> it's particularly ironic that TechCrunch, a site which sits squarely in the center of the tech PR universe, would profess to be shocked, shocked at the behavi

> it's particularly ironic that TechCrunch, a site which sits squarely in the center of the tech PR universe, would profess to be shocked, shocked at the behavior of the people that they chat with every day. I would use the word hypocritical rather than ironic, because (and you allude to this with your Casablanca reference) they are firmly in the know. Irony would be them gaming the blogoverse with unethical "journalism" and link-baiting then discovering that they've been gamed themselves by PR firms.