "equivalency and fairness" are in the noise. This isn't a bunch of people assessing the situation and meting out a punishment they feel appropriate as a dispassionate observer. This is every person who has ever suffered at the hands of customer service finding a handy punching bag and piling on. Realistically speaking, how much of your day should some tool who sucks at customer service and the one guy who wrote in about it take up? How does it affect your life? What impact will it have? Yet Reddit is full of nothing but this story, Kotaku picked it up, it landed at Penny Arcade and "oceanmarketing" gives you 46 hits on Google News. The Internet magnifies little things for our entertainment in a handy-dandy interactive format. Ever gotten shafted on a Comcast phone tree? Not gotten a refund you were owed? Had a coupon that wasn't honored by a business you trusted? This story's for you. We feel commonality with it so we unleash our rage and we move on. The people close to it, on the other hand, are the ones who can truly see the flood - "Dave" posted on Kotaku's site asking people to calm down but by then it's too late, of course. Nobody ever expects The Internet to be as big and as angry as it is. I think a healthy fear of The Consumerist and its ilk is a useful thing for the everyday consumer. It helps keep businesses in line. At the same time, I've never seen The Internet pile on to sing praises when a merchant does something right. Whenever we celebrate things like this, we're celebrating the fact that The Internet is a place of torches and pitchforks without noticing that it is not a place of building. Maybe you like entropy. Maybe you recognize it as a force for good. To me, it's just a force. I'm not sure it should be encouraged.