Statements regarding P.U.B. and Barney Moran
Lijit develops search-powered applications for online publishers. In our efforts to build a lasting enterprise, we have always viewed ourselves as the publisher advocate, delivering measurable value to each publisher in our network and providing the utmost transparency about Lijit as a business.
Our service is a unique and powerful offering that Publishers utilize to aggregate their online content making it searchable, and thus increasing engagement between publishers and their readers in a real and measurable way.
Lijit is always open to feedback, comments, and suggestions for improvement. It’s for these reasons that we were surprised and dismayed by the actions of a former Lijit employee, Mr. Barney Moran and P.U.B., a for-profit entity we understand is owned and controlled by Mr. Moran.
Mr. Barney Moran worked for Lijit for approximately 7 months, starting in late 2007. Mr. Moran’s employment was terminated by Lijit on March 3rd, 2008.
Shortly after Lijit terminated his employment, on behalf of P.U.B., Mr. Moran sent a lengthy questionnaire to our COO requesting detailed and confidential internal financial information. Given the confidential nature of the financial data requested and the unusual nature of such a request, we attempted to further identify the nature and legitimacy of P.U.B. We were only able to find a one page web site with a single post referencing only Lijit.
Shortly thereafter, Mr. Moran began posting comments on publishers’ sites that mentioned Lijit. Mr. Moran largely posts a canned statement drawing into question Lijit’s business practices and data gathering motivations. It is our belief that these comments are designed to create an air of concern or mistrust around the delivery of our service or the use of private data from our publisher’s sites.
Data collected by Lijit is constantly and in real-time fed back to publishers in their analytics dashboards, and in fact, is a significant value proposition to the publishers themselves. Our privacy policy, publisher agreement and terms of use available online from our site clearly address issues Mr. Moran calls into question. From time to time we update these policies to reduce ambiguity and we strive for complete clarity in regards to our service. We monitor best practices in the industry and believe our practices are consistent with these practices.
Recently, we received an unsolicited email from Mr. Moran, sent to our CEO that requested a large sum of money as well as shares of Lijit capital stock. In this email Mr. Moran states:
“I’m prepared to sell P.U.B. for $25K and 4,000 undiluted shares of Lijit at this time. I am in process securing a TradeMark for P.U.B., and have press releases and marketing spots for P.U.B. scheduled to begin appearing in September. When the trademark is secured and the marketing starts for P.U.B., the valuation of P.U.B. will be higher.”
In a separate phone call with our CEO, Mr. Moran indicated that if Lijit were to purchase P.U.B., Mr. Moran would no longer work for P.U.B. or make references to Lijit.
Given these facts, we are asking the same questions you may be asking yourself. If P.U.B. is indeed a union that intends to serve the best interests of publishers, why has it sought to target only Lijit? If it is a “public watchdog” why is it a “for profit” entity and why would it be for sale to Lijit? Why would Mr. Moran want to own equity through the sale of P.U.B. in a company that provides a service that he has recommended publishers not install?
We do not intend to purchase Mr. Moran’s company. We have considered taking legal action against Mr. Moran, and we continue to hold this out as an option. In any case, we intend to provide publishers with the best service we can and be responsive to our loyal user base.
As always, please send us any feedback or comments to: info at lijit dot com.
September 22nd, 2008 at 7:18 pm
I have seen this guy around anywhere someone talks about Lijit. He posted the same copy/paste comment on my blog on two separate posts where I talked about Lijit. I have since deleted the comments and I have never taken his comments seriously.
I hope Mr. Moran gives up on this childish endeavor and finds something more productive to do with his time.
September 22nd, 2008 at 8:41 pm
@Bryn, Thanks for the comments. Lijit wants to bring the best service we can to publishers of all sizes. We welcome all comments and if anyone ever has a question I welcome a direct email or phone call. I’m todd at lijit dot com. Feel free to provide direct feedback! Thanks for the support.
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Thank you Lijit for taking the time to address the issues P.U.B. raises for Publishers concerning Lijit’s revenue plan for Publishers. It takes a lot of guts to at least take on any issue questioning a companies business plan and motives, by the company, and its appreciated by P.U.B. and it’s blogging community. The fact is to date some Publishers accept Lijit’s position that the Lijit service is worth it at face value, and as long as Publishers are informed of that they are giving up for the service, then P.U.B.’s job is done. Informed choice is the goal of the Publisher’s Union of Bloggers.
The bottom line is P.U.B. has been pursuing and will continue to pursue for publishers concerning transparency on Lijit’s revenue from blogs and use of content of these blogs; (despite Lijit’s threats of legal action against the bloggers union and any attempt to change the framework of the very real questions we are asking: “what exactly does Lijit make from my blog, and what % do I get? / What do you intend to do with my content, and will I be asked permission first?).
It is important for all of us as bloggers to support open debate; Lijit’s openess to at least address the issue that P.U.B. exists and is asking these questions, despite name calling and questioning motives, are an improvement over standard business practices and say great things about the blog community and what is capable from transparent debate.
P.U.B. looks forward to the obvious and eventual solution concerning the revenue/ownership issues as they apply to Lijit and any other entity requesting space/revenue from Publishers hard earned content. The fact Lijit allows P.U.B. to post our response here is a step in this direction.
Barney Moran
Founder, P.U.B.
September 30th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
It appears that my blog has also been visited by Mr. Moran, with the same message I’ve found elsewhere around the net.
What a waste of a mind that is able to think up such an elaborate plan like this to attempt to dirty the reputation of a perfectly good company. I wish he would put his effort towards a better use, as it is accomplishing nothing more by wasting his time and ours.
October 6th, 2008 at 8:06 am
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October 6th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Thank you for clearing up my misgivings. I had no idea and I am glad I was able to read for clarity. Thank you!
October 9th, 2008 at 10:23 am
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