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3.0 TheFunded.com is Not Shutting Down.
TheFunded.com News
Posted by The Founding Member on 2009-03-31
Many a Truth is Told in Jest
On March 27th, 2009, TheFunded.com announced that it would cease offering reviews of venture funds as an early "April Fools' Day" prank. The prank was run over the weekend, when the site has less traffic. The stated reason, written in legalese, for ending the review functionality was: "Conclusion: Investors are Great." A Member tipped off the media that the site was shutting down "following a lawsuit." This lead to a flurry of speculation, so we ended the prank.
While TheFunded.com never stated that the site was shutting down nor that the site was under any unusual legal threat, people assumed the worst. TheFunded.com faces a constant barrage of bribes and threats from investors. We will not back down until the "conclusion" really is that "investors are great," and there is a long way to go for that vision to be realized. The site is not shutting down, and apologies for any inconvenience.
The original prank message is below:
Conclusion: Investors are Great
"On Friday, March 27th, TheFunded, Incorporated ('TheFunded' or 'we' or 'the Company'), in conjunction with counsel has concluded that venture financing and the purchase of preferred equity, herein referred to as 'investing' or 'investment' or 'investors', is both broadly and generally good for companies worldwide.
TheFunded will officially cease reviews on April 2nd, 2009, which, from time to time, reflect negatively on the many innumerable benefits of investors or investment or investing. We encourage companies to consider seriously taking investment, and we apologize for the following statement made in haste:
'investing is predatory', 'over 75% of investors are bad', 'avoid banned investors.'
The Company further apologizes for making any other statements and causing questions to be raised regarding the ethics and the good reputation of investors. Further updates are forthcoming Wednesday, and we encourage every Member to take an investment and then post feedback on the positive and rewarding experiences in Open Letters. Thank you."
Most of the site sponsors wrote over the weekend to check on the message, assuming it was a joke, and we appreciate their continued support:
PITCH: IdeaCrossing | 
EMAIL: Intermedia | 
SERVICES: Inventure | 
COMM: Unison | 
CLOUD: Ekartha | 
TESTING: uTest | 
SOFTWARE: BizSpark
